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I just saying depending on the seeing conditions & target, you should have no problem going down a little from 12mm...

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Eyes differ, and so do people's personal preferences, but if you push the magnification too far you start to lose low contrast detail, partly by pushing the contrasting patches further away from each other and partly by reducing the overall brightness (the eye's ability to detect contrast declines at low light levels). With large scopes, there's more light around but you tend to get more interference from seeing disturbances. If you're pushing the magnification up until hard edges (e.g. the shadow of Saturn's ring on the globe, or vice versa) are beginning to blur noticeably, you're going too far.

The highest power I ever use on a 200mm LX90 is x222. With the sole exception of using an insanely high power (x444) for examining the diffraction pattern when collimating.

My personal opinion is that the highest power which is actually useful for observing is that which gives an exit pupil of 0.8 mm i.e. an eyepiece with a focal length of 0.8 times the focal ratio of the scope. With good optics and good seeing you may get reasonably sharp images at a higher power than that but you can't actually see any more detail.

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I agree. I must recognize that I am not an experienced observer, but for the high power that works better in my ETX, under my skies, is 12mm (a Pentax XF, awesome eyepiece and no field curvature in the ETX).
Like Ones, only rarely I can use (and distinguish more details) with a 9-8mm; and I noted that just on the moon I can actually see fine details using 9 to 7 mm eyepieces. When looking planets, for me is not clear that I can distinguish better details using something below 12mm.
Thank you guys.

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10x50 Nikon Action Ex
ETX-125PE
L. Henzl Konig 24mm, 16mm Brandon, 12/9/7/5mm TMB Supermonocentrics
For my wife: 24mm Hyperion, 12/8.5 Pentax XF
My workhorses: 32/24/16/12(Zebra) U.O. Konig II
Barlows 2x TV, 2.8x Klee



"Don't worry about what telescope you own, or its quality. Just get out under the night sky, and enjoy God's wondrous universe." Thomas M. Back

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I use a 9mm once in a while.

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Much depends on the seeing. Down here on the Gulf Coast, I will often push the 125 to 300x and above with amazing results.



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Uncle Rod

Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!

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