Hyperion eyepiece recommendations...

[Richard C]

Morning all,

Now it's pay day I'm hoping to pick up a decent eyepiece for my scope. I think I've narrowed down my choice to one of the hyperion ones but I can't decide which size to go for.

What are your recommendations? Go for a 5mm for plantery viewing? Go for a 20mm for wider field stuff?

What does everyone reckon?

I've got a 2x and 3x barlow, but to honest they are a bit pants.

[NGC 1502]

Hi Richard. I think it's tough to give advice because we all vary in our needs.

However, what do you find you like using most, with the eyepieces you already

have ? that may be your best clue as to what is best for you.

For me, I cannot live without a nice low power wide field eyepiece, so thats

where I'd upgrade to first, then fill in with medium and high power. A 5mm would

give 130x with your scope, should be within it's capabilities. I much prefer a smaller

sharper view on the planets than bigger but fuzzier, Jupiter/Saturn are nice at that

mag. But we all vary, and others may think differently.

Best regards, Ed.

[NickK]

Hmm I'd think about focal lengths and magnifications. (after thinking about what you want to observe)

My 13mm BH gives, with my 670mm focal length, 670/13 = 51x magnification.

Your Celestron is 650mm focal length, thus a 13mm would give 50x magnification.

That magnification is surprisingly good for seeing just enough detail but wide enough to give a good area of the sky. If you're out of light, then having a barlow isn't going to make a difference, so having this would give you higher mags for brighter planets but also give you a good work horse for normal use.

I find with the 13mm that 20mm is just a little too wide (33x) and I'll probably invest in a 8-9mm (75x) and a 2x Barlow for planets.

[sixela]

17mm plus one tuning ring to make it a 13.1mm would be my choice.

[Richard C]

Cheers for the replies - they've given me a lot to consider.

To answer your questions NGC 1502 - I have the standard 10mm and 20mm eyepieces that came with the scope - and because I'm a beginner that struggles to find the moon on most nights I'm mostly observing the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, the Orion Nebula and M45.

Basically if it's easy to locate, that what I'm looking at for the moment until my skills improve.

What attracted me to the Hyperions was the ability to attach cameras to them and that the reviews for them are very favourable.

I can apprieciate that any and all advice on the matter is mostly subjective, but any advice at this point is better for me than guessing what to go for (especially since there's a fair chunk of pay day involved).

[DeejayP999]

Given that you already have the 20mm & 10mm, I'd seriously consider the 5mm Hyperion. With 130x mag and around a 1mm exit pupil, the 5mm would make a pretty much ideal high power eyepiece for lunar and planetary in your scope.

[DeejayP999]

Or for a cheaper option, albeit without the camera functionality, what about a 5mm BST Explorer?

[NickK]

One point - having tried both my bundled vixen Plossls (6mm & 20mm) and the BH 13mm through the pentax, there's a big difference so don't think replacing the bundled EPs with better quality ones is a waste.

[ItIsOnlyMe]

Hi Richard

I have the 5mm and can confirm it is a quality bit of kit, one thing I love about these EPs is the flexibility.

Add the fine tuning rings and change it to a 3mm(ish) ep, remove the first group of lenses and it becomes a 22mm(though you need a 2" focuser to take advantage of this.)

I have also purchased the T2 adapter and confirm it gives a rock solid connection to the T2 ring and camera.

IMHO these EPs are worth every penny.

[brantuk]

I have a 130P and an 8mm Hyperion which gives a very nice view at 81x magnification. You'll see the banding on Jupiter and pretty clear views of Saturns rings with that combo. If I want more then I use the TV Radian 5mm cos at f5 quality ep's will be needed.

To accompany the 8mm I'd go for the 17mm - you won't need to barlow either but for a few quid more get both fine tuning rings and you'll have a nice range of viewing possibilities which you can also attach a dslr to.

The hyperions are great mid range ep's - very sharp and clear - little or no discernable internal reflections - and photo flexible. I also have the zoom which I'd highly recommend for your scope. It made my 150P really start to perform when I first got it. All are much much better than supplied ep's

[marineBLU28]

I agree with the 17mm suggestion I have this one and have had very nice views through it.

[Whippy]

When I had my Hyperions, I found the 8mm got the most use. It gave nice planetary views when the conditions weren't letting use the 5mm (I had the 3.5mm but it never got any use) and also did the job for globular clusters and planetary nebulae. For wider views the 17 & 24 normally were used.

Tony..

[Richard C]

Cheers everyone for your help - this site continues to amaze me on how much useful information can be shared between people

Judging by the advice it looks like an 8mm Hyperion will be the thing to go for with a fine tuning ring as well.

Thanks everyone again for your help.