Comfortable EP's. What does it mean?

[Truly55]

With my Celestron 127 SLT the supplied 25mm EP is fine for looking at, say, Saturn but when I slot in the supplied 9mm EP the image is certainly larger but less sharp. Focussing with the 9mm is difficult and the image always looks a tad 'flashy' - like street lights can look at night. Is this an 'issue' with the standard EP or the capability of the SLT? Or maybe, at 47, my eyes are not what they were.

[Ben Ritchie]

Focussing with the 9mm is difficult and the image always looks a tad 'flashy

Sounds like the effects of seeing and/or not letting the 'scope cool? The 127 is a Maksutov-Cassegrain, right? So it's quite a long focal length instrument, and a 9mm eyepiece is 166x magnification, so relatively high - although not extreme - and certainly sensitive to seeing conditions (i.e. the stability - or otherwise - of the atmosphere).

[rowan46]

It may be all 3. It does no harm at our age to get our eyes checked especially as they are the most critical part of any optical system. But it is also true that many people upgrade from the stock eyepieces. When magnifying images they always get dimmer and there is always a trade off between clarity and magnification, better eyepieces can mitigate this effect.

[Truly55]

It may be all 3. It does no harm at our age to get our eyes checked especially as they are the most critical part of any optical system. But it is also true that many people upgrade from the stock eyepieces. When magnifying images they always get dimmer and there is always a trade off between clarity and magnification, better eyepieces can mitigate this effect.

Is there any EP (around 8-12mm) that would be noticeably better than the stock Celestron one? Might be prepared to pay up to £75 for one if it gave results.

Edit: I've just noticed Celestron X-Cel EP's. Are these ok?

[pvaz]

The ones in that price range that get the most raving reviews are the TMB planetary clones. This go for around 40£ each. I never used one but there are many reviews pointing this way so they seam a safe bet.

[Damo636]

The 9mm Burgess TMB Planetary is excellent and can be bought for £45-50 new.

[BazMark]

I bought a 6mm TS planetary HR for my Skymax 127 and it is a good EP, but it gets little use as the seeing is seldom good enough to get 250x mag with this scope where I live and even when it is, it's hard to bring into focus. However, when the right conditions come together as they did a couple of weeks ago for one night it produced the very good views of Saturn. I would like to buy another one in time and when I do it will probably be the 8mm.

[Truly55]

...Something like this?

TMB 9mm Planetary Premium Eyepiece

[gedmac]

...Something like this?

TMB 9mm Planetary Premium Eyepiece

yes but try here first:D

1.25" TMB 9mm Premium Planetary II Eyepiece on eBay (end time 01-Apr-11 18:23:43 BST)

[RogerTheDodger]

Are the Planetary II's here the same EP's?

[gedmac]

Are the Planetary II's here the same EP's?

yes roger its the same shop,i mistakenly gave their ebay link:o