Planetary eyepieces

[JohnC]

At the moment i use Hyperions for all my observing.

Through the OMC140 these give good views of the moon and planets, however i am wondering if there are better things to use on the planets.

What would you guy's and gals recommend.

Looking for better contrast if possible.

many thanks in advance.

John

[John]

I guess one option would be the Baader Genuine Ortho's as long as you don't mind the narrower field of view and tighter eye relief than the Hyperions. They are about as good as it gets without spending seriously large amounts of money (eg: Pentax XO). I've not used Tele Vue Radian's myself but others seem to rate them highly and they do offer more comfort than orthos.

[sixela]

At the moment i use Hyperions for all my observing.

Through the OMC140 these give good views of the moon and planets, however i am wondering if there are better things to use on the planets.

Good orthos (UO HD ortho, Baader Genuine Ortho). Very good Plössls (like the Televues, which are surprisingly affordable) on targets that don't mind the slightly coffee-coloured tone (the TV Plössls are killer eyepieces for Jupiter and Mars!)

And then you have the "more money than sense" group (I confess: I have some!): Pentax XO (but these are only available in very short focal lengths), Astrophysics SPL, TMB Supermonocentric (if you can find them), Zeiss Abbe Ortho II, and some older orthos that people give an arm and a leg for (Pentax SMC orthos, the old Zeiss Abbe, Meade Research grade orthos).

In the "cheap and still better than a Hyperion, extremely comfortable, and I don't want to glue my eyeball to the eyepiece" series: TMB Planetary II.

[russ]

There's also some cheaper Ortho/Plossl options that work almost as well, and some better, than the TV Plossl, Baader Genuine and UO HD:

Antares HD Ortho - looks identical to the Baader Geniune Ortho and UO HD, comes up dirt cheap secondhand. My 7mm cost £5 delivered (yes really) and i couldn't tell it apart from the Baader, so sold the Baader for 10 times what i bought the Antares.

UO Ortho - Not the HD model but still incredibly good and dirt cheap again. My 9mm cost £20 delivered.

Meade T2 Ortho - not sought after like the RGO but again very nice indeed. And again bargain basement

Celestron Volcano top - awesome eyepieces yet sell for nothing

Original Vixen Silvertop Plossls - will give any of the above Orthos a close run

Celestron Ultima/Orion Ultrascopic - rated by Sky & Telescope as better than the TV Plossl and my personal experience concurs with their rating. The Orion is an absolute bargain normally. There was a 5mm for sale last week for £20.

All these have two common problems and the reason they are out of favour:

Poor eye relief and narrow field of view

[JohnC]

Thanks for the replies.

Will have a think about which way to go.

Hopefully some of the EMS group may have ones i could look through.

[sixela]

Celestron Ultima/Orion Ultrascopic - rated by Sky & Telescope as better than the TV Plossl

Mine doesn't. The Celestron Ultima is more "middle of the road" because of the more neutral colour tone, but especially the shorter focal lengths have a lot more glass and the quality isn't exactly the same.

You do have to see the difference between comfort and sharpness/contrast, though: the Celestron Ultima/Orion Ultrascopic/Baader Eudiascopic are a lot more comfortable than the TV Plössls (certainly the 8mm), but I don't think the image quality is quite as good, especially on Jupiter.

[russ]

The TV 7.4mm smoothside and 8mm newer model are very good indeed, can't deny it. I enjoyed them both. But they really didn't offer anything extra over 7.5mm Ultrascopic and yet cost a whole lot more secondhand. Sold all three now though as the Antares HD Ortho had an edge on them all.

[RME1]

Hi John

I use the Baader Genuine Orthos. I've also used the Volcano top orthos which are excellent eyepieces.

Richard.

[Doc]

I've a set of the Telescop House volcano tops and they are pretty good, but one day I will get a set of the Baader genuine Ortho's.

The best of batch I think are the 9mm and 12.5mm.