which eye piece for DSO

[mastodon]

could anyone let me know what would be the best size eye piece for observing DSO with my skywatcher explorer 130 pm or maybe suggest a decent upgrade that won't break the bank.i have seen a few objects including andromeda but don't think i'm getting the besy out of my scope.

[red dwalf]

I have the same scope (Skywatcher 130p) and i have the same problem with DSO`s,

mainly because of the light pollution here, andromeda was a faint smuge and i think thats about all you will get, but i use something like a 15-20mm eyepiece, if i go much closer it looses contrast and disapears and you can`t make anything out, same with nebulas, maybe a decent barlow may help as the ones that come with the scope are not that good (economy version) i`m thinking of getting a 2x TAL from FLO , about £30 and have had some good wright ups about them.

[John]

For DSO's you generally want a low power eyepiece. A 32mm Plossl offers as wide a field of view as you can get in a 1.25 inch eyepiece and are not too expensive - 2nd hand £20 or so.

Most DSO's do look like faint smudges to be honest - fascinating all the same though onces you know what you are looking at !.

John

[Doc]

As John has already mentioned. A low power eyepiece 30-32mm size would be best.

Galaxies allways look like a grey smudge and in smaller scopes details are pretty hard to see when you are looking through light pollution. Dark skies are a must for galaxies.

[mdstuart]

But of course with higher power comes a darker background which allows you to go at least 0.5mag deeper and see things that are invisible at 30mm. On my old skywatcher I often used a 6.4mm lens on the smaller fainter fuzzies to bring them out better but as other have said all just little fuzzies.

I once tried to apply for a messier club but I was told "faint fuzzy patch just visible with averted vision was not a good enough description.. .but unless you have a 34inch scope and live in scotland then M74 is just a faint fuzzy patch!

Soon you will want a 6/8/10/12/16 inch!

Mark

[scotastro]

When I tested the Explorer 130P AZ GOTO with a number of more expensive EPs including Vixen Lanthanums costing £100+, the result was I thought the supplied 25mm and 10mm EPs gave very good views.

DSOs comprise such a variety of size and brightness - more than anything the amount of light pollution is the biggest factor effecting the view.

Mike

[mastodon]

thanks for the info people.when funds allow (the wife) i'll invest in a 32mm eyepiece.

[StokieMarc]

Do light pollution filter work well or not??

Cheers

Marc

[Merlin]

Light pollution filters are for better views of different types of nebulae, they don't make the stars brighter. A galaxy consists mostly of stars, so a filter won't make any difference.