8" SCT Owners Favourite Eyepiece's

[Coco]

HI

What are your favourite eyepieces and why?

[John]

When I had an 8" SCT I had 2 favourites:

- 11mm Tele Vue plossl - which gave the best images of Saturn I've ever seen at 181x

- 38mm 2" Super Wide which gave me the widest field of view possible from an 8" SCT - 1.3 degrees true field.

John

[Coco]

When I had an 8" SCT I had 2 favourites:

- 11mm Tele Vue plossl - which gave the best images of Saturn I've ever seen at 181x

- 38mm 2" Super Wide which gave me the widest field of view possible from an 8" SCT - 1.3 degrees true field.

John

Interesting stuff.. Reason is I'm looking to improve my quality of viewing. The standard eyepiece is OK but the Andromeda Galaxy is still a faint fuzzy from my location in Preston NW UK.

I was hoping to see more. Last night I really spent some quality time with my new scope 3 hrs. from 1.00 PM - 2.00 AM. Thank fully there was a hot bath for me when I got in as my wife was still watching telly!!

Most of the messier objects were just light faint wisps. [/]

I'm thinking a better set of eyepieces may improve things?

.

Guy

[John]

Most of the messier objects were just light faint wisps. [/]

I'm thinking a better set of eyepieces may improve things?

.

Guy

Guy,

I have an expensive set of eyepiece and most of the Messiers are still faint patches of light in my 8" scope - but I've come to accept that thats the way they look visually. There are a few brighter ones but only a few.

For better views of deep sky objects I'm going to need more aperture (12 inches is my target) plus darker skies (I'll need to be more mobile).

Either that or I will have to take up deep sky imaging which would require an entirely different set of kit.

So at the moment I've settled for reading up on the objects so that the "pale wisps" become more interesting because I know a bit more about them.

Astronomy is a hobby full of compromises !.

John

[Kai]

My Baader 9mm ortho is the most used in my C8 , lovely clear views of Planets and Lunar.

I tend to use my C8 for "close in" targets and my refractors for Dso.

[Albireo380]

I use a pair of 17mm WO EPs + Binoviewer when observing the Moon. Otherwise (for DSOs) I start with a KKWidescan III 20mm EP (82 degrees afov) and then move through 16mm, 13mm and 11mm Naglers, depending on seeing conditions. If seeing is exceptional, I can use the 9mm Nagler.

Many Messiers are just fuzzies through my 8" SCT, but with my 12" Dob more detail starts to become apparant. Perhaps I should consider a 16" Lightbridge? Andrew (Astrpethean) seems to get a lot of use out of his - and the views do knock your sock's off.

Steve (FLO) is there ever going to be a 16" Skywatcher - Flextube - if so, :hello1:

Tom

[MartinB]

Easy peasy - a Moonfish 30mm UWA. Pinpoint stars to the edge and great FOV. Works just perfectly with the C8 at F10 giving a very useful magnification. The Moonfish isn't so great with scopes faster than F8 but spot on at F10. I have used Pentaxes, Naglers and Panoptics with SCTs without great gains compared with the Moonfish which, at around £80, is a real bargain

[Coco]

Thanks Tom & John

Am just getting a shopping list together.

I'm going to get a 12" Flex Tube also maybe in Feb/March well see.

Anyone else please feel free to contribute

.

Guy

[Psychobilly]

My favourite EP is the 12mm illuminated reticule one I use for aligning the scopes beofre fitting a DSLR or CCD

Remeber you'll need a 2" Visual back adaptor and 2" diagonal as well and you dotn get to use all of the 2" becuase of the restricted aperture in the SCT port on the 8" SCT's....

Billy...

[Albireo380]

Thanks Tom & John

Am just getting a shopping list together.

I'm going to get a 12" Flex Tube also maybe in Feb/March well see.

Anyone else please feel free to contribute

.

Guy

I also use a 30mmKK Widescan III on the 12" Flextube, it has some problems around the edge of the FOV on an f5, but I am still fairly pleased with it. Good widefield views (at x50 magnification) as the tFOV is 1.68 degrees. I guess the cost to get anything better would be huge.

Tom

[John]

I also use a 30mmKK Widescan III on the 12" Flextube, it has some problems around the edge of the FOV on an f5, but I am still fairly pleased with it. Good widefield views (at x50 magnification) as the tFOV is 1.68 degrees. I guess the cost to get anything better would be huge.

Tom

I used to have a KK Widescan III 30mm as well - very nice eyepiece and slightly wider field than even a Nagler ! - some astigmatism at the edges of the field at F/6 I found (to be expected at the price they are) but great light throughput. Had one of my best views of M31 with this eyepiece and my 4" F/6.5 ED refractor.

I only parted with it when I found a bargain Nagler 31mm (relative bargain that is )

John

[Tinkerbell]

Another user of the Moon Fish 30mm UWA.

There's 7 of them in use in our little observing group and 5 of them are used in 8" SCT's.

