OK, I've pulled the trigger, now what quality EP's?!

[Johnboy2011]

So hopefully I'm off to pick up my first scope tomorrow, a second hand 8" LX90 GPS. Apologies now for the forecast, blame me.

After reading The Warthog's excellent post I've got two basic ep questions:

Which make? The cost seems to vary wildly, as a novice what should I be paying for a super plossl (I assume that's what I need)?

What size? Is the standard 1.25"? What's the deal with 2"?

Oh, and one more, do I need to worry about collimation with this scope?

[John]

Congratulations !,

Do you get any eyepieces with the scope ?. What budget do you have left for additional ones ?.

2" eyepieces enable wider fields of view. For medium and high power it's usual to stick with the 1.25" size. You will need a 2" diagonal to use 2" eyepieces.

And, yes, collimation is important with schmidt-cassegrains.

For plossls, Tele Vue is an excellent make - around £65 each. The Meade 5000 plossls would also work well with your scope - they are around the same price.

There are loads of others as well of course - I've just picked what I think are the better quality plossls around.

[Johnboy2011]

It comes with a 20mm so on Thw Warthog's advice I was hoping to add a 7.5, 112.5 and 30, no Barlow. As a novice do you think I need that quality or if I go cheaper am I just limiting myself?

John

[John]

If you are on a budget (which we all are of course !) then the Meade 4000's cost less and are pretty good. You can pick those up used for around £20 each on UK Astro Buy & Sell or on the SGL buy & sell section. You will need 50+ posts and a months membership to access the latter.

The focal lengths you have picked seem good to me. (112.5mm assumed to be a typo !). 32mm is easier to find than 30mm and will do fine for low power.