Another Eye Piece Thread

[Michael8t1 (Michael)]

Hello Forumites!
My name is Michael and i am new to the gang. I have been interested in the hobby for a long time but finally got around to buying my first scope, which is a Celestron Nexstar 130SLT. Over the past few days i have been doing internet searches and reading forum pages on eyepieces and other potential bits and pieces which may improve my viewing. To be honest, it is becoming more confusing the more i learn and as opinions differ, i am kinda getting stuck. I know there are a million threads on EP's so please ignore my ignorance on not being able to extract what i need from those threads

So the kit comes with 2 EP's being 9mm and 25mm. If i am right this achieves magnification of 72 and 26 respectively.

*What would be the next EP you would add to the collection for Planetary viewing?
*Is a 2 x Barlow worth while. (This seems to be debatable)
*When using the red dot spotting scope, do i use one eye or both?

Any help would be appreciated guys and girls.

Thanks

[ab1963 (Andrew)]

Hi
I would recommend a 5mm orthoscopic that would give you 130x for planetary work,the FOV will be less than with a plossl but will IMO give a sharper image,some people find the eye relief a problem but has never been a problem to myself because of image quality ,with higher mag ep's buy as good as the wallet allows you will not regret it,good used ones come up from time to time
hope that helps

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Michael
My usual advice is not to rush out buying eyepieces, especially not "chasing better view". That way madness lies! Spend time with your existing gear and work out what you enjoy observing and the conditions that you enjoy. Then decide if a higher power EP is the way to go. Try to get to a star party or observing night and see what others use and maybe borrow some EPs.
I am not a fan of Barlows as I have always had better results with stand alone EPs.
Practice using the red dot finder with both eyes, once you have done it a couple of times it is much easier.

Cheers
Malcolm

[SkyWatch (Dean)]

Some good advice there! I agree that it is better to wait a bit, and that an orthoscopic is probably traditionally the sharpest for planetary work. However, they have a very narrow fov and small eyerelief, so are difficult for eyeglass wearers.
The Orion "edge-one"/ Williams "planetary" and other re-badged "clones" are all very good, and they have 20mm eye-relief with a wider fov than a classical ortho. Long Perng have a line of these at a much lower price (check out Andrews)... I have the 5mm version, and it holds up very well against much higher priced eyepieces.

All the best,

Dean