I can also recommend the 9mm Nagler for those infrequent nights of fantastic seeing :scratch: :laughing2:

[Coco]

Another user of the Moon Fish 30mm UWA.

There's 7 of them in use in our little observing group and 5 of them are used in 8" SCT's.

I can also recommend the 9mm Nagler for those infrequent nights of fantastic seeing :scratch: :laughing2:

I was hoping for something more spectacular than the Celestron 1.25" 32mm E-Lux that came with the scope.

I take on board what everyone has said, One good reason for the Moonfish is it isn't very expensive.

So far I'm thinking 2" Moonfish diagonal and a couple of 2" Ep's.

[MartinB]

The 2" moonfish diagonal is fine as is the 2" ED barlow they make.

[Astroman]

My favorite EP's for the C8 are my 32mm Plossl, in which I locate just about all objects, then I move to my 18mm Celestron Ultima.

"Faint fuzzies" depend on observing skills. The more you look, the more you'll see. Take some time to really look at the objects. Look for patterns or shapes in open clusters, slight variations in brightness in nebulae and galaxies, and try to slowly resolve the centers of globulars.

MHO is a 2" EP is a waste of money on an 8" SCT. Given the central obstruction, you can hardly help to get severe vignetting and the shadow of the secondary being prominent. Unless you plan on getting a scope larger than 10" in the near future, save your money.

[Coco]

My favorite EP's for the C8 are my 32mm Plossl, in which I locate just about all objects, then I move to my 18mm Celestron Ultima.

"Faint fuzzies" depend on observing skills. The more you look, the more you'll see. Take some time to really look at the objects. Look for patterns or shapes in open clusters, slight variations in brightness in nebulae and galaxies, and try to slowly resolve the centers of globulars.

MHO is a 2" EP is a waste of money on an 8" SCT. Given the central obstruction, you can hardly help to get severe vignetting and the shadow of the secondary being prominent. Unless you plan on getting a scope larger than 10" in the near future, save your money.

Ive managed to bag a moonfish 2" diagonal for 30 quid.

Now I need a decent EP to go with it. I will In the near future be buying a 10 or 12" dob so was hoping also for a good EP to cover 2 scopes.

[John]

Ive managed to bag a moonfish 2" diagonal for 30 quid.

Now I need a decent EP to go with it. I will In the near future be buying a 10 or 12" dob so was hoping also for a good EP to cover 2 scopes.

Good deal on the Moonfish diagonal

On the basis that your dob will be around F/5, I would recommend a 30mm eyepiece - that would give you a decent exit pupil with the shorter focal length scope and will work fine with the SCT. The 30mm / 80 degree field Moonfish 2" eyepieces (and their clones) are popular. A 32mm Skywatcher Panaview might also be worth considering.

John

[MarsG76]

I don't think I have a single favorite eyepiece... it always depends on what you're viewing and what the conditions are like. I've had WOW views of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars through the Celestron Ultima 5mm eyepiece, but this eyepiece is not too good for deep space objects unless you want closeups of things like the trapezium in Orion.

For DSO I really like the 11mm Type 6 Nagler and the Celestron LX 25mm eyepieces, those gave me some awesome views of Globs and Nebulae, then there are the 40mm and 7mm LV eyepieces are good for locating objects of looking at planets when the conditions are average. The FOV is not too good at only 40 degrees but the eyepieces are crisp, sharp and have very good contrast and eye relief.

If I had to choose only one eyepiece with what I have used so far, than I would go for the Televue 11mm Type 6 Nagler. Its high power, clear and 82 degrees FOV which makes it an ideal middle ground for planetary and deep space observing.

[Ceramus]

The Revelation 30mm WA gives nice 'window"' views in my 8" lx10. Haven't had a chance to fully try it on my new 300p Flextube (yes, for those faint fuzzies that are not so great on the 8") but I suspect there'll be some come round the edges on the f5 12".

[Peter Drew]

2008 OP!.  For what it's still worth, my favourite or at least most used eyepiece for my 8" SCT is a 8mm-24mm zoom. 

[knobby]

18mm exel lx !

[Stu]

Definitely a zombie thread, back from the dead [emoji12]

21mm Ethos worked brilliantly in my 8" EdgeHD. x96, 1 degree field of view and a 2.1mm exit pupil, ideal for DSOs [emoji106]

[m.tweedy]

Stu I agree about the Zombie thread however since it was started eyepieces have "evolved" I agree the Ethos 21 is brilliant in my SCT's. I am curious if the original posters have changed their opinions since and have new eyepieces to compare.

[Stu]

Stu I agree about the Zombie thread however since it was started eyepieces have "evolved" I agree the Ethos 21 is brilliant in my SCT's. I am curious if the original posters have changed their opinions since and have new eyepieces to compare.

Good point, well made Michael [emoji3][emoji106]

[Grotemobile]

 This one. In the 8" scope.

​http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pentax/PentaxXF85.html

Steve