Do £30/£70 Eyepeices Work?

[Dark Amender]

I am thinking of getting a new eyepiece for Planet watching. I use a 10mm eyepiece. i just got a 2x Barlow wich will send it to the same as a 5mm. would a SkyWatcher LER 2mm Eyepiece 1.25" for £30 actully work? or am i Better of Getting the SkyWatcher LER 5mm Eyepiece 1.25" would that work better for looking at planets? or would i be better of spending more and getting a Celestron X-Cel 5mm Eyepiece 1.25" or a Celestron X-Cel 2.3mm Eyepiece 1.25" ?? What would be the best Quality/Money eyepice here for looking at planets?

Thanks,

Dark Amender

[yeti monster]

bejeebus, but thats a hell of a link, don't know if I dare click on it..............

[yeti monster]

How's it going mender? If you are thinking about forking out for EPs I'm fetching "the catalogue" & UWANs home on wednesday. Also I should have the TAL-1 ready by the weekend. I'm just saying hold your horses, it's easy to go overboard with all this stuff.

[Bizibilder]

What telescope do you have? For good advice we need to know the size of the main mirror or lens and specific type of telescope.

[dweller25]

I have a full set of these Volcano top Orthoscopics ....

Lyra Optic - Eyepieces

They are VERY sharp and excellent on the Moon/Planets.

I do wear glasses but can still use them despite their short eye relief. They also have a narrow field of view but that does not matter for planetary.

You would have to spend a lot more money to better these eyepieces.

HTH

[Dark Amender]

I Have A Celestron AstroMaster 70EQ

[pvaz]

2mm will provide too much power to be useful on most scopes.

Here are some things we need to know in order to give you a good advice:

What scope do you have?

Do you ware glasses when observing?

Do you want a big field of view or is a smaller FoV enough?

[Dark Amender]

No i dont wear glasses im not too fussed about a wide field of view because it will be for looking at planets and i have a Celestron AstroMaster 70EQ

[pvaz]

With the 70Eq you have 70mm aperture. As rule the max useful magnification on a scope is 2x per mm so in your case the max is 140x.

The scope haves a focal lenght of 900mm so 900mm/140x = 6.42. In other words to get the theoretical max mag on your scope you need something close to a 6.5mm EP.

Then you have designs, the best planetary EPs, regarding sharpness, contrast and light transmision are Orthoscopic EPs. Several brands make this type of EPs. The problem is they have a short eye relief, means you need to stick your eyeball really close to it, so if you were glasses you can't use one of this. They also have a narrow field of view.

Then you have all sorts of designs, such as the ones on your link, that provide a more comfortable view but a slightly less good image quality as they use more glass elements to achieve a wider FoV and longer eye relief.

[Bizibilder]

I've looked up the Astromaster on the web and it claims to come with two eyepieces - 10mm and 20mm - then later in the specification only the 20mm is mentioned. Strange??

Anyway, as pvaz says 140x is the max you can expect given ideal atmospheric conditions, so you probably only need the eyepieces provided. If you really want to push the scpe a 9mm will give 100x and an 7mm around 130x - this really would be pushing it though.

Skywatcher do a plossl type for just under £20 with a 7.5mm focal length - 120x. This may well be adequate for a small scope like the Astromaster.

Hope this helps.

[John]

To answer your original question - yes, you can get some very nice eyepieces for £30-£50 - but the one you linked too is not one of them, not would it be good in your scope, unfortunately.

I would go for either a 6.3mm or 7.5mm plossl (around £20 from First Light Optics):

Skywatcher - Skywatcher SP Plossl eyepieces

This will give you a decent high power eyepiece for your scope without breaking the bank.

[Dark Amender]

Thank You All For You Help I Have, Just Tonight Senn Saturn Through A 10mm Using A 2x Barlor It Was Pushing It But It Was The Most Amazing Sight Ever. 10mm + 2x Barlor It Was At 180x Magnification So I Might Not Need Any More EP's But I Might Get A 6 or 7 mm EP. I Appreciate All You Help...

Thanks

Dark Amender