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MEOPTEX 1.25" 6mm 9mm 15mm 20mm 66-Degree Ultra Wide Angle Eyepiece for Telescope (15mm)?
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I am! Yay this might be good! Thank you a much! And for the eyepiece are you talking about something like this? MEOPTEX 1.25" 6mm 9mm 15mm 20mm 66-Degree Ultra Wide Angle Eyepiece for Telescope (15mm) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H8WGZSV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_V6VEMMJXXQK70P623ST0?psc=1
I am! Yay this might be good! Thank you a much! And for the eyepiece are you talking about something like this? MEOPTEX 1.25" 6mm 9mm 15mm 20mm 66-Degree Ultra Wide Angle Eyepiece for Telescope (15mm) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H8WGZSV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_V6VEMMJXXQK70P623ST0?psc=1
Aside from the mount, the 127EQ is fine as long as you play to its strengths and set your expectations accordingly.
Given the nature of the optics, you should have the expectation that it will just not deliver good planetary views, but it can deliver some good medium/low power deep sky views from a dark sky site, as well as some medium/low power views of the Moon.
I recommend getting a simple 32mm Plossl to start with. A 32mm Plossl affords the widest possible true field of view in a 1.25" barrel. It will produce a reasonably bright 4mm exit pupil and a 1.5 degree true field of view. This is enough to frame the bigger targets like Double Cluster, Pleiades, Orion Nebula etc. This is where the telescope will perform its best. If you have a telescope with a 1.25" focuser and a focal ratio of F/5 and longer, a 32mm Plossl is kind of a "must have" staple eyepiece in your kit. They're not that expensive - about $35 or so (even less if you look for no-name versions on Ebay or AliExpress).
Next up I would get an eyepiece that can be used for more general purpose DSO viewing, which would be around a 2mm exit pupil and roughly 63x magnification. In the 127EQ, that's about a 15-16mm eyepiece. Without a doubt, the best value you can get here is the 15mm "gold line". At the F/8 focal ratio of your scope, this 15mm will perform nicely. A reasonably wide field of view and eye relief for very little money compared to other options out there.
Lastly, I would get the 9mm version of that "gold line". Again, very cheap, and I can personally vouch for that eyepiece. I've done a lot of comparison with it and my expensive 9mm Tele Vue DeLite, and it goes toe to toe with it on all but the steadiest of nights. The only disadvantage is it has bad kidney beaning and eye placement issues. But for $30, they're easy to live with. The 9mm will push you to the limit of what that telescope can cleanly deliver and what the wobbly mount will realistically handle. It will be useful on the Moon and smaller, brighter deep sky objects. Views of planets though, will not be satisfactory (though you should be able to see the major clouds bands on Jupiter and Saturn's rings without issue)
So all-in, you would spend about $100 on eyepieces and those three eyepieces will be a good match for the telescope and play to its strengths.
However, because its strengths really lies in low-mid power DSO viewing, you are going to need a dark sky site to really get the most from it.
Just be aware that the mount will eventually drive you into a deep madness.
Hello :-)
> barlow
Don't get a barlow. A decent one will cost more than 2-3 decent "starter" eyepieces to beginn with.
6mm 66° (1, 2, sold out directly from the UK atm) for planets, possibly a 4mm 58° Planetary clone (but atmospheric seeing will more often than not limit magnification, making focusing, getting a steady image impossible).
Do not get a short Plössl-type (poor eye-relief) or eyepiece box set (overpriced, redundant, mediocre at best).
> eyepiece
A 2" wide-angle eyepiece would show a larger field, making finding DSO and observing larger objects easier.
http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1200-overview-eyepieces.png
A 30mm 2-inch Erfle eyepiece £70-£90 - Won't be sharp in the outer field though - in F/5 telescopes a Explore-Scientific 30mm 82° would perform better but costs a lot more.
(Same with the 15mm 66°, it won't be great at F/5 either. But cheap. The 6mm 66° works decently as there's a lens element similar to a barlow in the barrel.)
Larger than 30mm won't work as the exit pupil would get too large for common sky conditions; http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/exitPupil_and_secondary1.png
> recommendations
A height-adjustable chair, or DIY lybar which you can just turn around (http://www.astronomyforum.net/atm-diy-telescope-making-forum/136403-my-lybar-chair-variant.html)
"Turn left at Orion" - the missing manual :-)
Binoculars! Make getting oriented easier.
Filters can be useful, but especially color filters have very limited effect. An (adjustable) moon filter is nice at medium magnification as the moon's very bright in 10". A single blue filter can work for both on a budget.
> accessories I could buy to enhance nebula viewing? I heard about a UHC filter that may help but don't know anything about filters.
