Heritage 150p 3mm eyepiece

[Jaymoon]

Hi,

I recently purchased a Sky Watcher Heritage 150p. I’m absolutely loving it and I’m getting some amazing views already despite the stormy weather.

I’ve already purchased both the 5mm and 8mm BST starguider eyepieces and they are incredible. The close ups of the moon and being able to make out Jupiters rings is blowing my mind. So much so my Apple Watch warned of high heart rate the other night 😂

So I’ve read a lot of people saying you should stay away from a 3mm eyepiece with this scope. Then I’ve also read people get some success even if limited. I understand it’ll be hard work to keep Jupiter for example in my line of sight, but I just want a glimpse at 250x mag even for a split second. 

I would go for the 3.2mm BST, but again I’ve not heard great things about that one. Also I’m wanting to stay away from barlows. 

So does anyone have any recommendations on good 3mm eyepieces that aren’t eye watering high in price? 
 

Any and all help pointing me in the right direction will be hugely appreciated.

 

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

250x magnification with a 0.6mm exit pupil is really pushing the seeing conditions and the mount's ability to remain stable.  In my (limited) experience you may well find that going to a higher magnification does not equate to a better view, indeed the view may become dimmer and lose some sharpness.

You're already at 150x with the 5mm and going much higher may be an exercise in frustration.  Admittedly, if it's going to work, it'll work on planets or the moon and I'll happily subside to the advice of others that are more knowledgeable on this than I but a higher magnification comes with additional considerations.

[cajen2]

I'd agree with GM. I have a Heritage 150p as my second scope and find it's happiest with an EP at about 5mm for the planets. You might get some benefit with going 4.5mm - it's surprising how much difference 0.5mil can make as a scope approaches its limits. I can thoroughly recommend the Morpheus 4.5, which I use a lot in my frac - excellent EP.

In the 150p, that'd give you about 167x mag: well under its theoretical limit.

Edited January 1 by cajen2

[Louis D]

6 hours ago, Jaymoon said:

being able to make out Jupiters rings is blowing my mind.

Considering even professional observatories missed Jupiter's rings for centuries, that is quite an achievement.  Well done!

[Louis D]

6 hours ago, Jaymoon said:

So does anyone have any recommendations on good 3mm eyepieces that aren’t eye watering high in price? 

You could look into the TMB Planetary clones.  I picked up a 2.5mm for $35 off of ebay last year (2022), and it is surprisingly well corrected for the price and power.  There's a 3.2mm as well, but sometimes it's actually a 2.5mm instead.  There's also 4mm and 4.5mm versions you could try.  Here's a post with my findings about it followed by one with a comparison image taken through it:

 

[Mr Spock]

I'd suggest a 4mm eyepiece. That would give x188 which is perfect for planets. I'd also suggest a wide field of view as your scope doesn't have tracking. The 4mm Nirvana is a very sharp eyepiece and at £85 not too expensive either.
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/nirvana-es-uwa-82-ultrawide-eyepieces.html