Planetary Eyepiece

[moondog]

Good Morning all !

I'm looking for a planetary EP for my TAL 100RS Achro.(100mm F 10 )

Standard supply with the TAL includes a 6.3mm Super Plossl.

This gives about 155x. OK some nights when seeing's not too good, but the TAL will easily take 200x with good seeing.

Temporarily I get 200x with an Antares 10mm Plossl and a TAL 2x barlow - which gives surprisingly good views of Saturn.

i.e. Cassini, crepe ring and some banding on the planet.

Since I need an EP with good eye relief I have been looking at the Celestron X-Cel range of EP's.

Either the 5mm to give 200x without a barlow or perhaps the 9mm with a better barlow to give 225x.

Any advice ?

Moondog

[lunator]

Moondog

you are back to the orthoscopic/ super Plossl eyepiece.

For Planetary work I prefer Ortho's.

Is ther anyne you could 'borrow' from to see which suit you better. Some Plossl have slight better eyerelief but the Ortho will always give the best light transmission due the low number of lens elements.

Cheers

Ian

[moondog]

Ian

Yes, I have considered the Ortho's.

I don't know anyone local to me who has an Ortho I could borrow.

This is obviously the best way to try out an EP.

I have looked at the Baader Ortho's (made in Japan)

I can get a 5mm one for £55

I generally wear glasses(short sighted), but as one of my eyes hasn't much

astigmatism I can occasionally dispense with my glasses with some EP's.

So I may be OK with the Ortho.

Decisions, decisions!

Moondog

[GordonCopestake]

I use a set of x-cel leye pieces, i have a 5mm, 10mm and 18mm which work great for me. The main reasons i brought them is because they are all parfocal and have great eye relief. I've never used an orthoscopic so can't give a comparison, but i can recommend the x-cels greatly.

[moondog]

Gordon

Thanks for your input.

What scope are you using with the x-cels?

I am considering a 5mm and a 9mm and the X-cels being parfocal is useful

Moondog

[FLO]

I don't know anyone local to me who has an Ortho I could borrow.

This is obviously the best way to try out an EP.

Phone around a few dealers Moondog and ask them what their returns policy is.

Good dealers will normally take an eyepiece back into stock if you consider it unsuitable.

[GordonCopestake]

Gordon

Thanks for your input.

What scope are you using with the x-cels?

I am considering a 5mm and a 9mm and the X-cels being parfocal is useful

Moondog

At the moment a little celestron nexstar 80gt (f5/400) and a cheap celestron powerseeker 114 (f8/900), the 114 gives better magnification but the optics on the 80mm are much better. I'm (hopefully) buying a C8 SCT and brought the eyepieces with that in mind. I also use a set of celestron omni plossl's and find the eye relief on the x-cels much easier to work with, especially if you spend a few hours at a time observing.

As Steve mentioned, most good retailers will (should?) happily refund or exchange an eyepiece if you change your mind. Always better to ask as it costs nothing. Give Adam at David Hinds an email, he's always been very helpful with me and returns emails swiftly with good advice.

[moondog]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I suppose I could order a 5mm Ortho (since this has probably a smaller eye relief than a 9mm Ortho) and a 9mm X-cel from the same dealer and swap the one I don't want to keep.

It focuses the mind when the TAL OTA cost only £199 inc 2 Super Plossls i.e. less than the cost of the 2 EP's I want!

Still what else would I do with the money ?

Moondog

[GazOC]

You could probably get the Ortho for 20 quid secondhand (a lot of older ones come up for sale a lot|), try it out and sell it on for the same price if you don't like it.

[moondog]

Thanks.... a good idea GAZ