Lidl Telescope

Sorry didnt mean to imply that Celestron were the only eyepieces. The ones I was using last night were the $99 Meade offer ones, Super Plossls (not that I know what a regular plossl is mind you!)

Astronomy and Space Ltd. are the Celestron dealers here who will be more than happy to seel you eyepieces. However I thought I should do a quick price comparison, p&p not included:

Celestron SMA eyepiece 25mm (1.25")
A&S : € 61.58
D.Hinds: EUR 34.25

Celestron NexStar Plössl Eyepieces 17mm (1.25")
A&S : € 93.33
D.Hinds : EUR 55.67

Eyepieces (well, all bits of glass for astronomy!) can be expensive, but the ones that come with the scope give magnification of 35X and 175X, thats enough for wide field views at 35x and planetary detail at 175x. So you may decide you don't need more. Perhaps a 2x barlow or a filter set might be a better first purchase? Others here can probably advise better on eyepieces.

Even with the set I have from meade I find I only use about half of them.

Cheers,
~Al

Eyepieces (well, all bits of glass for astronomy!) can be expensive, but the ones that come with the scope give magnification of 35X and 175X, thats enough for wide field views at 35x and planetary detail at 175x. So you may decide you don't need more. Perhaps a 2x barlow or a filter set might be a better first purchase? Others here can probably advise better on eyepieces.

I'm not an eyepiece expert, but for a 70mm f/10 refractor I reckon;

10mm plossl = 70x (140x with barlow)
32mm plossl = 22x (44x with barlow)

So, two eyepieces and a barlow and you'll have 22x, 44x, 70x, and 140x magnification with good eye relief. With the 20mm that comes with it (to give 35x) you'd have a good range with these 3 eyepieces (from 22X to 140X)

Not too sure about the 4mm kellner that comes with the scope - Al said it was 'tedious'. But if you had the 10mm eyepiece and 2x barlow, that'd give you 140x, is more comfortable to use, and is just at the max recommended magnification for that aperture (175x would be pushing the optics on a 70mm achromatic)

Generally, a low power wide-field (32mm or 40mm), medium power (20mm), and high-medium (10mm) would be the recommended basic eyepieces. Add a barlow to that and double your fun.

John.

P.S. Pegasus, in case you're wondering about the terminology/calculations. The magnification given by any eyepiece is worked out like this: Magnification = Telescope focal length / Eyepiece focal length. The focal length of the Lidl is 700mm (70mm X f10). Eyepieces are normally quoted by their focal length (e.g. 32mm plossl means a 32mm focal length plossl type eyepiece)

So, stick a 32mm plossl in that lidl scope, and you'll get 700/32 = 22X magnification.

Other terms: 'Eye relief', how far from the eyepiece you have to hold your eye. At higher magnifications you might find your eyelashes brushing against the lens, that's 'poor' eye relief.

'Barlow': An additional lens/tube that is put into the telescope and you can insert the eyepiece into this. A barlow normally doubles the magnification. So, if you put that 32mm eyepiece into a barlow, you'll get 22 x 2 = 44X magnification.

Maximum magnification: Forget '800X magnification!!!!' :roll: , the max realistic magnification is about 2X the aperture. So for the lidl scope it's 2 X 70 = 140X

Wide-field: With the higher focal length eyepieces (32mm upwards) you get to see more of the sky, useful for nebula and ohter faint objects, but also useful for finding your way around. You try star-hopping to saturn at 140X and you'll know what I mean. :lol:

Does anyone know of any Lidl shops that still stock these 'scopes?

I went to Lucan a while back, but they just had the kiddie 'scopes - they had run out of these ones.

Thanks.