A few accessories for my Celestron SE8

[startreker1]

I recently got a celestron SE8 on the standard fork mount base, and it was the observers package, which included a power tank, power adapters, some filters, and a wifi module. I do want to get a dew shield, and am thinking of the Baader 8-24 zoom eyepiece. If I get that zoom, I think I should get one more eyepiece, and am wondering if it should be another in a lower power, but with as wide a fov I can get with a 1.25 setup, since the included 25mm is so small a fov.. I do not really want to go with a 2" setup, as I heard some cons on them with the SE8's. I know I could make it go with some reconfiguring, but I am going to stay with the 1.25. I do not have a big budget, but if I were to get one more eyepiece, I was thinking possibly of the orion stratuses, or something similar that is water (dew) proof. I want to do some deep sky viewing, besides the moon and planets. I do understand somewhat what focal reducers do, but not sure I really even need one, with not doing astrophotography. I know that the 20 and 24mm's on the zoom do not have a very good fov, but the higher x's do. I feel I would use the higher x's quite a bit to make it worth having the zoom tho. I like the convenience of not having to change eyepieces so much, and that zoom is parfocal. Does anyone have a recommendation for one more eyepiece of lower power? Thankyou

[Cosmic Geoff]

I mostly use the original 25mm Plossl, a 15mm plossl and  8-24mm zoom eyepiece with my C8 SE.   You could also get a 32mm plossl which will give a wider field at low cost.

My Zoom is not perfectly parfocal and the zoom mechanism is very stiff.

The Orion Stratus eyepieces look expensive. If you are on a budget you should forget them and stick to plossl and other eyepieces in the £50 range which will be adequate for a f10 'scope.

You can make a dew shield yourself from cardboard, or foam matting, and put the money saved towards an eyepiece.

[jonathan]

I've found that the Baader Hyperion 8-24 zoom is an excellent performer in the 8SE, and the 25mm Plossl is an excellent starter eyepiece (shove that in first while you do setup etc), just beware that the zoom is heavier so you may wish to balance for that before you do setup, or go for a balance between that and the 25mm Plossl.  As Geoff said, don't spend a lot on a single eyepiece for the 8SE, you likely won't get the benefit, look to the Plossl ranges but also consider that the 8SE won't get a benefit from super wide angle eyepieces either (unless you go 2"), usually it will say on the item page what scope it's suitable or unsuitable for.  I was a bit disappointed with Celestron's (non-Plossl) eyepiece ranges in my 8SE, they're not the greatest eyepieces anyway but do seem to have better potential in my other scopes.

I bought the AstroZap 8" SCT Dew Shield and rate it highly, worth the money; nice and thin, strong, holds a really good shape, has a nice finish on the outside and a matt material inside so should be excellent for preventing condensation forming on the inside and also negate any stray light rays.  I also have a few AstroZap dew heater tapes (main OTA, eyepiece, finder), although I found the HitechAstro 4 channel dew heater controller much better than the AstroZap one.  I reckon the dew shield and at least one 8" dew heater tape should be your priority if you intend to observe in anything but dry mild evenings (unsurprisingly rare in the UK!)

 

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by jonathan

[baggywrinkle]

I concur on the Hyperion Zoom. Excellent and give decent perfomance but sometime a soft at 8mm, a lot of that due to seeing.

With regards dewshield look at W&W Astro. UK based,excellent value and Barbara can combine a dew heater within the shield. I now buy all my dew shoedl from W&W.