Check out https://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/useful-filters-for-viewing-deep-sky-objects/ - A good 2" filter can get quite costly. A dark sky and thus portability is still key.
If you have access to a dark location, I'd suggest observing a bit without filter first.
Do you know how big those telescopes are (product images are misleading) and what to realistically expect?
Clear skies :-)
I got this
Hello :-)
> technically going to be for my 7 year old son's Christmas.
Awesome! You rarely get a gift as big as yourself :-D
How much is he into astronomy / space?
Only planets, or do you think he'd enjoy faint nebulae as well? They look different than on pictures.
What to expect visually - Aperture size is key:
> amazon
Just don't get it from Amazon? :-) There are several reliable astronomy stores with good service.
> too much
Depends. Do you have the space for it? Will you be helping your son?
I had a 9 year old at an outreach event basically managing the telescope by himself, but it's a good, large telescope.
> wow
Definetally.
If you want something more compact the Z130, OneSky or even a 5" Maksutov can be more manageable set-up. but a 6" or especially 8" will show significantly more.
> breaking
A dobsonian is stupidly simple. A lazy-susan style rockerbox, and the mirror is such a thick piece of glass it's not going to break;
John Dobson himself, doing this (5:40) and that (~12:45)...! ;-)
> Barlow
Get a dedicated eyepiece instead, e.g. the 6mm 66° wide-angle eyepiece. It's cheaper and performs better than combining the kit eyepiece with a barlow. Doubling all eyepieces sounds like a great idea, but especially the budget barlows will reduce the contrast and cost more than getting some better eyepieces to begin with.
https://www.amazon.com/MEOPTEX-66-Degree-Ultra-Eyepiece-Telescope/dp/B07H8WGZSV/ref=sr_1_2
$17 or so at Aliexpress
More magnification can be awesome, but atmospheric seeing conditions often limit what's possible. A 4mm 58° eyepiece (HR Planetary clone) costs $27 or so at Aliexpress though.
Avoid sets! Mediocre, overpriced, redundant, not matching the telescope.
Avoid short Plössl (the ones under 10mm have poor eye-relief) and the cheap 62° copper tops.
> hot and humid here.
Not really, just make sure to protect the telescope from moisture during storage, and after dew at night leave it to dry (don't cover and bag it all up right away, bring inside).
> other things
A good guide is key; "Turn left at Orion" or "Simply stargazing".
A telescopes shows a comparibly small field of view, binoculars can help a lot to get oriented. E.g. $20-$30 ones even, such as the Celestron Cometron 7x50 (for kids, 6-7x magnification is easier to hold, 40mm aperture are lighter).
Clear skies!
Awesome :-) It wil be a incredible wide-field bucket with portability in mind. Not perfect, but still better than a lot of other options out there.
> eyepieces
Depends on what you want to spend of course. The 10 and 25mm aren't great but work :-) 4 - 10 - (15) - 25mm cover the basics.
Better would be 4mm58°, 6mm66°, 9mm66°, 15mm66° (or better ones), 32mm52°.
> confused
Yeah, the topic of eyepieces seems to be more complex than telescopes :-)
Budget?
Just avoid Plössl type (52°) under 10mm due to poor eye-relief, and obvious cheap eyepieces such as the 4mm 62°. As well as overpriced box sets, they are not worth it.
The 4mm is nice for planets, the 3.2mm will be too much for average conditions. The one I've linked to is the best bang for the buck. As you've probably seen on Amazon and such, you can easily spend a lot more on eyepieces.
So a 15mm Plössl could work, but doesn't cost that much less than the 15mm 66°. Please note that cheap (wide-angle) eyepieces don't perform too well in aperture ratios of F/5 (outer field not sharp) but they are still very affordable solutions. Unless you want to spend significantly more.
Consider a 32mm (not 40mm) Plössl for a larger overview perhaps at some point.
Sadly the cheap resellers within the EU of many cheap eyepieces have vanished during the Covid crisis so you either have to spend more or wait for shipments from Aliexpress.
Amazon Global (US) seems the only one atm, https://www.amazon.co.uk/MEOPTEX-66-Degree-Ultra-Eyepiece-Telescope/dp/B07H8WGZSV/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&keywords=15mm+66+eyepiece&qid=1594590105&rnid=419157031&sr=8-18
Even Aliexpress/China is more expensive currently. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32734295969.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.570977e9Ldnwzk&algo_pvid=5d938f27-8532-46ec-9c92-b7e2a73bf37c&algo_expid=5d938f27-8532-46ec-9c92-b7e2a73bf37c-0&btsid=0b0a187b15945906132602806ea12c&ws_ab_t...
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