Eye Pieces for Kids (on 80ED)

[AdamJL]

Hi folks

So I've handed down my 80ED to my kids. It comes with a 28mm LET eyepiece.
This is nice for the moon, and wide targets in darker skies. Tonight we were also able to make out the seperation of the rings from Saturn from the planet proper, and could see a band across Jupiter.

However obviously this isn't an eye piece for these sorts of objects. I'm not going to change the scope, so I'm looking for nice comfortable eye pieces/barlows/powermates/whatever that will increase the magnification of this telescope.

Should we just look for a different eye piece? Or keep this eyepiece and buy a barlow/powermate? Or both? :)

Cheers
Adam

[AdamJL]

Oh. Both planets are bright! So anything that can also dim them just a touch would be nice

[AdamJL]

Okay, this is expensive for kids, but Dad might like it :)

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/tele-vue-delite-7mm/?v=322b26af01d5

Thoughts?

[astro744]

Is this the 600mm focal length, f7.5? If so the 28mm will give a bit over 21x. A 2x Barlow or Powermate will give 42x. A 4x Powermate will give 85x. (4x Powermate is 2” to match eyepiece). This is a very expensive option to give only 85x.

You want about 120x min so 600/120=5. You need 5mm effective focal length. Either a 5mm eyepiece or 10mm with 2x Barlow. You don’t need a 2” Barlow for 10mm as the eyepiece will only be 1.25”. 9-10mm Plossls are cheap as are 2x 1.25” Barlow. Anything from GSO (or BINTEL rebranded) will give good results.

If you need to wear glasses when observing then you need longer eye relief. There are other options in that case but for the cost of a Powermate you can get at least a couple of good eyepieces.

[astro744]

Great eyepiece but only 85x magnification assuming you have 600mm focal length. Good for globular clusters. It will show Jupiter and Saturn nicely but a. Bit small. You want 120-160x with 180x Max. Exit pupil will be 0.44mm at 180x.

If you get the Tele Vue 2x Barlow (get 1,25” version) and combine with 7mm DeLite you will get 170x and complement later with 9mm or 11mm or both. If no Barlow then just get 4mm DeLite for 150x or 5mm for 120x.

(With planetary observing every mm counts so it is not uncommon to have a series of eyepieces at the shorter focal length end. (Telescope dependant)

The DeLite have 20mm eye relief so can be used with glasses.

Note a few of these eyepieces and you soon spend $2k but I only mention them as you brought it up. There are other cheaper options especially if using for kids.

[AdamJL]

Thanks all. The Tele Vue option is probably pie in the sky. It'd be nice, but that's a lot of money for the kids. I was thinking more for me and the kids get to use it :D

But you've put me on a good track

What about this?

Orion 5mm

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/orion-edge-on-planetary-eyepieces-1-25-inch/?v=322b26af01d5
It has 20mm eye relief. I don't wear glasses, but my Mrs does.

and a Bintel 2.5 Barlow:

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/bintel-barlow-2-5x-1-25-inch/?v=322b26af01d5

Does this look alright? Main thing I want to show the kids are the big bang wizz targets. Jupiter, Saturn, close ups of the moon, and maybe a glob or two.
Then we can start going wider if they're interested.

[Don Pensack]

The Saxon Cielo HD would give you all the range you need and perform nicely in that scope.

[astro744]

Are they the same as Celestron X-Cel and Astro-Tech HD? The latter is often recommended over at CN but it is sold by the sponsor. Still look to be good value. I was going to recommend the Astro-Tech but cannot comment as I’ve not used them. Though about buying some just to review.

The Tele Vue DeLite I’ve not used either but have enough other Tele Vue eyepieces to say they Tele Vue work well in ANY telescope and highly recommended. Usually though when someone mentions kids you think lesser quality eyepieces will do but then you want to offer the best view you can to anyone if you have the equipment. At home may be one thing but in public or outreach a fingerprint on an eyepiece is almost certain so a second less expensive but still well performing set comes in handy.

[mura_gadi]

Hello,

On the barlow can I suggest that you look for one with a x1.5 and x2 options. You can get barlow's x2 where the base unscrews and screws directly into the EP to give x1.5.

So, the 18mm can be both a 9mm and 12mm, a good way to draw out a few ep's.



Steve
Ps. You could get the 8mm(6mm/4mm) and 18mm(12mm/9mm) Starguider for around $150, with the above barlow that's around $200+ postage. You would need to check that the Starguider 8mm and 18mm are good for the ED80, should be easy to find a review or two though. At F7.5 (I think) they should be fine and the extra ED can't hurt.

Good way to get 6 ep's for $200 and the barlow you can carry onto other EP's even if they/you outgrow the Starguiders.

[AdamJL]

thanks!
How does it compare to the Orion I linked to?
I see it has slightly less eye-relief

[Don Pensack]

The Saxon Cielo is the same as the Celestron X-Cel LX.
It is not the same as the Astrotech Paradigm.
The Orion is made by Long Perng in Taiwan and a decent eyepiece, but only 55°, so the Saxon Cielo is wider.

[croweater]

+1 for the saxon cielo. I have a few of these and really like them . Very good value. As Don says same as xl lx but a lot cheaper. The 16mm eye relief and 60 degree is just in the sweet spot for me. I,m going to get 1 or 2 more.
Cheers, Richard

[AdamJL]

Just out of curiosity, why is 55 degrees a bad thing? Why is wider, better?

[astro744]

It’s not a bad thing, it’s a personal choice. Sometimes a narrower apparent field is a good thing. if the eyepiece is not well corrected for aberrations then too large a field will show those aberrations at the edge which is far off centre axis. Manufacturers sometimes opt to put in a smaller field stop to control visibility of edge aberrations. Manufacturers such as Tele Vue have some very large field and not so large field eyepieces but all are well corrected for eyepiece induced aberrations to f4 and that is why’s they are at their price point.

Most people do like a wider apparent field but not all and as I mentioned it is a personal choice.

A larger apparent field will show more true field at the same magnification. The Moon in particular is very nice if you can see the entire disk at higher power.

[AdamJL]

I'm not sure I want to see that :D:rofl:

[AdamJL]

Ordered the Cielo, btw.

Thanks everyone. We'll see about a barlow once we have a go with this eyepiece.

[astro744]

Oops. Sorry. Corrected. (Need new reading glasses). I’ll blame preemptive text too.

[ausastronomer]

Good choice. I agree 100% with Don that these will be ideal for the intended purpose.

Cheers
John B

[AdamJL]

The eye piece turned up today... how much should I have expected with this thing?

I ran up to Jupiter, watched it slowly move from out of focus, inwards... got excited.. then started going out of focus once more. Without ever getting moderately sharp.

I know there's a bad bout of weather about in Sydney, so the seeing is probably awful. I get that. Here's hoping for some calm weather in the next week so I can see what this thing is capable of.