Eyepiece for planetary observation

[Kepler99]

Hello,

I currently own a Skywatcher 200/1000 BD NEQ5 Pro and I own a 28mm lens that came with the telescope and a 40mm Plossl. 

I want to start doing some observations of Jupiter and Saturn. I am searching for a high contrast lens and with enough magnification to get pretty good details and a pretty good image. I was thinking of something like a 5 or 6mm lens but I'm not sure...

What would the recommendations be?

Thanks!

 

[Trikeflyer]

For the moment in the UK the planets are not perfectly placed. That said, you can tease out nice detail if you spend time at the eyepiece. Realistically mags of around x150 will show you a decent amount of detail if th3 sky conditions are good. In your scope that is about 6 to 8mm. My personal opinion is you need to find the balance between clarity and mag. With planets FOV isn’t a factor. If you wear glasses, eye relief might be a factor in your final decision but if I were you I’d go for something around 8mm. The vixen range of slv are really good - I have the 6mm version but that might be pushing the mag unless the seeing is really good, they only do 6mm and 9mm so not quite perfect but either we not be bad.  Cheaper options include bst starguider 8mm which I have used and is nice. In 6mm I don’t think you’ll beat the slv.  So summarising it depends on your budget but I’d suggest 6-8mm with decent eye relief. You can consider the orthoscopic design but eye relief will be tight and may not suit. I am sure others will offer alternative opinions, so this is just mt take on your situation. 

Steve 

[Ships and Stars]

I'd maybe go for something in the 12mm range which is around 80x on that scope I think.  If you have a 2x Barlow then you can of course double the mag to 160x or so for good conditions. I've been wanting to try the Baader Morpheus line, they've great reviews except the 14mm which is mixed. But this is pitting the Morpheus against best offerings from Televue and Pentax, so the Baader is relatively cheap in that regard (still £175). I'm sure the Vixen eyepiece Steve mentions above is good. Above the really cheap starter eyepieces, most eyepieces seem to offer generally fine views. The 28mm SW 2" eyepiece is surprisingly good, especially considering they practically give them away! 

[Startinez]

The maximum useful magnification for your scope is 400x, so under perfect conditions you could in theory get away with a 2.5mm. Obviously it would be very optimistic to actually go this high, but you should get some quite good views with a 5mm lens or a 10mm coupled with a 2x Barlow. I think the 5mm would be a good place to start.

[Trikeflyer]

14 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

I'd maybe go for something in the 12mm range which is around 80x on that scope I think.  If you have a 2x Barlow then you can of course double the mag to 160x or so for good conditions. I've been wanting to try the Baader Morpheus line, they've great reviews except the 14mm which is mixed. But this is pitting the Morpheus against best offerings from Televue and Pentax, so the Baader is relatively cheap in that regard (still £175). I'm sure the Vixen eyepiece Steve mentions above is good. Above the really cheap starter eyepieces, most eyepieces seem to offer generally fine views. The 28mm SW 2" eyepiece is surprisingly good, especially considering they practically give them away! 

Also good advice from ships and stars. I thought after I posted, you could just get a 2x and 3x Barlow with your 28mm and that might give you more flexibility. Sometimes you can pick up a used 5x powermate which would work well with your 40mm plossl as well. There are loads of options and doubtful that there is one perfect one. In the end anything that gets you into the 6 to 15mm range will give you a much better view than you have now. I have a Morpheus 17.5mm and it is an exceptional performer but for planets you don’t need wide field.

 

[Paul73]

A 6mm Vixen SLV might fit the bill. Very comfortable to use and pin sharp. Won’t break the bank either!

Paul

[Kepler99]

Thanks for all the advice!

I decided to go with a vixen-slv 9mm, I think it's a good start 😀

[John]

For Jupiter, something in the 7mm - 8mm range is a good choice. Jupiter does not generally benefit or reward high magnifications in the same way that Saturn does. The low altitude of these planets currently adds to these challenges.

For Saturn I would be looking at something around 5mm - 6mm in focal length with your scope. These higher powers would also be useful for observing the Moon and Mars and also double stars.

 

 

[Kepler99]

In a few months or so I'll try to get a 6mm, for now I think I'll stick with the 9mm vixen SLV, considering I only have a 28mm and a 40mm, I can't wait to watch Jupiter and Saturn with the 9mm one  

[Ships and Stars]

Just to confuse you a bit more, ha, if you buy the Vixen 15mm, you'll have a really good all-around eyepiece for that size scope, and simply adding a 2x Barlow will give you a 7.5mm for planetary without too much magnification for most decent viewing conditions. I think jumping from 28mm to 9mm leaves a big gap right in the sweet spot of the scope's magnification range. A 15mm or 17mm eyepiece and a 2x Barlow would slot in there nicely. I think I paid £30 for my quality Barlow second hand and it doesn't degrade image quality. But I'm sure the 9mm is good too! 

