Buy a planetary eyepiece or use Televue Barlow?

[Meru (Michael)]

Hi guys,

I wanted to start of by saying this is my first post here and I love this site! There is so much useful information (and members), especially since it's really based for Australian residents. I have a 8" 1000mm newt, and the focal length really isn't long enough to do any decent planetary obersving. I've bought myself a Televue Powermate 5x Barlow which works very well and has allowed me to get some nice images of jupiter via my webcam.

So my question is this: For visual usage, should I buy a seperate Planetary Eyepiece, or get a 15mm (or similar) and use it with my Barlow? I already spent alot of money on the barlow and it's meant to keep the same eye relief, so getting a 15mm would be a two-in-one eyepiece.

Even perhaps a zoom eyepiece would be more useful.
What do you think?

[Meru (Michael)]

Forgot to mention, i have a (pretty standard) 20mm plossl and using that has given me some pretty nice views, much better than my (also pretty standard) 5mm. I know that at 5x the seeing would have to be pretty good to use it, just unsure of which path to take!

[Poita (Peter)]

I have a TMB 6mm planetary on the shelf if you want to try it out. I could post it down to you for a play.

[omegacrux (David)]

Hi Meru
another option is IIS trade plenty of good ep's , but that offer is good !

[Meru (Michael)]

Peter,
That's a very sweet guesture of you, but I'd rather not take you up on the offer incase something happens to it! How do you find using it though?

David,
I'm a bit of a newbie so not sure what "IIS" means elaborate further please?

[Poita (Peter)]

If it breaks or gets lost, so be it. The only way to know is by trying one out really. Pm me your address and I'll stick it in the post. I'm not using it at the moment as I'm having a solar frenzy. Too much uni to do at night once the kids are in bed.

Oh and IIS is this website, IceInSpace. It is TLA central here...

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Hi Meru and welcome , I second every thing Peter and David say about the TBM's , I have not heard a bad word about them ever .. And they pop up here on IIS on a regular basis , Cheep as well .
I have never looked thru one , so cant comment , but as the say 'no news is good news' . .
The reason I cant say anything about the TBM's is , is because I am an Orthorscopic man , man .
The Ortho's for short is a high power lunar /planetary design of eyepiece from the 18 hundreds , so they have been around for a long time and thats why they do high power very , very well .
They only have a 45 degree field of view , but thats all you need when using high powers on the moon , double stars and the planets.
Google " Circle T Orthoscopics " . have a look .
Oh yea IIS = Ice In Space. or ... 'a great group of people' .
Brian.

Originally Posted by Meru

Peter,
That's a very sweet guesture of you, but I'd rather not take you up on the offer incase something happens to it! How do you find using it though?

David,
I'm a bit of a newbie so not sure what "IIS" means elaborate further please?

[omegacrux (David)]

Just pm'd you but I don't know if it sent the little box said no message sent . Technology not my strong suit , I try again

[mercedes_sl1970]

Originally Posted by Poita

I have a TMB 6mm planetary on the shelf if you want to try it out. I could post it down to you for a play.

Wow - what an exceptional offer! This level of generosity is one of the things I
find so refreshing about Iceinspace.

Andrew

[Profiler (Profiler)]

If you are quick there is a 6mm TMB planetary up for grabs right now in the eyepiece classifieds - well worth the asking $55

[Meru (Michael)]

Peter,
Its people like you who makes me think this world isn't so bad after all Its a very kind guesture and guess I cant pass it up! I'll PM my details to you. And ah now I see what IIS is

Brian,
Thanks for the advice, I guess by the sounds of it going with a Planetary eyepiece is the way to go! If the TMB does better than my 20mm/5x combo (Which by the sounds of it, probably will) then i'll do a little more research into which eyepiece

David,
Yup I got your message and replied too

[Poita (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Meru

So my question is this: For visual usage, should I buy a seperate Planetary Eyepiece, or get a 15mm (or similar) and use it with my Barlow? I already spent alot of money on the barlow and it's meant to keep the same eye relief, so getting a 15mm would be a two-in-one eyepiece.

Even perhaps a zoom eyepiece would be more useful.
What do you think?

I posted you a Zoom eyepiece (8-24mm) and a TMB 5mm eyepiece, so you can find out for yourself which way to jump.
Play with them for a week or two then shoot them back, you should have a much better idea then of the pros and cons.

Planetary eyepieces tend to be high contrast and have narrow fields of view, which is great when looking at planets, but means they aren't much chop for other uses. See what you think.

-P

[Meru (Michael)]

Yup got your Pm, thanks so much peter. I've always wanted to try a zoom so hopefully both of these will make it easy for me to decide which direction I should go in

[HCR32 (Peter)]

Using barlows just add glass which affects the view making the view softer. I would highly recommend you use an ep on its own. If planetary is your thing I found these Kokusai Kohki ORTHOSCOPIC http://www.kkohki.com/English/kkohkiparts.html a great eyepiece at a good. I find the more simple the eyepiece design the better it is for planetary views. At 1000mm f/l id be aiming for a 4mm, 5mm,6mm,7mm,8mm there abouts.