Help!

[gannook]

Just bought a Vixen 110L telescope for my boy. I have no experience with such things. It came with a 25 mm eyepiece, which I assume isn't useful for much. What sort of eyepieces should I consider buying in order to view objects in the sky or even get some good long-distance terrestrial views? How much should decent lenses cost? Thanks.

 

 

[happy-kat]

Welcome

That is a nice telescope with a focal length of 1035mm so that 25mm  eyepiece will give a magnification of x41 which will be nice for many objects, for example Orion and many other deep sky objects as you do not always want magnification. The Moon will be nice too.

Something like a 12mm or 8mm BST starguider would be OK and at f9.3 the telescope will not need high end eyepieces as it is not going to be fussy so a good decent eyepiece should be nice. They are around £55 each.

Generally the suggestion is get to know your telescope and then decide where you want to see more of to then chose the right eyepiece magnification.

I would be looking for one at the other end say a 30mm or 32mm to maximise the field of view you could get with the telescope as by design it will have a narrow field of view.

[happy-kat]

A good read here

link

And this eyepiece read is useful

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/43171-eyepieces-the-very-least-you-need/

This is useful and your telescope is listed.

http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

[Ben the Ignorant]

1 hour ago, gannook said:

It came with a 25 mm eyepiece, which I assume isn't useful for much

Why do you think that? Can you describe the eyepiece and what it shows?

[bingevader]

If it's the 25mm vixen npl plossl, it's more than half tidy and is one that won't need replacing for a long while (if ever)!

You might want to consider the others in the range to go with it.

Hopefully they'll be par-focal which would mean the object you're viewing stays in focus as you swap eyepieces (someone might want to correct me on that).

The only downsides are the field of view and the eye relief.

I suppose you won't know until you've had a go if 50° is adequate, if not, the BSTs mentioned are excellent and still relatively inexpensive.

For me, with plossl eye pieces, the eye relief gets a bit tight below 8mm.

You can get a rough feel for this by looking at the line up of eye pieces in the link I posted, very small piece of glass in the 6mm you'd have to get your eye very close to to see through (the 4mm would be smaller).

I suppose that will also depend on how old your son is.

Again, the BSTs might be a bit easier to look through.

Your son's a lucky boy!

[Floater]

Welcome to SGL.

You should think about buying nothing more. You have all you need for now - a nice telescope and eyepiece ... oh, and a son!

You and he should just have lots of fun looking at and learning about the night sky. If you feel a ‘need’ for anything else, ask again. At present you just need time with your son and the scope. Have fun. ??

[PaulR1]

I think learning your way around the sky first would help you greatly .

Plough , Cassiopeia and Orion constelations to get you started  then the seven sisters all by eye .

Then you can have a poke around these for more things with the scope

[davejlec]

Welcome to SGL and congratulations on your first scope purchase!  It's helpful ( and less frustrating) to start with a low magnification eyepiece such as the 25 mm- much easier to aim the scope at specific objects with the wider field and generous eye relief. Very rewarding to be able to match a sky chart with the actual sky and this is a great time of year with the winter constellations in view. The hobby really got started for me with a star map,  a few astronomy magazines and moderately dark skies. Since you mention you've no experience with a telescope, here's your first observing task to tackle with your son - Locate a constellation or two and a celestial object or two and learn the names and location of a few bright stars.  Know your celestial bearings ( N,S, E and W) and know how to locate Polaris,  observe how groups of stars appear to move over a few hours in different locations in the sky and witness Earth's rotation.  For terrestrial viewing your scope can probably be pushed to a magnification of about 80X  before the image degrades due to atmospheric turbulence ( many spotting scopes magnify 60 X or less).  Have fun and please report back on your success!

[SIDO]

Welcome to SGL and Astronomy, As others have said you have indeed purchased a nice telescope and the 25mm eyepiece is a bonus as it is a quite functional optic and will help get you started straight away so really you need next to begin with "Stellarium" or similar planetarium software for your phone, laptop, tablet or what have you...its quite logically the next step as your hardware is at hand. A good planetarium application will show you where to look help orient you with the night sky and reveal celestial motion to you in a way that is intuitive and understandable as well as real time, yesterday and tomorrow so you can better plan trips out with your son.

