Is 44x Low Enough?

[celestron8g8]

With normal use and my Celestron C8 i use a 32mm Plossi for normal WFV . If i need wider then i attach the 2" diagonal and add a 2" Plossi EP and that gives me the wider suitable view . I once took the diagonal out and used my 1-1/4" 32mm Plossi through the visual back . How ever it calls for alot of refocusing in and out and very uncomfortable trying to view in the EP being so low to the ground . But the view was amazing but small objects . I find it easier to just use the 2" diagonal and EP than to try that again . Other than that i use the 1-1/4" diagonal and EP .

[Don Pensack]

21 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Well, about 250 CAD i guess, i think my next eyepiece will need to have better eye relief, i am tired of touching eyeball to glass as i do with my ES 14mm 82 degree.

Some possibilities compatible with glasses:

Baader: Hyperions, Morpheuses

Explore Scientific: 30x82, 28-40x68, 12-17x92, 26-40x62, 30-40x52

TeleVue: Delites, Deloses, 32-55 Plössl, Apollo 11, 27-41 Panoptics, 22-31 Naglers, 17 Nagler marginal (a bit tight)

Olivon (BST or Barsta): 70° Series, 58° series (marginal--a bit tight)

Pentax: XWs, XFs

APM: 12.5x84, 24x65, 30x70

Vixen: 2.5-25 SLV

 

There are others, but that gives you some choices.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Don Pensack

[Graham Darke]

Very low power wide field observing is great for dark nebulae observation too. The summer Milky Way particularly is awash with these. Other objects which are great at low power too are M31 and M33. 

[jetstream]

10 hours ago, Graham Darke said:

Very low power wide field observing is great for dark nebulae observation too. The summer Milky Way particularly is awash with these.

A favorite of mine too those dark nebs and in particular around Aquila and M24. In the f7- f7.5mm refractors I use the Vixen 42mm LVW, which is a nice but not perfect eyepiece. It is good enough for its intended use that I see no reason to replace it. It works well on the Pleiades as well.

[John]

5 hours ago, jetstream said:

A favorite of mine too those dark nebs and in particular around Aquila and M24. In the f7- f7.5mm refractors I use the Vixen 42mm LVW, which is a nice but not perfect eyepiece. It is good enough for its intended use that I see no reason to replace it. It works well on the Pleiades as well.

Sounds like the Aero ED 40mm. Its surprisingly good

I guess the 41mm Panoptic would be slightly better in the F/5.3 dob but a used one of those would cost me 7x what I paid for the Aero ED.

 

[jetstream]

3 hours ago, John said:

Sounds like the Aero ED 40mm. Its surprisingly good

I guess the 41mm Panoptic would be slightly better in the F/5.3 dob but a used one of those would cost me 7x what I paid for the Aero ED.

 

Does the Aero do well on the Merope John? I'm curious about scatter control. The 42mm LVW has eye placement issues and to some astigmatism. This eyepieces has shown me the Vega and Double Double IFN however.

For some reason the Panoptic series has never really piqued my interest. BTW the 17.3 Delos is fantastic in its role as galaxy finder- and also pulling those extra, faint stars out of the trapezium.

[John]

53 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Does the Aero do well on the Merope John? I'm curious about scatter control. The 42mm LVW has eye placement issues and to some astigmatism. This eyepieces has shown me the Vega and Double Double IFN however.

For some reason the Panoptic series has never really piqued my interest. BTW the 17.3 Delos is fantastic in its role as galaxy finder- and also pulling those extra, faint stars out of the trapezium.

I've not observed Merope with the 40mm Aero ED for sometime Gerry - hopefully we have some better skies forecast for the coming week so I will try it.

I agree that the 17.3 Delos is excellent

The 24mm Panoptic is the only one from that series that I own or have used. I guess because I like to have a "widest field" 1.25 inch eyepiece. I also rather like it's cute mushroom shape !

 

 

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, jetstream said:

For some reason the Panoptic series has never really piqued my interest.

I used the 27mm Panoptic for years at that focal length until replacing it recently with the 30mm APM UFF.  The Panoptic is a bit sharper on axis, but has worse eye relief, more field curvature, and more edge astigmatism than the UFF.

At 40mm, I use my Meade 5000 SWA that I picked up for $125 when Ningbo Sunny bought Meade and cancelled their remaining SWA and UWA orders with JOC (Explore Scientific).  That's how the crop of Explore Scientific Maxvision eyepieces came to be.  Once decloaked, it's been my favorite lowest power eyepiece.  It's close enough to the 41mm Panoptic that I've never felt the need to buy one.

[scarp15]

The 41mm Panoptic has become a quite transformative eyepiece since I took a punt on one through ebay last year. Barnard's Loop, a decisive observation, the California Nebula, revealing in totality and surface texture. Average sky condition is SQM(L) 21.3, a step up to 21.5 - 21.6 mag would be highly engaging. The most remarkable aspect is the exit pupil, 7.73mm in the 14" dob (equipped with a paracorr), within the right circumstances unlocking new doors, to new possibilities. Looking forward to later in the year working through Cygnus. The only downside has been the so far poor season for opportunities to observe in particularly good transparency. This eyepiece with my TV-85 equates as 14.6x, 5.8mm exit pupil, 4.4 degree TFOV.