Eyepieces and Accessories

andeelym · Post by **andeelym** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:47 am

Personally, I am also building up my gears. I have only a 24mm meade super plossl with a 2x ultima barlow and it served me just ok. I contemplated buying more plossls but the fact that I am moving up to 2" format will mean abandoning my gears. Which I am going to very soon.

I am planning to buy the baader clickzoom cos i am lazy to change eyepieces and it has receive good reviews so far, what's best is that I can directly couple to a DSLR camera for a easy-to-do afocal astrophotgraphy. I am thinking of going baader cos they makes it so easy to do astrophotography (which will be my main focus) with their EPs.

I personally follow the 50x per inch rule. And with the 8-24 clickzoom covered by the baader EP, I will just need one more which is the 5mm to reach the limit for my 8" SCT. So basically, I will only need 2 EPs (hyperions) and no barlows at all. Its easy to carry around and less stuff to buy too.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:09 pm

50x per inch is a guide more for premium optics with optimum setup, and mass-produced scopes usually may not reach that.

5mm ep is usually not practical for a C8, unless your ota happen to have excellent optics and you observe on a night with excellent seeing.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:13 pm

Agreed. A lot of people say 50X per inch (or 1X per millimeter) but that's for premium optics. Besides, the atmosphere very rarely supports more than 100X to 150X anyway.

That said, I've taken my C9.25 up to 1175X :-D (it's frighteningly easy to get crazy high magnifications with the super-long 2350mm focal length - 6mm Burgess/TMB + my old/crappy Meade 3X barlow).

The view of Jupiter was nothing much to look at though.

andeelym · Post by **andeelym** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:18 pm

rlow wrote:50x per inch is a guide more for premium optics with optimum setup, and mass-produced scopes usually may not reach that.

5mm ep is usually not practical for a C8, unless your ota happen to have excellent optics and you observe on a night with excellent seeing.

And i tot i was conservative in 50x coming down from 60x. Should I adopt 40x - 45x instead? I am using Meade LX50 8 inch. Not sure if its premium or not though. The 5mm EP is going to be after the clickzoom purchase, if I am not satisfied with the reach.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:21 pm

My best (eye) views of Jupiter on my 9.25 were at 235X with a 10mm Plossl. Admittedly that's right at 50X per inch. Going higher just makes the image bigger, but doesn't show more detail.

I'd say 20X to 25X is a more conservative figure. Certainly, you can exceed this, if you're webcamming or looking at the Moon.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 4:14 pm

235x for C9.25 is only operating at 25.4x per inch, yeah?

stargazer · Post by **stargazer** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 4:33 pm

Wow! Thanks for the many opinions. Maybe I should just try out a 10 mm plossl with a 2x barlow. Think this combination with my 20 mm EP will last me for another year. Then hopefully can upgrade to a SCT after attaining some level of experience!

cloud_cover · Post by **cloud_cover** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 4:50 pm

orly_andico wrote:My best (eye) views of Jupiter on my 9.25 were at 235X with a 10mm Plossl. Admittedly that's right at 50X per inch.

Erm.... bro, I think the calc is a bit off.......

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:09 pm

orly_andico wrote:Besides, the atmosphere very rarely supports more than 100X to 150X anyway.

For the 6" apo & 8.3" Mewlon, it is quite frequently possible to get a sharp steady planetary image at 340-350x. On exceptional nights of excellent seeing, it has been possible to push to 600-700x and still get a sharp steady image.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 6:54 pm

Oops. There goes my math..

It does explain why my best views are at that mag.. I haven't even gotten around to collimating the thing.