Eyepiece help required!

[CC Bear (Tim)]

Hello all, I've just purchased my first ever telescope as a 41 year old! its a second hand 8 inch Dob from GSO and came with the following eyepieces: 2 inch 30mm GSO Superview and the rest are all 1.25" standard Plossls: 25mm, 12mm, 9mm and a 6.5mm Series 500. I also got a Meade LPI with Autostar suite (will worry about imaging down the track!!!).

I've had a couple of views and no probs with the moon with my eyepieces or Saturn (best in 9mm I found as 6.5mm hurt the eyes and was too hard to find)!

I'll be wanting to view nebulas and also find an easier way to see the planets at a high mag (say 5 or 6mm) to give me a max of abt 240x...I live in Sydney's suburbs and that's about all I can expect I'm told with my Dob.

Unfortunately my astro budget for the year only allows me another $120 or so.

My thoughts are to get a 1.25" GSO UHC filter, a 1.25" Superview GSO 15mm (for nebulas with the filter) and use the SV 15mm with either a 2,2.5 or 3 x Barlow for planetary purposes as it should be easier on the eye.

Would the above be good bang for my buck given my budget? If so, which Barlow given the 2x is cheapest, the 3 is ED and the 2.5 is apochromatic!

Appreciate any help!!!

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

I'll give you my opinion that is worth exactly what you paid for it...

I'd hold off on buying any new eyepieces for a while and use what you have. For the budget that you are planning I'm not certain that you will see a lot of difference over what you already have except for maybe a slightly wider FOV.

The gear you already have is reasonably and should keep you busy for a while. My recommendation is to hold off spending money for a while.

For me, I'd much prefer having a few top shelf eyepieces instead of a lot of average ones. Same with filters...

There are a lot of active viewers in the Sydney area, I'd encourage you to try and hook up with a few and look through some of their gear. I'm sure some people would even let you try some of their eyepieces in your scope. This will give you get a better feel for the differences in brands and price points and that will help you decide what you like and then you can buy as an informed consumer.

Before long you'll be saving up and can then splash out on a Televue (13 mm Nagler) or Pentax (10 mm XW) as just two examples of the variety of options available.

Clear Skies,

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Hi Tim
Congratulations on the scope. Seems like you have already leart the first lesson, high mags are not always better!
Your scope has a focal length of 1000mm so the EPs you have give the following powers

30mm 33x
25mm 40x
12mm 83x
9mm 111x
6.5mm 153x

I very rarely use more than 115x in my scope and do most of my observing at 44 or 67x. The odd times I look at planets I go higher and very occasionally with DSOs but conditions have to be good.
You already have a good range of powers. If you got a 2x barlow you will get

33x
40x
66x
80x
83x
111x
153x
166x
222x
306x

Realistically, you are not really gaining much andf a barlow puts more glass in the way which is never good. The 15mm will add 67x but you have 2 on either side. The UHC filter is not a bad idea, I use one occasionally to bring out detail in some brighter nebs and it does help, but the filter I use most is an OIII to assist with observing PNs.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Having read Scotts reply I agree wholeheartedly with him. Much better to have 2 or 3 really good EPs than try to chase a huge range of powers with cheap EPs. I do 95% of my observing with 2 eyepieces (13mm Nag and 24mm Pan) and 2/3rds of that is with the 24mm. The ones you have will give you heaps to look at.

[Gem (Grant)]

As a dob user of many years, I would agree with most of the advice given so far... hold off! You won't gain much in pushing for more magnification. You have wide range of average eyepieces already.
Save up and get a nice low power eyepiece and a nice high power some time down the track.
Remember: the eyepiece is half the telescope (as my brother always said to me). Wait and get something that is quality. The good thing about eyepieces is they transfer between scopes too (if you ever upgrade your scope).

[CC Bear (Tim)]

Thanks to all for their helpful advice. I talked to a very helpful man at Bintel who said pretty much the same.....wait and get 2 or 3 good ones, maybe a 5 or 6mm, a 13mm and a 24mm.

I think I'll forget the Barlow idea.

He did say a filter was a good idea and mentioned the Astronomik UHC, though I have read reviews that the DGM NPB (only available from the States) is marginally better as the best all-rounder to get. I'm thinking at this stage I will just get the DGM NPB filter and spend the next 6 months getting a feel for it all with what I have.

Down the track I will supplement the DGM NPB with an OIII filter and the better quality eyepieces as advised by all posts. This means I will have good tools as everyone says should I really get into the astronomy caper and want a bigger scope at a latter stage!

Again, appreciate all the advice offered.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Best investment would be to get Stellarium ( Free !! ) and start learning, looking and hunting.
And pray for No Clouds ....

Welcome btw, nice to have you aboard.

[Gem (Grant)]

Originally Posted by CC Bear

Thanks to all for their helpful advice. I talked to a very helpful man at Bintel who said pretty much the same.....wait and get 2 or 3 good ones, maybe a 5 or 6mm, a 13mm and a 24mm.

Everyone is different, but I would recommend not going as down to a 5 or 6mm with a dob. You need good seeing conditions to use a 5 or 6 anyway. I would recommend a 7 or 9mm, a 15 or 18mm and a 32mm.
Over the years, I found that I loved my 32mm Televue plossl. I preferred it over the 25mm plossl I had. I have a really good quality 4.8mm Televue nagler that rarely gets used. It is too high a magnification. Most of my planetary observing has been done with a 12mm plossl.
Also, to me, Televue plossl is better than a celestron, orion, bintel or other plossls. Quality does make a different in eyepieces.
Good luck!!

[CC Bear (Tim)]

Originally Posted by ZeroID

Best investment would be to get Stellarium ( Free !! ) and start learning, looking and hunting.
And pray for No Clouds ....

Welcome btw, nice to have you aboard.

Yes, found Stellarium - great program that got me interested enough to buy the scope. I check it before observing, though the last week in Sydney has been hopeless!

[Gem (Grant)]

Originally Posted by CC Bear

I'll be wanting to view nebulas and also find an easier way to see the planets at a high mag (say 5 or 6mm) to give me a max of abt 240x...I live in Sydney's suburbs and that's about all I can expect I'm told with my Dob.

In the suburbs, you can try open clusters. Dark skies are always better, but even in the city many open clusters make good viewing.