2.5mm on a skywatcher 200p??

[superjody]

Hi all
Looking for an eyepiece for my 200p
Been away from astronomy for a few years, sold all my stuff but now im back.
im looking for a good planetary eyepiece with good eye relief  up to £50.
I used to have a tmb 6mm which i liked and used that with a x2 barlow on my skywatcher 250p.
Ive been looking at the skywatcher UWA range as they seem to tick all the boxes.......but they are out of stock.
I have found one place that has the 2.5mm in stock but im not sore if that will be too much on mine.
It will give x400 magnification and mines capable of 405 x magnification.....but i live in radcliffe near manchester so the skies are not amazing.
Any thoughts??
Thanks

[paul mc c]

I have a TMB 6mm in the for sale section if interested.....

Paul

[John]

6mm, 5mm or even 4mm will be much more use. I rarely use 400x with my 12 inch scope.

 

 

[superjody]

2 hours ago, paul mc c said:

I have a TMB 6mm in the for sale section if interested.....

Paul

saw that earlier, im considering it but im looking at a higher magnification at the mo

[paul mc c]

Of course, as Jonh says you could to 4mm,but I think the 2.5mm would be too much. 

[Ricochet]

2 hours ago, superjody said:

mines capable of 405 x magnification

On double stars. For planets it's about half of that before diffraction starts scrubbing detail from the image. In addition, the UK atmosphere will often limit you to 150-250x, which would be matched by eyepieces in the 8-4mm range. 

[Stu]

Which other eyepieces to you have @superjody? If you’ve got everything else covered, then very high power is occasionally useful on nights of excellent seeing on the Moon or Doubles say, but it will be fairly infrequent. As others have said, a lower power will be much more useable.

[bish]

I rarely feel the need for anything more than my 4.5mm with a 250px. I do have a 2x barlow I could use with a 6.7mm for more mag but can"t even remember the last time I used it.

Edited December 12, 2020 by bish

[Louis D]

If I may ask, why is a super high power eyepiece your primary focus when reentering amateur astronomy when it will rarely be useful due to sky conditions on a select few categories of objects?  Are you big into splitting tight doubles?

[superjody]

21 hours ago, Stu said:

Which other eyepieces to you have @superjody? If you’ve got everything else covered, then very high power is occasionally useful on nights of excellent seeing on the Moon or Doubles say, but it will be fairly infrequent. As others have said, a lower power will be much more useable.

only have the 10 and 25mm that came with the scope, only had it a couple of weeks

[superjody]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

If I may ask, why is a super high power eyepiece your primary focus when reentering amateur astronomy when it will rarely be useful due to sky conditions on a select few categories of objects?  Are you big into splitting tight doubles?

never used one at this power and its the only one the shop has in, everything else is out of stock
im after a high powered one with good detail within the £50 range for now.
Il probably hold on for the 4mm to come back in stock

[Stu]

1 minute ago, superjody said:

only have the 10 and 25mm that came with the scope, only had it a couple of weeks

In that case I would probably spend money on some other, lower powered eyepieces first. Jupiter and Saturn are low for quite a few years yet, and Mars is heading away from opposition so is not so rewarding. Other lower power targets are likely to be better.

[Dark Vader]

I only had the 25 and 10 that came with my 200p, and apart from a 21-7 zoom, I got 2 BST Starguiders - the 15 and 5mm.

The 15mm may only give 80x but it's a great bit of "budget" kit. The 5mm gives 240x and I've had good views of Mars with it, but even 240x is on the limit of "useful" magnification most nights. Both are great on the moon, I much prefer the clarity of the 15mm. It Barlows well too. Sometimes less can be more.

They do a 3.2mm that would push your scope up to 375x but only when conditions allow, and in the UK that won't be often. 

[Stu]

12 hours ago, Dark Vader said:

I only had the 25 and 10 that came with my 200p, and apart from a 21-7 zoom, I got 2 BST Starguiders - the 15 and 5mm.

The 15mm may only give 80x but it's a great bit of "budget" kit. The 5mm gives 240x and I've had good views of Mars with it, but even 240x is on the limit of "useful" magnification most nights. Both are great on the moon, I much prefer the clarity of the 15mm. It Barlows well too. Sometimes less can be more.

They do a 3.2mm that would push your scope up to 375x but only when conditions allow, and in the UK that won't be often. 

Great advice there. So often less is more in terms of mag. I used x360 a few times on Mars this year with my 8” f8 when the seeing was very good, but that is not very often unfortunately.

[Paz]

I agree with the comments that 2.5mm is going to be of use much less often, something around 4-5mm would get more use. I have a 2.5mm Vixen SLV and a 3.5mm Delos which are great but they don't get used much. More often I'll max out at a 4mm or 6mm SLV, or a 4.5mm Delos when using a small/mid sized scope of around f5-f7.

[superjody]

On 12/12/2020 at 20:50, Dark Vader said:

I only had the 25 and 10 that came with my 200p, and apart from a 21-7 zoom, I got 2 BST Starguiders - the 15 and 5mm.

The 15mm may only give 80x but it's a great bit of "budget" kit. The 5mm gives 240x and I've had good views of Mars with it, but even 240x is on the limit of "useful" magnification most nights. Both are great on the moon, I much prefer the clarity of the 15mm. It Barlows well too. Sometimes less can be more.

They do a 3.2mm that would push your scope up to 375x but only when conditions allow, and in the UK that won't be often. 

