Just a quickie re eyepieces for skywatcher 127 mak

[davekelley]

Just popped outside, skies not yet fully dark, Saturn and Jupiter  Skywatcher 127.  Just comparing views with various budget level swa ep's.  Conditions not ideal planets low in the sky and fov includes partial buildings but same conditions for each eyepiece.  Nirvanah 16mm, nice views of both planets, bright, sharp, no real surface detail visible due to conditions, Nirvanah 7mm...image goes a bit mushy now can't get sharp focus but very bright, very nice views of both planets, Speers Waler 13.4mm, loss of brightness and not quite as sharp as either of the Nirvana's!  Finally 24mm Hyperion, best view of saturn by far, small but tack sharp and loads of contrast, jupiter not so great but it's so low in the sky.  GSO 32mm plossl gave nice view also but very low power.  Given that the Hyperion provides the maximum FOV possible for this scope and the sharpest most contrasty image, it gets the thumbs up here!   Odd because people laud the Speers on here and seem to diss Hyperions somewhat.  Just my little opinion folks.  I'm surprised but it's interesting.

Clear skies 

Dave

[Rob Sellent]

Nice report, Dave and glad to hear you're getting some nice views. I think Hyperions are good eyepieces and are only questioned in scopes faster than f6 or so. In your f12, I imagine they're the business 🙂

Edited September 1, 2019 by Rob Sellent

[davekelley]

I was surprised at the Hyperion beating the Nirvanas and especially the Speers-waler, but I guess under far from perfect conditions, lower power often produces better results, however the Hyperion 13.4 was quite a lot better than Nirvana 16mm imo.  I don't like the size of the Hyperion or the fact that the rubber eyeguards fall off too easily, and it's difficult to tighten the holding screws due to the fat shape, but definitely the best view by far.

Edited September 1, 2019 by davekelley
typo

[John]

Interesting report Dave but in all honesty it can be misleading to compare the performance of eyepieces that deliver greatly varying magnifications. The seeing conditions are likely to be responsible for more of the variations you see than the eyepiece from my experience.

Hyperions are great in slow scopes such as the mak-cassegrain 127 (I assume your Skywatcher 127 is the mak-cassegrain) but show noticable astigmatism (elongated stars) in the outer parts of the field of view when the focal ratio of the scope drops much below around F/8-F/8 and thats when they get some stick from observers who use them in such scopes.

Of the ones that I've owned and used, the shorter focal length Speers-WALERS seem to perform better generally than the longer ones.

The Nirvanas are fine eyepieces and deliver very close to Tele Vue Nagler performance, especially in a scope like yours.

 

[Carbon Brush]

A vote from me for Hyperions. Yes they are jam jar size and weight. But if the scope is up to holding them, they give good views.
 

[davekelley]

17 minutes ago, John said:

Interesting report Dave but in all honesty it can be misleading to compare the performance of eyepieces that deliver greatly varying magnifications. The seeing conditions are likely to be responsible for more of the variations you see than the eyepiece from my experience.

Hyperions are great in slow scopes such as the mak-cassegrain 127 (I assume your Skywatcher 127 is the mak-cassegrain) but show noticable astigmatism (elongated stars) in the outer parts of the field of view when the focal ratio of the scope drops much below around F/8-F/8 and thats when they get some stick from observers who use them in such scopes.

Of the ones that I've owned and used, the shorter focal length Speers-WALERS seem to perform better generally than the longer ones.

The Nirvanas are fine eyepieces and deliver very close to Tele Vue Nagler performance, especially in a scope like yours.

 

 

[davekelley]

I've confused myself.  My Speers is a 13.4mm, hyperion is 24mm..  I bought they hyperion for maximum fov, to use as a finder/general low-ish power ep.  It is going to prove to be a far more useful ep.   My  Nirvahas came in boxes marked "Helios"  but it's all GSO is it not?

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by davekelley

[Louis D]

On 01/09/2019 at 15:39, davekelley said:

Given that the Hyperion provides the maximum FOV possible for this scope and the sharpest most contrasty image, it gets the thumbs up here! 

I often find that backing off on the power to the lowest amount that still resolves details works best.