Eyepieces to start out with

[TS]

G'Day good peoples,

My name is Rob, I'm a n00b to amateur astronomy :) I just purchased a LXD75 8" Schmidt-Newtonian from the great folks at Bintel. I'm looking for advice on what eyepieces and accessories i should purchase to start off with (as the only eyepiece I have is the 26mm Super Plossl I got with the scope).

I'm looking to start off by observing the planets and the moon.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[ving]

they only gave you one EP? thats a bit lean isnt it! :)

you want to be looking a a range that will give you low power and high power and a little something in between.... whats the FL of you telescope?

also a barlow, red light and a sky map of some sort... :)

[ving]

ok just looked it up.... its f/4.
*a 30mm for low power
*a 6 or 7mm for planets/highpower ( you could go lower but one has to take into acount eye relief). 7 mm gives you 114x magnification approx
*a 15 to 20mm for medium...

a barlow and a 7mm will give you 228x and you probably wont need to go higher :)

[TS]

sweet, thanks for the info.

[Miaplacidus]

Beware that if your scope is an F4, then it is probably intended as a rich field scope more than it is for hi magnification. Also, it probably has a relatively large secondary mirror, which might mean that you get some central shadowing when you use long focal length eyepieces on bright objects. Basically, I wouldn't advocate going much shorter than 10mm for your second EP.

Confused yet?

Brian.

[janoskiss]

Welcome Rob! By all accounts that is a very nice scope you have there. How much money have you got to spend on eyepieces?

[TS]

thanks Steve. I'm looking at spending around $300-400 on ep's to start off with. I'm gonna to go to the Bintel shop tomorrow arvo (along with the advice given ) and see what they suggest.

[janoskiss]

Then you're probably best off sticking with good plossls and/or orthos for such a fast scope. And get a good barlow to get high power. Bintel should know what works best with your scope.

[Starkler]

I would be looking for 5 element masayuma types such as the orion ultrascopics or celestron ultimas.

[RAJAH235]

FWIW. Seeing as you bought a Meade t'scope why not stick with Meade E/Pcs too? The Series 4000/5000 Super plossl's are very good, but may be a few $$ more. Just the facts m'am! :D L.

[ausastronomer]

Rajah,

There are several different versions of the Meade Series 4000 Super Plossls as you are probably aware. The early 5 element "Made in Japan" versions are excellent eyepieces. The later versions, made in China are very average indeed.

CS-John B

[RAJAH235]

Ta, John. Not seen too much feedback on the new S5000's yet. I have all 'Made in Japan', S4000's. Would have thought the later design/manufacture, would have been a little bit better. :D L.

[janoskiss]

The S5000 14mm with 60 degree FOV is excellent in my f6, but I would not be so sure at f4.

[Starkler]

I can tell you that the 14mm s5000 plossl gives bloated stars toward the edge at f5.

[janoskiss]

Slightly bloated stars near the edge do not bother me. It's the seagulls I loathe. f4 is going to be tough for any eyepiece. Maybe the Pentaxes would do allright, since they are actually designed for f3.something spotting scopes. (psst, can you keep a secret? I've just ordered a Pentax XF 8.5mm.)

[Starkler]

Ummm when I say bloated stars, I mean not slightly like in a 14mm pentax xl, but considerably bloated, unacceptably so IMO.

I would definately not recommend the s5000 plossls for a fast scope although they performed great in Marks tak which is f8 I think ?

[casstony]

How about the Stratus line? Wide field, good eye relief, OK at f/4, easy to resell if you don't like them, can get 2 inside the $400 budget.

-Tony

[janoskiss]

I don't think the Stratus/Hyperion will be too crash hot at f4. Still works okay at f5 but has noticeably more aberrations than at f6. Try before you buy for f4.

[Vermin]

I have a 20mm Televue Plossl for sale in the buy/sell/trade forum that would suit your scope. Not super wide field, but very sharp.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=8171