For an eye piece suggestion I would say get a really nice zoom as you stated an interest in terrestrial observations this would get you going and quick in both arena's and from a personal standpoint I think everyone's second eyepiece should be a zoom simply because it sidelines the immediate need for an eyepiece collection thus allowing you too immediately unlock a wide range of your new telescopes potential with little stress or concern over choices and a good zoom will likely always be in your eyepiece case so just buy it now to start with because it will do you most good at this juncture. Enjoy and,

 

                 Best of Luck ?

                          Freddie...

 

[JOC]

Well at least that looks like a 'proper' useable telescope as a first purchase which puts you 100% further in front of many first timers who are seduced by multi-coloured pictures of more unsuitable/difficult to use/not up to much 'scopes on the pages of things like National Geographic so well done you!  I wouldn't write off the 25mm EP until you've tried it on something like the Pleiades or the moon.  

[Alan64]

Upon what sort of mount is the telescope supported?  If a manual alt-azimuth or equatorial, a 32mm Plossl would serve as the lowest power, 32x, and would aid the finder in finding things to observe.  From there you would then ramp up the power.

[Sunshine]

If you're using it for terrestrial then you want a 45 degree erect image diagonal, otherwise everything will be upside down.

[JOC]

On ‎07‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 04:04, SIDO said:

from a personal standpoint I think everyone's second eyepiece should be a zoom simply because it sidelines the immediate need for an eyepiece collection thus allowing you too immediately unlock a wide range of your new telescopes potential with little stress or concern over choices and a good zoom will likely always be in your eyepiece case so just buy it now to start with because it will do you most good at this juncture

I am surprised to read this^^^ it is not advice that I often see given to a beginner - as a general rule I see more bad things written about zooms than good, so this is an interesting departure from the norm!  I will confess I haven't bought a zoom because they never seem to be held in high regard from what I've gleaned reading on SGL.  Perhaps what I've picked up is wrong.

[SIDO]

2 minutes ago, JOC said:

I am surprised to read this^^^ it is not advice that I often see given to a beginner - as a general rule I see more bad things written about zooms than good, so this is an interesting departure from the norm!  I will confess I haven't bought a zoom because they never seem to be held in high regard from what I've gleaned reading on SGL.  Perhaps what I've picked up is wrong.

They really are a usefull tool to beginners well beyond unlocking some magnification, changing eye pieces in the dark is also eliminated for the novice so not knowing the fov and mag needed for a given target it gives them the ability to dial it in instantly too.

They are an awesome eyepiece for children as you don't have keep changing eye pieces for them and they don't need to change them themselves ?

I could go on and I likely will in some other thread about zooms but you get the points, thanks for another opportunity though...

        Best of Luck Everyone!

                    Freddie ?

[Cosmic Geoff]

1 hour ago, SIDO said:

They really are a usefull tool to beginners well beyond unlocking some magnification, changing eye pieces in the dark is also eliminated for the novice so not knowing the fov and mag needed for a given target it gives them the ability to dial it in instantly too.

That depends on what zoom you bought.  On the one I have, the action is so stiff that I have to take it off the scope and adjust it two-handed under a dim light in order to change the magnification. ?

[SIDO]

1 minute ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

That depends on what zoom you bought.  On the one I have, the action is so stiff that I have to take it off the scope and adjust it two-handed under a dim light in order to change the magnification. ?

Mine have been in hand for some years an older Meade and a Celestron with no issues like you describe, maybe you should return it it may be defective. 

 

 

[gannook]

On 06/01/2019 at 21:04, SIDO said:

Welcome to SGL and Astronomy, As others have said you have indeed purchased a nice telescope and the 25mm eyepiece is a bonus as it is a quite functional optic and will help get you started straight away so really you need next to begin with "Stellarium" or similar planetarium software for your phone, laptop, tablet or what have you...its quite logically the next step as your hardware is at hand. A good planetarium application will show you where to look help orient you with the night sky and reveal celestial motion to you in a way that is intuitive and understandable as well as real time, yesterday and tomorrow so you can better plan trips out with your son.