[Kepler99]

14 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

Just to confuse you a bit more, ha, if you buy the Vixen 15mm, you'll have a really good all-around eyepiece for that size scope, and simply adding a 2x Barlow will give you a 7.5mm for planetary without too much magnification for most decent viewing conditions. I think jumping from 28mm to 9mm leaves a big gap right in the sweet spot of the scope's magnification range. A 15mm or 17mm eyepiece and a 2x Barlow would slot in there nicely. I think I paid £30 for my quality Barlow second hand and it doesn't degrade image quality. But I'm sure the 9mm is good too! 

True! But buying the 9mm one, then with a 2x Barlow I can get a 14mm from the 28mm as well as a 20mm from the 40mm , so the gap wouldn't be as big, and then, buying a 6mm one or so, I think it would also be a nice set.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Kepler99

[Ships and Stars]

Ah ha! Now we're talking. Good idea there.  I've a 2" 2x barlow, stuck a Baader click lock 1.25" adapter on top for quick changes if I'm using 1.25 eyepieces. Sounds like you have it under control!

[Trikeflyer]

8 hours ago, Kepler99 said:

True! But buying the 9mm one, then with a 2x Barlow I can get a 14mm from the 28mm as well as a 20mm from the 40mm , so the gap wouldn't be as big, and then, buying a 6mm one or so, I think it would also be a nice set.

And on days of exceptional seeing for Saturn or on the moon you can try 2x Barlow with 9mm slv. 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The SLV 9 mm is a great EP. I have the 5, 9, and 15 mm SLV EPs as a compact travel set with my 80 mm F/6 triplet, and they are all great (a MaxVision 24 mm 68° rounds of the set). The 5 mm in particular gave great views of Jupiter and Saturn at 98x. I also combined the 9 mm with a 2.5x PowerMate, which gave 133x, and seemed optimal for the given conditions. In my 8" F/10 I generally go for my XW 10 mm eyepiece at 203x (equivalent to a 5 mm in your scope). Even at low altitude this works well. Occasionally I dial back to 145x with a 14 mm Delos.

[Rob Sellent]

I'm in three minds about this.

In the long run, if you get into planetary and lunar observations, you will probably find it helps to have a little run of high power eyepieces. Depending on the evening, even the difference of just 1mm in focal length - about 10% to 15% difference in magnification - can be quite surprising.

Although it's a real pleasure to use widefields with ample eye-relief when viewing the night sky, to be honest you don't really need widefields for planetary viewing. To start out, if your eyes were accommodating, I'd recommend Orthos (I have a set of Baader Genuines) on the second hand market which in terms of contrast and sharpness ought to be up there with the best of them.

Overtime, you'll probably find that even with a run of eyepieces (5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 9mm etc) only one or two will be used more often than the others and it is with those focal lengths you can then make a more informed decision and splash out on some nicer eyepieces in terms of field and eye relief.

Another idea is to get hold of just 3 quality eyepieces and a decent x2 Barlow. With one eyepiece with about 2mm focal length of your scope (around 10mm), another with about 3mm and a lower power around 4mm, I feel this kind of set up will last you many enjoyable years.

Finally, I've also found a quality zoom such as Baader's Hyperion and a decent Barlow to be a very useful tool. On many nights this is my grab n go set up and although not as good as a single eyepiece such an Ortho, Delos or XW, it does make for ease of use and enables you to hone in on the exact magnification necessary without faffing about with single eyepieces.

[wesdon1]

On 05/08/2019 at 17:40, Kepler99 said:

Hello,

I currently own a Skywatcher 200/1000 BD NEQ5 Pro and I own a 28mm lens that came with the telescope and a 40mm Plossl. 

I want to start doing some observations of Jupiter and Saturn. I am searching for a high contrast lens and with enough magnification to get pretty good details and a pretty good image. I was thinking of something like a 5 or 6mm lens but I'm not sure...

What would the recommendations be?

Thanks!

 

Hi, i'm a newbie, 8 months in, but in my limited experience, i'd suggest buying a 12-15mm decent eye piece, and use a 2x barlow when the Seeing is good. I regularly view Jupiter and Saturn with my SkyWatcher 130 newtonian, and i can tease out decent views with a 10mm + 2x barlow ( 5mm ) but only when seeing is good. generally i don't go higher than 10mm on its own, but still get lovely views. The higher mag you go, the more blurry the view, generally speaking. The exception to this rule is when the atmospheric conditions are stable enough to increase mag a lot higher, but these nights, i'm fast learning, are arare! ( Atleast where i live anyhow! lol ) As a side note, a few months back, while viewing the Moon, i managed to get amazingly stable veiws ( no bad seeing at high mag ) with a 3.6mm eye piece combined with a 2x barlow, giving me 500x mag with a 'scope that has a theoretical max mag of 260x ! at the time i wasn't even gonna tell anyone cos i was sure they'd think i was lying or had got my calculations wrong, but i kid you not it's true. here's the formulae-900mm focal length, 3.6mm eye piece, 2x barlow, = 900mm divided by 1.8mm ( 3.6mm halved by 2x barlow ) equals 500x mag ! now i must stress this was one night, in the most perfect of minutes, on a very good seeing night, but it shows there's lots of potential, it's just a matter of all the stars lining up together. ( pun very much intended! haha ) Best of luck ! Wes, Liverpool.

Clear Skies...