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Cannot decide help


Mick H

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Hi,

I have Celestron NexStar 8se which came with 25mm and 9mm EP(also have 2xBarlow), I was thinking of maybe getting 12mm or 15mm but need your expertise please.

Also would a Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer help for better views?

I am not doing any AP yet.

Thanks

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I bought a 15mm Celestron Omni plossl to use with mine.

The focal reducer will give you a wider visual field. Alternatively you could get a 32mm or 40mm eyepiece.

As for AP,  I suggest you think of getting some entirely different kit.   The OTA is best suited for planetary astrophotography, and the SE mount it not suited for any sort of astrophotography at all.

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Thanks Geoff, only visual for me, as I did hear the 8se is not suited to AP.

 I am leaning more towards the 15mm.

Just wondering if the Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer would give me better views of DSO's.

 

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If your not doing AP there really is no reason to have it . Main purpose of a Focal Reducer is to make imaging faster by changing your scope from  F/10 to  F/6.3 . this shortens the exposure time in AP . In return tho the trade off is it reduces the object size also . I have tried viewing with mine way back but I prefer not to use it for anything except AP which I haven't done in several  years now cause I've retired from any AP . If your just wanting to view I would suggest a 32mm Plossi or maybe a 40mm Plossi for wide field viewing . I have a 25mm also that came with my C8 I bought back in 97' and it actually is my best  EP for viewing planets and the moon which I used often with a 2x barlow . If you want to go higher viewing and not use a barlow then you might consider a 10mm or around 7.5mm without a barlow .  just remember tho if you go higher power than what your scope recommends the viewing can start degrading and give bad viewing . Besides also when using very high power your actually looking past most objects in the sky , that's why I recommend lower power like the 32mm which you can use with your barlow which in turn makes it a 16mm EP so just remember when using a barlow it doubles your EP from whatever size it is . 

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Thanks celestron8g8, 32mm with Barlow instead of 15mm then its best of both worlds.

I agree 25mm that came with scope has been best for planets and moon for myself aswell.

Edited by Mick H
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2 minutes ago, Mick H said:

Thanks celestron8g8, 32mm with Barlow instead of 15mm then its best of both worlds.

When you buy extra EPs' take into consideration the FOV degs . The 32mm Plossi I have is an older model and only gives me approx. 49 degs of AFOV  . Celestron  sells some that are now 60 and someat a higher cost but has 82 degs AFOV . If you can swing it buy as expensive as you can comfortably afford . Doesn't have to be Celestrons , Telvue sell some very nice EPs' but expensive .  SO if your just getting into astronomy viewing buy wisely until you have got  use to your equipment and how it works best for you . Remember it can get expensive if your not careful . 

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Hello. 

From what I can see from the information above your scope focal ratio is quite slow. This means you can get away with less expensive eyepieces and still get good performance within a sensible budget.

Therefore for slower ratio scopes , people on this site seem to get good performance and reasonable eye relief and field of view from the bst starguide eyepiece range. And sensible money to.

I hope this helps

 

 

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1 hour ago, Mick H said:

👍

Telvue do a 32mm so instead of Focal reducer and 15mm the Telvue 32mm could be the way to go.

Expensive but hopefully I'll only buy it once.

The Tele Vue 32mm plossl is very nice quality but it does not have a wider field of view than any other 32mm eyepiece in the 1.25" format.

Just worth being aware of that.

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Regarding a focal reducer I would say don't get one for visual. I've got one for my C8 as a previous owner did AP with it but I tried it once and have never used it since as I don't use the C8 for wider fields of view.

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46 minutes ago, Mick H said:

It can also get expensive if you don't know if your buying the wrong bit/thing, EP 🤑.

Thats why forums like SGL can bs so useful - just keep asking the questions, there is a heck of a lot of experience on here :smiley:

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  • 1 month later...

Bumping this thread.

I have 24mm which came with my NexStar 8se, I brought a 32mm Celestron Omni Plossl Eyepiece (I could not afford the Tel Due).

Was thinking of getting a Baader Hyperion 68 Degree Eyepiece with the Baader Fine Tuning Rings, but cannot decide between 10mm, 13mm or 17mm.

Does anybody have experience with these and which would be best suited to my setup.

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9 minutes ago, Mick H said:

which would be best suited to my setup

At f10, I don't think you need any fancy eyepieces. Along with your 32mm and 25mm eyepieces, you might want to consider something in the 12-15mm (1.2-1.5mm exit pupil) range for medium power viewing and an eyepiece in the 8-11mm (0.8-1.1mm) range for planetary and very small DSOs. On most nights that's probably all the atmosphere/seeing will allow.

Adding a x2 Barlow might be an idea if either a) you lived in an area of good stability, or b) to expand your eyepiece range (the 24 to 12mm, the 32 to 16mm). If the latter route, you may not even need to purchase anything other than a higher power eyepiece, say something around 8-10mm, or so.

With your 8", a few reasonably priced eyepieces, a dew shield, observing hood (& pirate's eyepatch), an adjustable chair, decent power source and a simple pocket sky atlas and you'll all done. Other than that, for visual work training your eyes to 'observe' is probably more important than any accessory no matter how popular or pricey.

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With the F/10 SCT I'd be tempted to go for a BST Starguiders rather than a Hyperion.  You can get 2 BST Starguiders for the same price as a single Hyperion and their optical quality is pretty much the same at that focal ratio. Actually I think the BST's are better corrected in faster scopes as well.

You could go for the 15mm for 133x and the 12mm for 167x or even the 8mm for 250x.

The Baader FT rings are an interesting concept but somewhat fiddly to fit in "field conditions" because they involve opening up the optics of the eyepiece. Or at least thats what I found when I tried them. I think I'd rather use a decent quality barlow rather than an FT ring.

 

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I compared the Meade HD-60s to the Paradigms/Starguiders in this thread a while back.  Below is an image through each eyepieces (except for the 3.2mm BST for which I have no use) in an f/6 ED refractor.  I think the 12mm and 15mm are too closely spaced to recommend getting both.  I'd get the 8mm, 12mm, and 18mm if three was the target number.  If you wanted to add a fourth, I'd get the 25mm since it comes close to maxing out your true field of view in a 1.25" eyepiece.

Remember, if you buy 2 or 3, FLO gives you a 10% discount. For 4 to 6, a 15% discount.

The focal reducer will allow your existing eyepieces to provide wider true fields of view, so you can avoid buying 2" eyepieces and a 2" diagonal to achieve the same result.  However, you'll want to remove it for high power viewing rather than stacking a barlow behind it.

967372736_MeadeHD-60vsAstroTechParadigm.thumb.jpg.42441146f3ad3b2b31c2b578cb14aab2.jpg

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Just want to burst a myth. Whilst you may not choose to buy a tracking az mount if you know you are going to be doing imaging it is possible to image within the capabilities of a tracking az mount just be aware of the limitations. This whole thread is such members getting the most from the equipment they already own.

Link here

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Hi Mick, the Baader Hyperions will work well in your scope, however, as good an idea as FTR's (fine tuning rings) are, try using them in the dark when the temperature is freezing and your fingers are dropping off one by one!

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