15 replies to this topic

[Jack Frost]

Hi kids.

I'm getting a 10" reflector, f6.3, and was wondering what eyepieces people recommend?

I can get all the brands - Televue, Pentax, TMB, Parks, Vixen, Meade etc, but with so many to choose from, I could end up spending a fortune.

I already have a 40mm plossl and an 18mm swa plossl from Meade, and thought about a Televue powermate, but other than that I'm stumped.

The scope comes with a 50.8mm low profile focuser (shown below) but is that the diameter of the whole thing, or the bit where the eyepieces slot in? Does that mean it takes 2" eyepieces or 1.25"? And if it does take 1.25", is it worth getting a different focuser that takes 2"?

Cheers.

[Jack Frost]

Just read Iceman's post!!!! It's quite similar to mine.

Still, if anyone wants to comment..........

[F.Meiresonne]

Jack,

I think your focuser takes 2" and 1,25" pieces,just like mine does.
Which ep's too chose? That's difficult.How much money do you want to spent? Do you like long eye relief?What are your favorit objects targets?
For high power viewing i suggest you take a look at the ultrascopics/ultimas.These are really good and are not expensive, at least in the US , in Belgium there more expensive but still worth while.
For low to medium power a good set op Plossl should do fine.
I you have more money to spent of course then there are the Radians ,Panoptics and last but not least the Naglers all from Televue (These are out of my price range unfortunately)

[Jack Frost]

Hi Freddy.

I can afford the Naglers and suchlike, however if there are things just as good only cheaper then I'll have those!

My favourite objects are galaxies, nebulas and the like, although I'll be doing some planetary observing as well.

I've read good things about the TMB monocentric eyepieces. Are they any good with 10" reflectors?

[Jack Frost]

And globular clusters too. And open clusters. And......

[Jarad]

You have a 2" focuser. What I always recommend is to anchor your eyepiece set on the widest possible true FOV. In your case, that would be something like a 41 panoptic or a 40 Pentax XL or XW , or 40mm GSO superwide (all will give close to a 7mm exit pupil). Then I would go up by factors of 2x, then eventually fill in the gaps to get factors of 1.4x. And start with the lowest and highest powers. So I would recommend to get eyepieces in the folowing order:

~40mm 2" widefield.
~10mm for planetary use
~20mm widefield for medium DSO's

Then depending on where you feel you need tighter spacing, you could fill in around 6-7mm for those occasional really steady nights, around 14-15mm for medium-small DSO's or less steady nights, or around 30mm for medium-large DSO's.

I also recommend getting a nebula filter on the early side (like after the first 2 eyepieces).

At f6.3, you can get by with some of the cheaper designs like Superwides, GSO's, etc. without too much astigmatism. Of course, if you can afford it, the Pan's, Naglers, and Pentaxes will still be very nice in your scope. I would splurge on wide field at the low end first (to max out the TFOV), and only get widefield at the high end if it's a dob without tracking (if you have tracking, you can get plossl's at the high powers for planetary use).

Hope this helps,

Jarad

[LivingNDixie]

Hi Freddy.

I can afford the Naglers and suchlike, however if there are things just as good only cheaper then I'll have those!

My favourite objects are galaxies, nebulas and the like, although I'll be doing some planetary observing as well.

I've read good things about the TMB monocentric eyepieces. Are they any good with 10" reflectors?

One thing you might want to do is get some plossls and see what powers your like and then figure out which higher end eyepieces you want to get...

[Rusty]

You have a 2" focusser (The metal thumbscrew) with a 1.25" adaptor inserted (The white [nylon?] thumbscrew. For use with 2" EPs, just remove the 1/25" adaptor.

Be sure to tighten thumbscrews when an EP is inserted....

[Derek W]

I have a 10inch dob, and just received a 15mm plossl, GSO 30mm 2inch wide field piece and a 2inch barlow from owl optical.

I found all of them to be quite nice quality, and at a GREAT price. The wide views with the 2inch piece are great. Sure, it's not perfect to the edge, but it's very good for scanning the sky.

The barlow works great with both size eyepieces and helps clean up the 30mm 2inch piece aswell.

The 15mm plossl was only 20 dollars and works just as well as my other plossls(meade 4000 and sirius)... so great value there.

[Tom L]

Derek, I bought the 2" GSO barlow also and have yet to use it. Gald to hear that it works so well. Sounds like you have the right attitude about the 30mm. I think they are great finder eyepieces when used with my Telrad. Works great for the initial find then I switch to my 25mm 1.25" plossl and zero in from there.

[F.Meiresonne]

Hi Freddy.

I can afford the Naglers and suchlike, however if there are things just as good only cheaper then I'll have those!

My favourite objects are galaxies, nebulas and the like, although I'll be doing some planetary observing as well.

I've read good things about the TMB monocentric eyepieces. Are they any good with 10" reflectors?

The TMB monocentrics are planetary eypepieces and probably not the best choice for a fast newtonian. In the August issue of Sky and Telescope there is a test report of them , suggested reading!!

[Jack Frost]

Just to show the prices in the UK, I have composed this list. I have converted UK pounds into US dollars.

Televue 41mm Panoptic
US - $495
UK - $721

Televue 22mm Nagler Type 4
US - $460
UK - $811

Televue 10mm Radian
US - $240
UK - $414

TMB 10mm Monocentric
US - $225
UK - $316

Meade 10" LX200GPS-SMT
US - $2980
UK - $5239

Celestron NexStar 11 GPS
US - $3504
UK - $6070

Losmandy G-11 with Gemini
US - $3195
UK - $5229

And none of the stores in the US ship to the UK. That's why I'm buying an OTA made in England.

Not a bit of wonder I'm poor. You lot really should feel sorry for us Brits.

[Jack Frost]

What's the prices like in Belgium, Freddy?

[Derek W]

Tom L,

Right you are... good finder pieces. Love the huge view.

My favorite view of m27, the dumbbell neb, came with the 30mm GSO barlowed.

I really dig that combo. More mag, but still a nice wide view, found myself using it a lot.

[F.Meiresonne]

Prices? Too expensive!!

22 mm nagler : 552 euro = 673,55 $
10 mm radian : 264 euro = 322,13 $
Meade 10" LX200 GPS with mount and tripod : 4175 euro = 5094,33 $

My battery is flat, got to post it right now