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Originally Posted by johngwheeler
Good idea! I was looking at the Baader Hyperion (probably 17mm) which has good reviews with the Celestron Regal ED scopes. That would give me about 28x and 2.85mm exit pupil, which sounds like a good general purpose setting for general stargazing.
I was thinking about about a short focal length EP (the Baaders apparently don't work in 8mm & 5mm because the scope lacks back-focus distance, so the choice of manufacturer is critical). I think you suggestion to try one at a club viewing evening is excellent - much cheaper than buying an expensive eyepiece and crossing my fingers!
One thing I do notice with my scope looking at planets (particularly Venus) is that there is quite a lot of "coma" (off axis "flare" on one edge) around the planet. It can be minimised by careful focussing and moving my head around a bit or blinking. Is this the scope, internal "floaters" in my eye, or an effect of the atmosphere? Elevation is pretty low (probably 20-25 degrees).
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Baader Hyperion, damn great choice! So much better than supplied eyepieces and amazing value for money. Superbly comfortable on the eye. Don't get too hung up on magnification values though. They higher the mag the harder it is to find a target at all and the quicker atmospheric conditions degrade your view. I would recommend a hyperion zoom as its just as good as the primes optically and so easy to zoom out to star hop then zoom in to find your target however try to see if it'll focus in your spotter scope first. I found the baader hyperions worked fine in my small scopes but when i got the zoom it wouldn't.
The "flare" could be the optics of the scope or eyepiece, could be accentuated by cleanliness of either too. Could also be because Venus is so bright. A good clean and a cheap set of eyepiece planetary filters might help you figure it out. If you can get to a club night and try out eyepieces and filters you can work it out and get an idea at the improvements you can get from the spotting scope.
Getting a "real" telescope brings new set of challenges, many people enjoy astronomy with binoculars. If your spotter scope suits your needs then that's fine, i think time at the eyepiece is more important besides in the dark size doesn't matter (much). Just enjoy the sky and try to share the enjoyment. Typically the eyepiece is the weak point when you buy a telescope and the poor optics of a supplied eyepiece can put people off. When I got back into astronomy as an adult I started with a celestron firstscope, a tabletop dob type which got rave reviews... it was crap, horrible views. year later I had a better scope and bought my first eyepieces (8 & 24mm hyperions) and tried them in the firstscope and it came alive! what a great view! I didn't think there would be such a difference. It encouraged me to buy a 100mm tabletop dob, wow! found neptune with that scope. I'd guess you have yet to experience the optics of your scope fully and nightime is very different to daytime viewing so please try to get together with a group at night and try some of their eyepieces in your spotter.