telescope eyepiece advice.

[kazste]

Good morning, I am a proud owner of a celestron nexstar 6se and I am looking at what eyepieces I should get.
Currently I have the supplied 25mm eyepiece which when looking at say Jupiter is underwhelming tto say the least. Thinking that I could either get a 2x Barlow and a celestron x-cel lx 9mm eyepiece to give me 25, 12.5, 9, and 4.5mm lenses, or i could be each seperate eyepiece in stages if it would be a better view as heard conflicting stories about Barlow lenses (I am lookng at the celestron omni 2x barlow).

My other option is that celestron do an accessory kit with 5 lenses and hard case for £130 from amazon but dont know what the quality is like and dont want to ruin the scope with poor lenses.

Focal length for the scope is 1500mm and it will be used for looking at planets, the moon and dso's in that order of priority thanks for looking and any advice greatly appreciated.

[nellyleelephant]

There seems to be a rule of thumb that you shouldn't go over 50x mag for every inch of aperture you have. Yours is A 6", SO 300 is about the max, a 5mm eyepiece would give you that magnification (focal length of telescope / focal length of eyepiece).

There is always a 'but' though.

Chances are, the image you would get at 300x will be a mess of bubbling atmosphere!

I have roughly the same focal length as you, I find 8mm is the most I would want to use, and even then it's pushing it and I'm using a 12" dob with Televue Plossl eyepieces.

If I was you I would look for a decent quality 10mm eyepiece and see how you get on. If you want to add a barlow lens, try and find a Tal 2x. Shouldn't be much more than £30 and they're great quality.

[kazste]

Thinking for the 9mm instead of 10mm was that with a barlow the 25mm woukd give me 12.5mm and didnt know if there would then be a big enough difference. I have no idea if this is the case its just 2.5mm doesn't seem a great difference to me. If im wrong then thats great and I will of learned some more about this new interest.

[nellyleelephant]

The 10 gives 150, 12.5 gives 120. Not that huge but noticeable.

The thing with a barlow is that they put more glass between your eye and the target. I don't use mine anymore, contrast seemed lower.

[kazste]

Thanks will get a 10x then and maybe a 32x later. Do you know if the lx lenses worth the extra for my scope over a celestron omni lens as there is a £40 price difference. I dont mind paying if worthwhile but dont want to throw money away needlessly.

[nellyleelephant]

I'm afraid I don't know anything about Celestron eyepieces.

Have you joined Stargazers Lounge? It may be worth putting your question up there, The above works for me, it may not for you so more opinions would be a good thing.

It's a very friendly, active forum.

[kazste]

Will take a look thanks for the advice so far.

[Daxed]

I have a couple of the x-cel eyepieces along with the x-cel 2x barlow. Excellent bits of kit.

As always try before you buy if possible.

Some people seem to prefer the standard type rubber eye relief compared to the solid twist up type on the x-cel.

Don't dismiss a quality barlow to make the most of your available eyepieces, they really are very good.

[nellyleelephant]

They are good, just not as good as having an eyepiece on it's own. They do degrade the image though.

[Daxed]

I can't tell the difference between an eyepiece with a barlow, compared to the equivalent eyepiece on its own. All with x-cel kit.

[nellyleelephant]

With my TV eyepieces there's a noticeable difference in contrast.

[Daxed]

That's interesting.

Have you tried another barlow besides the Tal?

I haven't used one myself, I just went with the x-cel based on the quality of the eyepieces I had previously used and some forum natter.

Why do you recommend the Tal,

[nellyleelephant]

Reviews on SGL, generally thought of as best bang for your buck. I was happy with it until I started using eyepieces that didn't require it.

[nellyleelephant]

Kind of on topic, but a new 25mm Televue plossl arrived today, along with the 8, 11, 15 and 20mm versions, it puts me 1 eyepiece away from a divorce!

Thankfully they are kept out of prying eyes in the shed!

[kazste]

Yeah we came a little close when my initial budget of under £300 stretched to a nexstar 6se scope. Wasnt helped by the fact that when we then used it through the 25mm eyepiece so 60x magnification you couldnt see anything clearer than with the eye!

[nellyleelephant]

Aim it at the Orion Nebula, that 60x will make sense then.

[kazste]

Will take a look tonight thanks.