When I got my 12 dob today, the other thing that surprised me was the size of the 2" eye pieces. I knew they would be bigger then the 1.25", but not that big. I am going to, when I get the money, replace all my 1.25" with 2" eye pieces.
Was every one else (with 2" eye pieces) surprised at how big they are?
I guess the arpature bug doesn't just bite with the size of the telescope, hey.
mmm my 30mm was a hell of a lot bigger than I expected... heavier too... Nearly the size of a coke can... You should see the meade 5000 series
I've not used any other 2" ep's so I cant say if I'd rush out and buy a whole set of 2".. on some objects I've found my bog stock 25mm skywatcher plossi + 2x york optical barlow to produce absolutely stunning contrasty views of galaxies/nebula than anything else...
..... when I get the money, replace all my 1.25" with 2" eye pieces......
Why? So you can have an eyepiece case the size of a traveler's trunk? 1.25" is enough for most eyepieces.
Wait until you get a 31mm Televue Nagler Type 5 (the "Grenagler") in your hands - all 997g of it! Of course, you'll need a Paracorr for coma correction in your f5 - that adds another 476g - so all up, that's about 1.5Kg hanging off your focusser! Make sure you have those two little grub screws at the base of the focusser nipped up firmly!
And if you add a filter - might be "the straw that breaks the camel's back"?
I am going to, when I get the money, replace all my 1.25" with 2" eye pieces.
There are a lot of great eyepieces only available in 1.25" format.
As most people find that say 3 eyepieces occupy the focuser 90% of the time its just as simple to buy a couple of 2-1.25" adapaters and put them on the most used 1.25" eyepieces.
If you do that then you are effectively swapping out 2" eyepieces mechanically wise
mmm my 30mm was a hell of a lot bigger than I expected... heavier too... Nearly the size of a coke can... You should see the meade 5000 series
I took some pics of the Meade 30mm UWA Series 5000 eyepiece along side my favourite drop. Used in the TOA-130 with a focal length of 1000mm (33X) the field of view is enormous and the stars are pinpoint edge to edge. In the Unitron 4" with a focal length of 1500mm (50X), the views are equally as spectacular. Somehow, the pics don't seem to convey the sheer size of this thing.
You will find that very long focal lengths come only in 2", eg. from about 30mm or longer. Short focal lengths only come in 1.25", from about 15mm and down. Between these two you can get them in either size. The main reason for the large size at long focal lengths is that they need to be physically bigger to "fit the light in" as it were, especially with a long focal length of 30 or 40 mm and wide angle views of more than the 50 or so found in a Plossl.
If you only have 2" eyepieces, you won't be doing much planetary or double star viewing
I took some pics of the Meade 30mm UWA Series 5000 eyepiece along side my favourite drop. Used in the TOA-130 with a focal length of 1000mm (33X) the field of view is enormous and the stars are pinpoint edge to edge. In the Unitron 4" with a focal length of 1500mm (50X), the views are equally as spectacular. Somehow, the pics don't seem to convey the sheer size of this thing.
Cheers, Steve B
thats the sucker I was talking about alright.. I held one at astrofest and pondered the joys of balancing my EQ6 with that hanging out of the already heavier focuser laden side of my scope.... No chace would I hang that off my focuser + the 4x TV Powermate I have... Would you strap a brick to your focuser?