The bst are in the budget im looking at but they are out of stock
How bad would the 3.2 be under normal conditions compared to the 5mm?
Il definitely be getting some low powered wide eyepieces

[Dark Vader]

Have a look here https://skys-the-limit-108154.square.site/shop/1-25-bst-starguider-ed/8 looks like they still have some...

Tbh i find the 5mm is pushing it a bit most nights. The difference between that and the 3.2? - it will push your magnification up by 135x and very often at the expense of clarity. I've seen more detail on Jupiter with the 15mm than the 5.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Dark Vader

[John]

The 3.2mm is of similar optical quality to the 5mm but the magnification that these eyepieces produce in your scope is what makes the difference. 240x (the 5mm) is a useful magnification on the planets, moon and double stars quite often. 375x (the 3.2mm) would rarely be useful.

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by John

[Don Pensack]

On 11/12/2020 at 10:22, superjody said:

Hi all
Looking for an eyepiece for my 200p
Been away from astronomy for a few years, sold all my stuff but now im back.
im looking for a good planetary eyepiece with good eye relief  up to £50.
I used to have a tmb 6mm which i liked and used that with a x2 barlow on my skywatcher 250p.
Ive been looking at the skywatcher UWA range as they seem to tick all the boxes.......but they are out of stock.
I have found one place that has the 2.5mm in stock but im not sore if that will be too much on mine.
It will give x400 magnification and mines capable of 405 x magnification.....but i live in radcliffe near manchester so the skies are not amazing.
Any thoughts??
Thanks

The fairly complete set for a scope that size would yield magnifications of 50x/100x/150x/200x/250x

50x is a great low power--splurge for a 2" widefield to get a nice large field.  Great for star clusters, M42, M31, and large objects.

100x would be a most-used, highest-acuity eyepiece excellent on most DSOs.

150x would be a higher normal range magnification for smaller DSOs.  Also good on Moon, planets, double stars.

200x would be a high power eyepiece for Moon, planets, double stars, small planetary nebulae, and the like.

250x would be for excellent seeing conditions for Moon, planets, double stars.  Used often when seeing is really good.

Higher powers probably will see very little use.

With a 1200mm focal length, that is eyepieces of 24mm, 12mm, 8mm, 6mm, and 4.8mm

 

I would skip anything higher until you know more about your seeing conditions.

Right now, Jupiter and Saturn are quite low in the atmosphere and unlikely to be good above 150x or so.  And Mars, though still high up, has gotten quite small.  200-250x makes sense IF the atmosphere allows.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Don Pensack

[superjody]

4 hours ago, Dark Vader said:

Have a look here https://skys-the-limit-108154.square.site/shop/1-25-bst-starguider-ed/8 looks like they still have some...

Tbh i find the 5mm is pushing it a bit most nights. The difference between that and the 3.2? - it will push your magnification up by 135x and very often at the expense of clarity. I've seen more detail on Jupiter with the 15mm than the 5.

15mm shows jupiter detail?? i didnt think that would be powerful enough.
Cheers for the link, i did find a website that had some but they are cheaper on yours

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by superjody

[superjody]

3 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

The fairly complete set for a scope that size would yield magnifications of 50x/100x/150x/200x/250x

50x is a great low power--splurge for a 2" widefield to get a nice large field.  Great for star clusters, M42, M31, and large objects.

100x would be a most-used, highest-acuity eyepiece excellent on most DSOs.

150x would be a higher normal range magnification for smaller DSOs.  Also good on Moon, planets, double stars.

200x would be a high power eyepiece for Moon, planets, double stars, small planetary nebulae, and the like.

250x would be for excellent seeing conditions for Moon, planets, double stars.  Used often when seeing is really good.

Higher powers probably will see very little use.

With a 1200mm focal length, that is eyepieces of 24mm, 12mm, 8mm, 6mm, and 4.8mm

 

I would skip anything higher until you know more about your seeing conditions.

Right now, Jupiter and Saturn are quite low in the atmosphere and unlikely to be good above 150x or so.  And Mars, though still high up, has gotten quite small.  200-250x makes sense IF the atmosphere allows.

 

 

thanks, thats a great explanation.
Mines only 1000.. focal length though, il do the calculations
The 5mm will give me 200

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, superjody said:

thanks, thats a great explanation.
Mines only 1000.. focal length though, il do the calculations
The 5mm will give me 200

The 200p Dobsonian is 1200mm focal length, f6. Is this the one you have? It’s the 200pds which is 1000mm.

[Dark Vader]

22 minutes ago, superjody said:

15mm shows jupiter detail?? i didnt think that would be powerful enough.
Cheers for the link, i did find a website that had some but they are cheaper on yours

 

No problem at all. 

It's a lower mag image with the 15 but the clarity is better so more detail visible when the conditions allow. 

[superjody]

16 minutes ago, Stu said:

The 200p Dobsonian is 1200mm focal length, f6. Is this the one you have? It’s the 200pds which is 1000mm.

 

mines the 200p 1000mm black tube on an eq5

[SMF]

Hi, I also have the 200p F5 1000mm EQ mount and an OO VX12L dob, live in a Bortle 4 area on the south coast and to be frank rarely get seeing that allows the use of a 5mm eyepiece let alone higher mag. My most used for Jupiter, Saturn and Mars this year has been a 7mm. I also have a 3.5mm and it’s used on exceptional seeing conditions. Great to have when useable but I sourced a 5, 7 and 10 first and like I said it’s the 7mm that’s most used. The difference between an eyepiece that came with the scope and any upgrade from Celestron X-Cel to Pentax XW is night and day.