Eye pieces

[junior]

I have read through the sticky thread on eye pieces and have managed to gain a grasp of what i need.

I currently have a Skywatch 130p Dob with the 2 standard 10mm and 25mm which seem to give a good clear view when lunar gazing.

A couple of questions:

Are these eye pieces reasonable quality or is it suggested that i get different ones?

What eye pieces would be recommended if i wanted to see more detail whilst looking at the moon or planets?

Many thanks for any advice

[Daz Type-R]

Hi, I have the 200P Skywatcher and have found them both to be okay from a newbie point of view - but from what i understand the 25mm is okay but the 10mm is supposed to be a shocker.

Not noticed it myself but then only been out twice and so far only managed to see the moon (the 10mm was good for that) and when trying to find M42 the LP was soo bad it wiped out all sight of it.

While learning I would say they are both okay but going forward I am planing on ditching the 10mm for a better quality, then getting a selection rangeing from 5mm up to 30mm ish - only need 4-5 ep's and pherhaps a barlow - not made my mind up on that one yet either.

[Graham Darke]

Junior,

If you are a newcomer then those eyepices should be fine for now. It really depends on how serious you get about your observing to answer your question. To notice much of difference you need to gain a bit of experience first. Once you are experienced then you will notice a difference. The good thing about quality eyepieces is that you can take them from scope to scope with you. Scopes you often out-grow but quality eyepieces you never will. I have a couple which are 20 years old and I've used them with every scope I've owned. I have 6 eyepieces and a barlow lens in total although I regularly use only 2 or 3 of my eyepieces however. If you can afford them Tele Vue eyepieces (any of them) are in my view the best things to buy.

Hope this helps,

Graham.

[junior]

Many thanks for the advice,

I am new to astronomy and unfortuantly havent had to many clear nights since i purchased my scope.

[great_bear]

the 10mm is supposed to be a shocker.

It used to be a shocker - but the 10mm Super that's been shipping in (at least) the last 3 years or so isn't so bad. If your 10mm Super has a crisply-defined edge-circle ("field stop") it's one of the better ones. Both eyepieces just lack a bit of contrast and sharpness that's all - and the 25mm has a very shiny inner barrel that can be distracting on bright objects.

A good moon and planetary eyepiece for the 130P is the 4mm TMB Designed Planetary here <click> (£38 for the ones with the TMB logo or £36 for the unbranded one - both are optically identical)

In my experience, the 4mm eyepiece provides the maximum sharp magnification that you can get from the 130p, and the TMBs are the most comfortable 4mm eyepieces available without spending a lot more money on something like a Tele Vue Radian (£180) - although it has to be said (as Graham points out) that you'll never "outgrow" a Tele Vue eyepiece

[Daz Type-R]

It used to be a shocker - but the 10mm Super that's been shipping in (at least) the last 3 years or so isn't so bad. If your 10mm Super has a crisply-defined edge-circle ("field stop") it's one of the better ones. Both eyepieces just lack a bit of contrast and sharpness that's all - and the 25mm has a very shiny inner barrel that can be distracting on bright objects.

Nice thanks for clearing that up - sort of makes my part of my previous post pointless. Mine is the super 10 and the moon did look fantastic so magnified so i stand corrected.