Recommendations for eyepieces for Star Discovery 150P please

[Old Clive]

Hi 👋.  I'm completely new to this astronomy lark, and I've just purchased a Star Discovery 150P, now waiting for it to arrive. 

I'm aware that the eyepieces supplied (10m and 25mm) are not of great quality, so am thinking of upgrading, and would appreciate advice.

My budget at the moment is limited to £150 or so, and I'm interested in viewing only. I'd like to see planets and DSO as well as possible within my budget.

FLO are offering a Baader Hyperion 8mm to 24mm zoom with a Baader Zoom Barlow for £235. Would this be a good option? Or would two or three fixed eyepieces such as the BST StarGuiders (with a Barlow) be a better option? Or are there other makes that I should consider (OVL Nirvana)?

Sorry - but there just seems to be so much choice !

Thanks 

[hms_furious]

As a relative newbie who has a 127mak who just last weekend got a 150i, I purchased that exact package. For ease of use in the dark and for not being sure exact what eye piece you need in the pitch black it can't be beaten in my view.

[wulfrun]

A zoom is a personal thing, some love them, some don't. The Baader and barlow are well regarded and would certainly cover most of your likely needs. Be aware though that zooms usually have a narrow field of view at the longer end, which is not the most useful. If you go the zoom route you'll probably want to supplement it with a fixed EP at the longest end for finding stuff and for larger DSOs. Your 25mm could serve that purpose initially though, it's not too bad a quality until you feel the need for something better.

Give us some idea of budget and you'll get more suggestions.

Edited March 7, 2021 by wulfrun
corrected error

[Tiny Clanger]

This thread is well worth reading:

Many folk like zoom eyepieces, but every and any choice of optical equipment involves compromises, and my personal prejudice ( after decades of experience with photographic lenses) is for primes,

As wulfrun says, the stock 25mm should do fine for the moment, no need to upgrade that instantly. I'd suggest waiting until you have used the 'scope a bit to make the decision where to spend your £150, it may well be that your experience with the setup points you to something else which needs an upgrade in that initial extras budget  : I think the 150p is a go to ? You may find your money best spent on a powerbank and maybe one 8mm eyepiece, but you won't know until you give it a  try.

Heather

[Spile]

My advice would be to spend the waiting time planning your targets with a copy of Turn Left at Orion and reading the posts on here.

I would definitely not spend any money until you have spent time with your telescope and found what is can and cannot do. For example, you may decide that an alternative finder is a priority over a zoom eyepiece or maybe you decide that only need to replace the 10mm one? Then there are the accessories like a chair and red light you may need to consider.

[Second Time Around]

I totally agree with Wulfrun.

I'd very much recommend a zoom eyepiece as your workhorse.  One zoom eyepiece will cover multiple focal lengths and so is really excellent value for money.  Despite having high quality fixed focal length eyepieces, I use my Baader zoom a lot more often.  The zoom plus a Barlow and a low power, wide field eyepiece is often all I use the whole evening.  I also agree with Wulfram that your existing 25mm eyepiece will fulfil this role to begin with.

Fixed focal length eyepieces may be slightly better corrected when compared with a zoom at the same magnification.   But that's not always a fair comparison as that magnification may not be the optimum for a given object.  This is because one of the many advantages of a zoom is to be able to dial in precisely the best focal length.  For instance, this may be 13mm or even 13.1mm, which may actually show more detail than shorter or longer fixed focal length eyepieces.  

I particularly like the ability to increase the magnification to make use of brief moments of good seeing (a steady atmosphere).  It takes more time to swap out an eyepiece, and the opportunity may then be missed.  You can't see anything if you haven't got an eyepiece in the focusser!

Zooms also enable the field of view to be varied to frame an object to get the prettiest view.  For this reason I particularly like them for clusters.

Many of those who post here and advocate fixed focal lengths are experienced observers.  It's so easy to forget what it was like as a beginner!  A zoom eyepiece enables beginners to easily learn what difference a change of magnification makes on all the various classes of object.  It also shows them what focal lengths would be most useful to their eyes, their telescope, and their observing conditions.  They then have the option of buying/not buying the most appropriate fixed focal length eyepieces for them.  For these reasons I'd always recommend that beginners buy a zoom as their first eyepiece.

I too bought the Baader zoom + Barlow package when I first returned to astronomy.  I later added a dual 1.5/2x Barlow, and that gets more use than the Baader 2.25x Barlow.  My scopes are f/6 and f/4.8.  With your f/8 scope I think the lower power Barlow would definitely be a better bet.

These dual 1.5x/2x Barlows allow the black lens cell to be unscrewed from the body of the Barlow and then screwed into the filter thread at the bottom of an eyepiece to give approx 1.5x.  Very often this won't be in the blurb, but FLO do one in their Astro Essentials range that even has a standard T thread at the top for attaching a camera.  It's just £25.  Go to https://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlows/astro-essentials-125-2x-barlow-with-t-thread.html

The exact amplification varies from eyepiece to eyepiece depending on where the field stop is located.  At 2x with the Baader zoom this will give you magnifications of approx 100-300x.  Most nights the seeing won't be good enough to go beyond this and you'd get more use from the approx 75-225x that 1.5x amplification will give you. 

Additionally, at a given magnification the field of view will be bigger with 1.5x amplification.  This is because the vast majority of zooms have a wider field of view at the high power end.

Later, on the rare occasions you want to go higher in power than 300x you could buy an inexpensive extension tube to fit just above the Barlow cell.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Second Time Around

[wulfrun]

19 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

With your f/8 scope I think the lower power Barlow would definitely be a better bet.

I may be mistaken but I think the OP's scope is a 150/750, so f/5.

[Tiny Clanger]

12 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

I may be mistaken but I think the OP's scope is a 150/750, so f/5.

I assumed so too , this was the first link my search threw out

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p-go-to-reflector/

[Second Time Around]

6 hours ago, wulfrun said:

I may be mistaken but I think the OP's scope is a 150/750, so f/5.

Whoops! Sorry, you're right.  😳  Then the Baader zoom will be a good fit.

I'll leave the original post up though as it may help others.

[GSmith]

I looked at the Baader zoom but ended up getting the Celestron 8-24 instead as it was a fair bit cheaper. I’m very pleased with it.