Need best eyepiece recommendations (Celestron 70mm refractor)

[sparshg]

I got a Celestron Specialty Series Travel Scope 70mm which came with 10mm (40x) and 20mm (20x) eyepieces.

 

Specifications:

• Focal ratio: f/5.71
• Optical Design: Refractor
• Aperture (mm): 70 mm
• Focal length: 400 mm
• Highest Useful Magnification: 165x
• Lowest Useful Magnification: 10x
• Resolution (Rayleigh): 1.99 arc seconds
• Resolution (Dawes): 1.66 arc seconds

 

I’m looking for the best possible magnifications and combinations that would lemme look at planets more clearly and up to an extent for deep sky objects.

I'll soon be moving to a town-city area (Needham, MA) if that is of concern for location.

Can someone recommend the eyepieces/accessories/etc. I could buy? Any other opinions?

 

Thanks

Edited April 10, 2022 by sparshg
deleted unnecessary specifications

[mikeDnight]

I was observing with my 60mm Carton refractor only a few nights ago, and after being previously told by F15 Rules (Dave), that it would take a binoviewer, I attached my BV to it. You could have blown me down with a feather as with a pair of 25mm plossl's and a barlow on the nose of the binoviewer, the lunar views were jaw dropping. A cheap binoviewer and a pair of good 25mm plossl's or similar, will outperform even some of the most expensive top end eyepieces on the moon and planets. And most likely significantly cheaper too.

[Knighty2112]

A good zoom eyepiece would suit well. I have a Baader Hyperion Zoom which comes with 8, 12, 16, 20, & 24mm focal lengths. I tend to use this EP more than any other I have, and for most things gives me very good views through any of my scope. Should work well in your travelscope, and reduces the need to have mulitple EP’s with you when observing. There are cheaper zoom EP’s out there, but Baader is a very good make so should see you well.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Knighty2112

[Louis D]

Did it come with a 45° correct image prism diagonal?  If so, you should swap it out for a standard 90° mirror or prism diagonal at some point.

Have a look down the front.  Is there an obvious circular aperture stop directly behind the objective?  I ask because I picked up a similar looking 70mm "travel" scope off ebay two years ago, and it had stops in both the main tube and the focuser tube.  They stop down the objective to about 35mm at most to improve the image quality at the expense of light gathering.

You might want to get a #12 yellow filter and #56 green filter to block unfocused violet-blue light with the yellow and blue and red with the green.  I found they help on planetary details with my ST80 scope.  Of course, the color balance is way off while you use them.  An achromat such as your scope only focuses light from teal to yellow-orange well.  The unfocused light can degrade the image at high powers, thus the filters.

[Franklin]

I had a Travelscope 70 and its a great little wide field scope. Not really something that would take a lot of power for viewing the planets though. The focal length of only 400mm means a 4mm eyepiece would give a power of x100. Even though the specs say x165 max, I would take that with a pinch of salt. I used a 32mm plossl and a cheap zoom 8-24mm when I had one and mounted it on a monopod with swivel head. The whole thing could be thrown in a rucksack and taken out to places that were dark. Scanning the summer milkyway around Cygnus was great in the little travelscope.