Beginner - eyepiece for Celestron 114

[timpaton (Tim)]

Hi stargazing people,

I've just had a stroke of good luck. Bizarrely, at my local tip, there was a Celestron Firstscope 114 sitting lonely on its every-way adjustable tripod in the junk shop area of the yard, next to the pile of rusty bicycles and 3-legged tables.

I'm an engineer married to a science teacher, we have a pleasingly inquisitive 7 year old daughter. Obviously, that 'scope is now mine.

It seems to be in reasonably good shape - a little bit out of alignment, but seems relatively clean internally. But it has no eyepiece, just the plastic cover. I figure this is how it came to be at the tip - rediscovered at the back of a garage, with "bits missing" and nobody interested in making it work.

We have negligible astronomy experience, but a reasonable background in theory and instrumentation. I dabble in photography, so I'm not completely new to optics. And now with what appears to be a half decent beginner's telescope, and access to some relatively dark rural skies, we might have found a new family hobby

So. My question. Where to get an eyepiece for this telescope?

It's a Model #31044 : http://legacy.celestron.com/portal/c...telescope.html . Discontinued, no idea how old. Apparently they were sold with two 1.25" eyepieces, low and high magnification.

Are 1.25" eyepieces an industry standard, common across brands? Or do I specifically need to look for a Celestron part, for this particular model? What specs and features am I looking for?

There looks to be some useful reading material available to download from that Celestron page I liked to above, which I'll get on with. Anything else I need to know before pointing my mirror at a distant galaxy?

tim

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

I am not familiar with the model of scope you are asking about but will try to be helpful anyway.

Yes, 1.25 and 2 inch eyepieces are "standard".

Assuming the standard eyepieces will fit, I would suggest getting a 32 mm or 25 mm Plossl eyepiece. A reasonable quality one can be head relatively in expensively...in the is instance I would suggest a Bintel/GSO make (one is store branded but I believe made by the same company.

If the scope is a reflecting telescope (mirror in the bottom) you should probably read up on collimation (mirror alignment)...which could be a long discussion in a separate thread.

[Allan_L (Allan)]

As Scott said, the 1.25" eyepiece is the most common and is standard across most telescopes.
But also note that there are some eyepieces of 2" and some of .96" but these are not so common, especially among current starter scopes.

The good news is you can pick up 1.25 plossl eyepieces fairly easily, some camera shops may even carry a small range. Australian geographic has some too, although these may be more expensive.

Also, most scopes come with two standard of reasonable quality, and as people upgrade they may not use these anymore.

I have a spare 25mm eyepiece that I can give you if you PM me your address. But there are probably people closer that can let you have one or two.

Welcome to IceInSpace
and Merry Christmas

[timpaton (Tim)]

Thanks guys,

I dropped by OpticsCentral in Mitcham (Melbourne) while I was in the neighbourhood today, and grabbed a Celestron eyepiece kit with 6mm and 15mm eyepieces, some filters, other stuff I don't fully understand yet, and some bits for attaching a camera (which is something I was figuring I'd do later... maybe it's later already ).

Now I just have to wait for some clear sky. No, really, I'll try it out on some terrestrial targets first and check that it doesn't have some horrible terminal flaws.

Cheers,
Tim

[koputai (Jason)]

Hey Tim,

Some times these scopes can suffer from light leakage. If yours does, just fill it with Stans and pump it up again. Oops!

Welcome to IIS.

Cheers,
Jason.
Who knows that everyone else (except Gordon) will wonder what the hell I am on about.......

[shutterhigh (Lyd)]

I used to get my accessories from ozscopes, they have a accessories on sale which probably discontinued items, so just have a look at it.

http://www.ozscopes.com.au/sale/accessories?feot

[dannat (Daniel)]

Tim the kit you bought is overpriced at 139, the 15mm is only a kellner & the 6mm will be like looking thru the eye of a needle.
if it were me id return it & goto Bintel in camberwell and buy some bintel plossls
alternatively i could lend you a 19 or 25mm & a 5mm to try, i cycle in ballarat

[colls (Michael)]

If it was me I would go to Bintel too.
Michael

[Akwestland (Andrew and Kim)]

Tim,

I am also a newbie here, but what a great place to learn. I do not know the telescope that you have but I am sure that it will provide a great insight to what is to seen, or at least some of it.

Unfortunately the eyepiece kit may be a little over priced, but we all do that from time to time. I got hugely ripped off when buying our first telescope in December.

After a lot of reading and scouring the internet I bought one of these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-25-Eyep.../191517135065? , it arrived within a couple of days, the packaging was great, and am now actually getting to see some objects.

I know that some may not agree with my eyepiece selection, but when starting out on a budget you tend to get what you can afford to make a start.

So, have a great time with your telescope and come back here often, there is plenty to read and the people are very helpful.

Cheers
Andrew

[ralph1]

Originally Posted by timpaton

I dropped by OpticsCentral in Mitcham (Melbourne) while I was in the neighbourhood today, and grabbed a Celestron eyepiece kit with 6mm and 15mm eyepieces, some filters, other stuff I don't fully understand yet, and some bits for attaching a camera (which is something I was figuring I'd do later... maybe it's later already ).

What specific model is the kit? I also have a Celestron eyepiece kit, the 6mm is a plossl and difficult to look through. The 15mm while 'only' a kellner has quite a wide field of view, maybe 65 degrees but the field stop is quite blurry and there is astigmatism at the edge at F/5. Even with those flaws, it stacks up well against the 30mm bintel superview though.

[sil (Steve)]

I've got the celestron astromaster 114EQ and found the included celestron eyepieces to be useless. I bought two Hyperion eyepieces: 8mm and 24mm and the scope responds very well to these. The mount is such a pain to use and the scope wobbles a lot. The red dot finder on this model is useless, but an orion red dot finder works well. You might find collimation is wildly out. No doubt this scope put someone off astronomy, mine almost did for me so i hope your get encouraged with yours.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by colls

If it was me I would go to Bintel too.
Michael

If it was me I would take that eyepiece kit back and go to Bintel #3.

As Daniel has already indicated those eyepieces are pretty poor and unfortunately 1/2 the time the bloke in the store doesn't know what he is talking about, or those that do will just tell you what they think you want to hear. The guys at Bintel are all serious astronomers, have been for several decades, they will give you good advice and not sell you something that is almost useless.

Cheers,
John B

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by ralph1

What specific model is the kit? I also have a Celestron eyepiece kit, the 6mm is a plossl and difficult to look through. The 15mm while 'only' a kellner has quite a wide field of view, maybe 65 degrees but the field stop is quite blurry and there is astigmatism at the edge at F/5. Even with those flaws, it stacks up well against the 30mm bintel superview though.

Hi Ralph,

You can't compare a 15mm eyepiece to a 30mm eyepiece at all. Twice the TFOV assuming the same AFOV; and twice the coma in a Newtonian. Because of the larger field stop diameter most aberrations will be significantly increased in a 30mm eyepiece as compared to a 15mm eyepiece.

All of those eyepiece kits are a rip off, Meade & Celestron. You can buy better eyepieces for less money and most of the other accessories in those kits will most likely become case ornaments.

Cheers,
John B