medium power eyepiece

[thersites]

i'm looking for an eyepiece for resolving globular clusters in an SCT 8" f/10. i have 3 eyepieces currently, 32 plossl, 15 plossl and 9 nagler. i love the 9 but some nights it is too much mag. i love my 32 plossl too, but the 15 is crisp but underwhelming. i only do visual so i'm thinking of replacing the 15 plossl with a 16 nagler to get the field of view i enjoy in the 9. any thoughts? what else should i be looking at?
thanks all
t

[Wavytone]

Well, seems like it might be time to attend a star party and play swap with a few eyepieces before possibly wasting money on ones that don't make you happy.

A 5-eyepiece set would be something like 9, 12, 18, 28, 38mm however having had larger sets I am firmly of the view that you will find you end up using about 3 favourites, maybe a fourth for extreme high power on rare occasions.

Also don't feel its necessary to pay the Televue Tax, there are many budget wide and ultra-wide eyepieces that turn out to be surprisingly good in SCT's.

[thersites]

fair call. but i'm happy with the 9, especially for dark sites and good seeing. it's the middle range that perplexes me now. i figure 3 pieces is a good spread.
plus I've seen some good sights in a 5 radian and i thought 9 was pushing it at the time.

[astro744]

13mm Nagler. A bit more power than 15 and still half a degree of field in your SCT. 16mm Nagler is fine but why is view underwhelming with 15 Plossl? If magnification then 13mm is recommended. The 13mm complements the 9mm Nagler nicely too on any 'scope.

[thersites]

yeah that makes sense. i guess what i find displeasing in the 15 is the field of view and maybe the eye relief.
you think the 13 not too close to the 9?

[AEAJR]

If you are comfortable with the price of the Nagler eyepieces then you really can't go wrong.

However if you would like an excellent eyepiece at about half the price then look at the Explore Scientific line. They get wonderful reviews. I have the 8.8 and the 6.7 in the 82 degree line and they are beautiful. The 68 degree also get high praise but I don't have any myself.

There is an 82 degree 14mm and a 68 degree 16mm in the Explore Scientific line.

http://agenaastro.com/eyepieces/1-25-eyepieces/shopby/10_1mm_15mm-15_1mm_20mm/61_70_degrees-71_80_degrees-over_80_degrees/explore_scientific.html

[N1]

The ES 68° 16mm is a good performer. The view is surprisingly expansive for such a small unit. Eye relief is tightish though - similar to T6 Naglers or the 15mm Plossl.

For a medium power EP I'd consider something around the 20mm mark. I do find the 2mm exit pupil thing works very well for me. The major globs should look pretty good in an 8" at 100x, I guess it depends which globs you want to resolve - lots of options between Palomar globs and Omega Cen. An 18 or 20 would be sufficiently different from the 9 too.

[astro744]

See http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=214

One of the best combinations on any telescope is the 24mm Panoptic (for max true field in 1.25"; same as 32mm Plossl), 13mm Nagler for mid power and 9mm Nagler for higher power on say galaxies and planetary nebulae. On an SCT the 13mm and 9mm are also great for planets.

The 13mm has the same form factor as the 9mm and the same eye relief as the 9mm and can be used with Dioptrx and digiscoping. The 16mm has 10mm of eye relief but is a different shape (more volcano top when eye guard is down which helps with the eye relief) but cannot be used with Dioptrx or digiscoping. Both 16mm T5 and 13mm T6 are fine eyepieces and you cant go wrong with either.

The 16mm will give you a nice full lunar disk at 127x with a little room to spare. The 13mm will also give you a full lunar disk at 156x with almost no room to spare but 156x would be better for planets most of the time.

Both 13mm and 9mm could be combined with a 2x Tele Vue Barlow for 6.5mm and 4.5mm high power viewing when the seeing permits without losing too much exit pupil.

If you like the feel of the 9mm then the 13mm will be exactly the same but with lower power. There are many eyepiece combinations possible any if you like the quality of the 9mm Nagler you really cant go wrong with either 16mm or 13mm.

Note if you buy the 16mm and then find you want still want the 13mm use the 16mm on a Stellarvue finder as it gives a fantastic edge corrected view at slightly higher power. I use a 16mm T5 Nagler on my Stellarvue F80M to give me 19x and 4 deg. field to complement my C9.25 but it will also work on the F60M or F50M finders from Stellarvue.

Whatever you choose, enjoy!

[iborg]

Hi

Have you considered a 2x Barlow on your 32?

Philip

[bigjoe]

Couldn't agree more .:thumbsup:
You just cannot go wrong with Televue.
BINTEL IS THE PLACE for TV in Sydney.
Cheers bigjoe.

[bigjoe]

And Agena astro is a great place to do business with!:thumbsup:
Cheers bigjoe.

[bigjoe]

Hi Astro.I still have a 13mm type6 NAGLER , and it truly is an incredible eyepiece in any SCT OR MAK!!
Though there are alternatives VIZ ES eps.
Hope this helps.
Cheers bigjoe.

[bigjoe]

Wavytone is right about Tv tax.
But you JUST CANNOT go wrong with a 13mm type6 even fantastic barlowed !!!
PS: BUY ONCE and be happy for always! !!
Cheers bigjoe

[thersites]

thanks for all the responses. i'll contemplate this for a while, but on a side note i took out the 15 plossl last night and i think i should be more accepting of it. it only really lacks the extravagant field of view, but it resolves globulars nicely, and i should think to modify my original opinion.
thanks again all

[AEAJR]

All the Plossl eyepieces I have looked at from Meade, Orion and a couple of unbranded were all quite good. I have no complaint about any of them. The ONLY reason I have replaced any of them has been to gain wider FOV.

[Wavytone]

If you want an ultra wide there are some other choices:

At the bottom $-wise are an assortment of chinese cheapies from GSO and ProStar, some are rebranded. Be prepared to be surprised because some are quite good, but there are some awful ones too.

Vixen make a 14mm SSW (83 degree afov)
ES make an 11 and 14 82 degree afov, and 12mm 92 degrees. And there's a Skywatcher 15mm 82 Panorama eyepiece.

Then the Televue lot, Pentax and Nikon.

In an f/10 SCT any of these will be fine.