For an eye piece suggestion I would say get a really nice zoom as you stated an interest in terrestrial observations this would get you going and quick in both arena's and from a personal standpoint I think everyone's second eyepiece should be a zoom simply because it sidelines the immediate need for an eyepiece collection thus allowing you too immediately unlock a wide range of your new telescopes potential with little stress or concern over choices and a good zoom will likely always be in your eyepiece case so just buy it now to start with because it will do you most good at this juncture. Enjoy and,

 

                 Best of Luck ?

                          Freddie...

thanks for the useful info. Is a zoom different from a barlow?

 

3

Thanks, Freddie. By zoom do you mean barlow lens? I bought two different ones but they only give me a larger more blurry view. I bought a celestron x-cel lx and a Vixen 2x. 

 

 

On 08/01/2019 at 05:31, SIDO said:

Mine have been in hand for some years an older Meade and a Celestron with no issues like you describe, maybe you should return it it may be defective. 

 

 

2

 

[gannook]

On 07/01/2019 at 03:12, JOC said:

Well at least that looks like a 'proper' useable telescope as a first purchase which puts you 100% further in front of many first timers who are seduced by multi-coloured pictures of more unsuitable/difficult to use/not up to much 'scopes on the pages of things like National Geographic so well done you!  I wouldn't write off the 25mm EP until you've tried it on something like the Pleiades or the moon.  

1

I'm just trying to view the mountains behind my house. Bought two barlows but they only provide a larger, blurrier view. Is a barlow the same as a zoom?

 

[JOC]

A barlow if it is a x2 will act to provide the view of a 6mm eyepiece if attached to a 12mm eyepiece.   A x3 barlow will act to provide the view of a 4mm eyepice from a 12mm eyepiece.  Effectively you will get closer.

For easy sums if you have a telescope with a 1000mm focal length and you have a 10mm eyepiece in you will get x100 magnification.  If you add a x2 barlow you will get the magnification of a 5mm eyepiece i.e.200 times.  The thing is depending on how good your viewing conditions are you can easily go beyond the useable magnification of your telescope.  There is a theoretical maximum magnification  for any telescope,  and in reality atmospheric conditions usually prevent this being reached or even getting anywhere close.  Lots of cheap telescopes are sold with x3 and x5 barlows which is reality are probably never going to provide any useful views, but the claims sound good on the box.

I have an 8" (200mm) Dobsonian with a 1200mm focal length so it is F6 (1200/200=6).  I can just about use 240 times magnification with high quality 5mm eyepiece, but the conditions have got to be ideal and the object being viewed suitable.  TBH it doesn't take long before you realise that big is often blurry, and that smaller and sharper is often better.  I hope this helps, I am still a beginner myself and remember all the holes I have fallen into.

[SIDO]

8 hours ago, gannook said:

I'm just trying to view the mountains behind my house. Bought two barlows but they only provide a larger, blurrier view. Is a barlow the same as a zoom?

 

No a Zoom is an eyepiece wich ranges through many focal lengths like 8mm-24mm or 7mm-21mm so a zoom is many eyepieces in one but becouse of this they are not as good as a dedicated focal length eyepiece but are still quite useable.

They are available in different price ranges and I would suggest buying one within your budget, they work real nice for terrestrial spotting as you don't have time to go from finder to main scope when observing and trying to track small animals or birds with the narrow field of your scope as unlike celestial objects these creatures move about quickly and indiscriminately. For just viewing the mountains your 25mm should be fine and daytime seeing can really vary as to how much magnification can be used, people by telescopes often to see closer a distant terrestrial view but because of thermals and heat are only able to achieve those views at certain times of the day usually before the sun is too high or on clouded or cooler days. As mentioned a 32mm 52° eyepiece will be your widest field achievable in your scope, it could help a little with your mountain viewing as lower magnifications handle bad seeing better day or night. 

Hope this helps ?