0.965 upgrade

[Beano]

I have done some reading on eyepiece's over the last 2 days. I think I'm ready to buy my first new one.

Now my telescope is an old school Tasco 302012. Unfortunately for me, it takes 0.965 eyepieces. The eyepiece I'm thinking of starting my new collection with is a 12.5mm Plossl but obviously this will be in the 1.25" fitting.

Does anybody have experience with my telescope and knows how to get it to accept this size of eye piece? I've looked around for some sort of adaptor but with this being such an old telescope I'm not sure it will work. Will the quality go down or anything?

I'm currently looking through an SR4mm. I now understand these are seriously high magnification and probably the reason finding Jupiter was so hard the other day.

Or, will it be a case of making something for it?

Thanks for any advice and sorry for any stupid questions that may pass your eyes

[John]

Not a stupid question at all - a good one in fact.

If your scope is a refractor then you can get a 90 degree diagonal which fits .96" at one end (the scope end) and 1.25" at the other. That is a neat way of doing it.

If it is a newtonian (sorry but I don't know my Tasco's !) then there is an adaptor which I think would do the trick.

Those 4mm SR's are "challenging" to look through to say the least !.

Let us know what type of scope then I'll see if I can find a link to the right adaptor / diagonal.

[Beano]

Thanks for taking the time.

It is a reflector and as far as I'm aware from reading around that means it's a newtonian?

[John]

OK - for a reflector (you are right - it's a newtonian reflector) I think this adaptor will do the trick:

ScopeTeknix ScopeTeknix 0.965" to 1.25" eyepiece adaptor

[Ludd]

When I had an old Prinz 3" refractor (a beast with a focal ratio of over f16) I was able to unscrew the original visual back and fit a very neat Vixen adapter to the drawtube - I think it went from a 34.6mm female thread to a female 1.25" push-fit and I picked it up for about £15 from the Orion Optics stand at Astrofest. It was a neat way of upgrading as it simply replaced the original visual back and totally looked the part. Depending on the thread on the drawtube on your reflector, this may be a good option.

[Beano]

Thank you for the link jahmanson.

After your post Ludd, I decided to see if anything around that area unscrewed. It did (picture link), then I noticed a piece screwed into the eyepiece holder that downgraded it to a 0.965. I've just measured the hole without that in and it is 1.5". I'm thinking maybe I could make something to fit in there to knock it down to 1.25".

Hmm, decisions. I could just get the adapter that you mentioned jahmanson, might be easier and better quality.

Would the be any benefit/downsides to any of these options?

I should of just unscrewed that in the first place but with there being mirrors and sensitive bits I didn't want to mess with it