Eyepiece performance on planets.

[Guest]

Over the years I have owned many different telescopes. The first was an 80mm Towa refractor. I owned this telescope from 1981 to when it was sold in 1997. I remember seeing Mars, Jupiter and Saturn so crisp and sharp. I used the stock one inch eyepieces. Then came a 9 inch f5 Newtonian and a Meade LX 90 eight inch.I used Antares W70 eyepieces with these telescopes. Again the views on these planets were memorable indeed. This is not looking back with rose tinted spectacles either.

I now have a set of 82° Explore Scientific eyepieces which I think are good. But the views of these planets have been consistently below what I have seen in previous years. Always struggle to see the Cassini division on Saturn. I have owned some nice telescopes. SCTs Maksutov's several ED refrators. Just wondered if it was my aging eyes, consistently poor seeing conditions. Or perhaps the Explore Scientific eyepieces just don't suit my eyes any more and I should try different brands for ones that would suit my eyes better. I would be interested in your opinions and experiences.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Guest

[Nik271]

I suspect the main problem is the low elevation of the bright planets in recent years (Saturn, Jupiter at just 15 degrees). I have also found that for the planets I don't need large field of view and an ordinary Plossl or Kellner is good enough. The simple eyepieces have just 3-4 glass elements in them and this helps with contrast. And they are all fine in the centre of the field where we actually observe the planet.

Having said that this summer half of the time I was observing I also struggled to spot the Cassini even with a 7 inch Mak. I think the poor seeing is the major factor.

[John]

The best views of the planets that I have had were when they were much higher in the sky. Mars was quite good at times this opposition (higher than the last one) but otherwise Jupiter and Saturn have not been as good as I have seen them in the past by some margin. This is regardless of the eyepieces being used.

I think it is tempting to switch around eyepieces quite a bit searching for the best views and it is fun (I've done it a lot in the past ) but in reality they are quite low down in Suiters "Wobbly Stack" of factors that impact image quality:

Perhaps I would have been better to save my £'s for a holiday home somewhat further south

[SiriusB]

I've not seen Cassini division in 2020 using 70-150mm aperture. Saturn disappointing this year for me (apart from the Jupiter "fly-by")

My eyes not so young as they used to be either, 😉 but plus one for the low elevation being your primary problem.

Interestingly Jupiter has appeared far better  to me this  year (relative to it's low elevation), than i recall from distant memories past ??

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have had pretty good views on Mars this opposition, Jupiter and Saturn were simply too low. I will stick to my Pentax XW, Delos, and Vixen SLV EPs, rather than go back to Plössls, orthos, or achromatic symmetric EPs of short focal length. With my astigmatism, the latter simply don't work