Vixen HR comfort

[JeremyS]

My Vixen HR 2.4 mm has arrived ?. These seem to be getting quite common these days ?

 

 

[dannybgoode]

26 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

My Vixen HR 2.4 mm has arrived ?. These seem to be getting quite common these days ?

 

 

Enjoy - I think you’ll like it

[Geoff Barnes]

Whilst I would love to have a look through one of these with my 12 inch F5 Dob, I do wonder if they would be just too much magnification to be of use apart from viewing the moon, and even then only on nights of excellent seeing?

[John]

3 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Whilst I would love to have a look through one of these with my 12 inch F5 Dob, I do wonder if they would be just too much magnification to be of use apart from viewing the moon, and even then only on nights of excellent seeing?

I do use my 3.5mm XW and 2-4mm zoom in my 12 inch dob from time to time for specific purposes such as spotting the faint planetary moons of Uranus and Neptune. For more regular planetary / lunar observing I find that 5mm (318x) is usually as much as I want to use.

[marcus_z]

On 12/02/2019 at 13:38, mikeDnight said:

I've not yet used a 3.4mm HR, but I've owned both the Tak 2.8 & 3.6 Hi LE's. I noticed there was some mild ghosting with both my Hi LE's, and some very strong ghosting on a 5mm LE, so as a consequence Takahashi eyepieces will always have a question mark over their quality control in my eyes. I'd love to try out the new TOE eyepieces but I'd have to look through one first.

Yesterday night I observed the moon with my HI-LE 3.6mm. I have two of them and compared these two concerning halos/ghosting. Indeed, they both exhibited halos on the almost full moon, but one has shown a much stronger halo than the other! I have no clue why they differ so much. Then I compared the better of the two HI-LEs to the HR 3.4. I tend to say that the HI-LE appeared a bit sharper and a tiny bit cooler, but the difference in sharpness might also result from the longer focal length. The HR is a bit more comfortable due to its longer eye relief. Mike if your HI-LE was as bad as my worse HI-LE, then I can totally understand why you gave it away.

I wonder If the halos in my HI-LEs are due to condensation inside the eyepiece? I will try to store them in a more dry environment and check the halos sometime again.

 

[F15Rules]

6 hours ago, marcus_z said:

I wonder If the halos in my HI-LEs are due to condensation inside the eyepiece? I will try to store them in a more dry environment and check the halos sometime again.

...Or maybe needs a clean? I think these tiny eye lenses are often so fiddly to clean that people don't bother..

..But they can still get a film over them. Short FL Eps like these have one purpose - to give the sharpest, clearest, most scatter free performance your scope can deliver. So they need to be as clean as possible..☺☺

Dave

[marcus_z]

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

...Or maybe needs a clean? I think these tiny eye lenses are often so fiddly to clean that people don't bother.. 

..But they can still get a film over them. Short FL Eps like these have one purpose - to give the sharpest, clearest, most scatter free performance your scope can deliver. So they need to be as clean as possible..☺☺

Dave

Thank you for your suggestion. Cleaning both Hi-Les did not change the situation.

[BGazing]

On 11/02/2019 at 21:59, mikeDnight said:

Well, its been either pretty awful seeing or far too cold for comfort, so getting an opportunity to really try out the 2mm HR has been held at bay, until tonight. The Moon was high in a clear darkening blue sky as the Sun dropped below my western horizon. I'd set the Tak FC100DC up on the Vixen GP in the observatory and rolled back the roof. I spent a little time enjoying low power views while the scope cooled. There's something magical about seeing the moon hanging in almost 3D in a low power field. Initially I used my 35mm Eudiascopic, giving X21 which is a very comfortable and well corrected eyepiece. Then moving to a 18mm Celestron Ultima, which is another great eyepiece giving a power of X41, the Moon almost filled the field of view, with the eyepiece offering some razor sharp views of the entire terminator. Then as the scope cooled down, I added a 2X Ultima barlow to the 18mm Ultima which gave a truly breathtaking view.  

Now with the scope thermally stable, I removed the Ultima and fit my new Vixen 2mm HR eyepiece. The eyepiece is unbelievably comfortable, and the view of the moon presented itself as being wonderfully sharp and detailed at X370 in the 100mm apo. I spent the best part of an hour travelling back and forth along the terminator, occasionally needing to lightly touch the microfocuser to keep the image razor sharp. Intricate rille systems revealed themselves with great ease while the countless mountain size boulders, debris from the massive impacts that created the mare, glistened as the suns light touched their rugged peaks, looking like millions of needle points. Crater terracing remained highly detailed as did their complex floors. Such detail can often suffer as magnification increases, but in the HR there was no indication of softening of the lunar detail. Initially when I bought this eyepiece,  I did so with the intention of using it solely for observing Mars while it is around 5 arc seconds. After tonight's session with the 2mm HR however, i can honestly say ill be using this little gem far more often than i initially imagined doing. The comfort and edge to edge sharpness of the HR has impressed me so much that i really would like to buy more of them, though I'm not sure I'd need them all! Then again.....!! 

Anybody want to buy a kidney? ££££££££££ 

 

Wow. 2mm as in 0.35 exit pupil, sounds like you have no floater whatsoever.

[mikeDnight]

10 minutes ago, BGazing said:

Wow. 2mm as in 0.35 exit pupil, sounds like you have no floater whatsoever.

I definitely have floaters and the 2mm highlights them nicely, but I can kind of limit their influence by positioning the eyepiece horizontally and rolling my eye occasionally to get them to move. I remember a time when I had no floaters at all, or at least I can't remember seeing them in my early astro days. 

[jetstream]

I observed the moon a couple of days ago with the TSA120/2.4mm HR and at .32mm exit pupil the image was superb. With binos the low power views were stunning as well up to about 250x. The HR's unleash the power of this telescope...

[mikeDnight]

I have had a great week of observing the moon. The binoviewer in the FC100DC with barlow and 18mm Celestron Ultima's or 16.8mm ortho's give stunningly impressive views, despite the fast moving cloud on a couple of nights. When I removed the binoviewer and fit the 2mm HR, the view at 370X was sharp and detailed, and very comfortable. The HR is a joy to use for lunar observing! This is going to be a great eyepiece for Mars when its 5 or 6 arc seconds!!