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First light with Panaview 38mm


RobertI

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My first 2" eyepiece arrived recently - a Panaview 38mm. Beautifully put together, with large eye lens and very solid twist up eye cup. My only scope which will take it at the moment is my Tal100RS, so on a largely cloudy night I managed a quick first light.

Problem - the Tal did not quite have enough in focus - literally by a few mm - to get sharp focus. So close yet so far. I have an SCT fit 2" diagonal which is slightly lower profile - as luck would have it I managed to convert it normal use by removing the SCT nosepiece and replacing with my Hyperion 2" fine tuning rings, which had exactly the right thread! This new diagonal provided another 5mm of focus travel and I found I could fully focus.

First views looked very nice and I noticed how the depth of focus was very long - completely the opposite "snapping to focus"! Star shapes were good for 80% of the diameter but any issues beyond that were not really that noticeable unless specifically looking. Star colours were revealed very nicely, normally the Tal gives a yellow cast to everything, but the scope now seemed more like an APO to an achro.

Some other points. Due to the diameter of the eyepiece I found my nose (which is possibly bordering on large) got in the way and I had to turn my head to get my eye fully on the eyepiece. Not an issue though just different. The twist up plastic eye cup worked brilliantly to keep the eye at exactly the right distance from the lens and shield from extraneous light.

Onto some limited observing between the clouds. The ET cluster looked tiny as did some other well known clusters, and M13 was a tiny hazy blob - I realised this was an eyepiece which is suited to very specific things - either sweeping the milky way or viewing large extended objects - none were visible between the clouds sadly. Unfortunately the bright sky and rapidly rising moon meant that the eyepiece could not really shine - dark skies are definitely required and I can imagine how good this eyepiece would be in the inky blackness of a winter's night. I would also be tempted to travel to a dark site to get the best from it.

I would think a 2" UHC or OIII would work really well for the extended nebulae - sadly I have just invested in 1.25" versions and will not be upgrading soon unless a cheap one appears. I've just remebered I have a 2" skywatcher light pollution filter which I have used for imaging in the past - might give that a go next time.

I'll have another go next time out and share the results.

 

 

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6 hours ago, RobertI said:

I would think a 2" UHC or OIII would work really well for the extended nebulae - sadly I have just invested in 1.25" versions and will not be upgrading soon unless a cheap one appears.

Twist the eyecup all the way down and try using the 1.25" eyepieces between your eye and the eyepiece.  You should be able to hand-hold them and slide them into the light path.

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Thank you Rob, for your first impression of the Panaview 38. I hope you have many clear nights and that the eyepiece will introduce you to some spectacular wide views. It's just perfect for observing larger clusters and the Milky Way.

I'm a big fan of wide views of lunar eclipses, with the Moon all red and dark, and surrounded by many stars. So pretty. That by itself justifies having a wide, low magnification eyepiece!

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1 hour ago, Louis D said:

Twist the eyecup all the way down and try using the 1.25" eyepieces between your eye and the eyepiece.  You should be able to hand-hold them and slide them into the light path.

Good suggestion Louis, I’ll give that a go next time out. 

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1 hour ago, Ruud said:

Thank you Rob, for your first impression of the Panaview 38. I hope you have many clear nights and that the eyepiece will introduce you to some spectacular wide views. It's just perfect for observing larger clusters and the Milky Way.

I'm a big fan of wide views of lunar eclipses, with the Moon all red and dark, and surrounded by many stars. So pretty. That by itself justifies having a wide, low magnification eyepiece!

Thanks Ruud and thanks for suggestion about lunar eclipses. Funnily enough I did also briefly look at the rising moon last night and it was lovely to see framed in such a wide field and in so much detail. 🙂

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