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CELESTRON ULTIMA EDGE 30MM 70 DEGREES


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I grabbed the opportunity to give the Ultima 30mm first light last night having had it over a week.  Not ideal conditions, only about 9 hours after Full Moon, but heavy snow forecast for the next 2/3 days.  I was using it with the 8inch Starsense Explorer Dob, session from 8.25 to 9.55pm, temp - 3 C and intermittent patches of thin cloud until it clouded up.

Light weight enough to cause no balance problems  with the Dob,  and its 22 degree eye relief made it easy to comfortably see the hard edge of the whole 70 degree field with the eyecup folded down.  It was a similiar immersive experience as when using my 17.5 Morpheus (76 degrees).

First used it on the Pleiades, the ET Cluster, Orion Neb, Orions belt. Orions sword, Dble Cluster and M31 to get a feel for the field of view compared to the ES24/68.  The 1.75 deg field of the Ultima clearly gave me the advantage I needed over the 1.36 field of the ES for more extended objects. Despite the moonlight and some whisps of cloud the view was very pleasing, stars being sharp to the edge of the field and contrast better than I hoped fir on the night of full moon.

I then added a 2inch ED generic barlow to see how it would operate as a 15mm option.  Objects observed were the Orion Neb, M44, M35, M47, M48, M67 and finally the Moon.

The view was still emmersive, and the extra mag increased the contrast of course, giving fine views of all the open clusters - very impressive for full Moon night and the barlow maintained the quality of the star images as with the eyepiece alone. 

With the 8inch aperture and the help of Starsense App to swiftly find objects where having to use a finder in the bright moonlight would be very difficult, it means you can have a worthwhile deep sky experience despite the moonlight.

Very happy with the 30mm Ultima's performance, and I recommend it - certainly no problem at f6.

Before anyone asks, I realise there is the StellaLyra version (plus at least another six clones!) which are cheaper.  I had my reasons for paying the extra for the Celestron. 😊

20230308_111200.thumb.jpg.f791c7f74a1966d3b0473cda9dec5497.jpg

20230308_111213.thumb.jpg.5953d93254f0eacd32539a56fa147a7f.jpg

Edited by paulastro
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7 hours ago, paulastro said:

I grabbed the opportunity to give the Ultima 30mm first light last night having had it over a week.  Not ideal conditions, only about 9 hours after Full Moon, but heavy snow forecast for the next 2/3 days.  I was using it with the 8inch Starsense Explorer Dob, session from 8.25 to 9.55pm, temp - 3 C and intermittent patches of thin cloud until it clouded up.

Light weight enough to cause no balance problems  with the Dob,  and its 22 degree eye relief made it easy to comfortably see the hard edge of the whole 70 degree field with the eyecup folded down.  It was a similiar immersive experience as when using my 17.5 Morpheus (76 degrees).

First used it on the Pleiades, the ET Cluster, Orion Neb, Orions belt. Orions sword, Dble Cluster and M31 to get a feel for the field of view compared to the ES24/68.  The 1.75 deg field of the Ultima clearly gave me the advantage I needed over the 1.36 field of the ES for more extended objects. Despite the moonlight and some whisps of cloud the view was very pleasing, stars being sharp to the edge of the field and contrast better than I hoped fir on the night of full moon.

I then added a 2inch ED generic barlow to see how it would operate as a 15mm option.  Objects observed were the Orion Neb, M44, M35, M47, M48, M67 and finally the Moon.

The view was still emmersive, and the extra mag increased the contrast of course, giving fine views of all the open clusters - very impressive for full Moon night and the barlow maintained the quality of the star images as with the eyepiece alone. 

With the 8inch aperture and the help of Starsense App to swiftly find objects where having to use a finder in the bright moonlight would be very difficult, it means you can have a worthwhile deep sky experience despite the moonlight.

Very happy with the 30mm Ultima's performance, and I recommend it - certainly no problem at f6.

Before anyone asks, I realise there is the StellaLyra version (plus at least another six clones!) which are cheaper.  I had my reasons for paying the extra for the Celestron. 😊

20230308_111200.thumb.jpg.f791c7f74a1966d3b0473cda9dec5497.jpg

20230308_111213.thumb.jpg.5953d93254f0eacd32539a56fa147a7f.jpg

Glad you liked it, Paul, and your impressions chime with mine.

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  • 1 month later...

Nice report on a clearly excellent eyepiece. I haven’t experienced any of the flat field line yet, but the 30mm in particular seems to get universally praised. Great to bag so many targets in one session - thought I detected the influence of Starsense.

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And I am comparing them to my set of Morpheus eps, for the most part neck and neck. The 18-15-10mm sizes are very much smaller, lighter than the Morphs in my several small 62mm refractors.

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