Wide angle eyepieces

[Slangers]

Am looking for a wide angle eyepiece which would be good for viewing clusters. One of the things I've noticed since I started observing with an 8 inch SCT is that larger clusters such as M44 can't be viewed in a single field. Any suggestions for something that gives a wide field of view without costing an arm and a leg?

[brantuk]

Have you tried 2" eyepieces with a wide field of view. You'd probably be looking at 30mm-40mm. With an Sct you'd also need a 2" diagonal. You'll be limited by the fov and focal length of the sct though so make sure the sums are correct before flashing the cash

[John]

With an SCT you don't need to spend too much to get good wide field performance but you will either need to go to the 2" format (ie: get a 2" diagonal if you don't already have one) or to use an F/6.3 focal reducer to get a wider field of view than your 32mm plossl already gives.

The focal reducer route might be the lowest cost - you can get them for around £60 used.

For a decent 2" 40mm wide field eyepiece plus a 2" diagonal I think you will need to budget around £80-£100 for used ones, more for new.

[pvaz]

The Beehive, M45, M31 and a few others are very hard (if not impossible) to fit in the FOV when using scopes with focal lenghts above 1000mm. I have a 1200fl scope and even with the Nagler 31T5, I can't get M45 in 1 FoV.

The cheapest sollution for that is to get some nice 15x70 or 20x80 binos. Another alternative is to get a small refractor.

[Slangers]

Thanks guys- useful feedback. I do have some excellent binos (Nikon 10-22 x 50) but rarely use them for astronomy (don't know why). They were great a few years ago for looking at Comet Holmes. Should get them outside in the dark more often rather than using them for birding.