Telescope eyepieces

For lunar observing I'd recommend a neutral density filter.
Should get one for about £15.

I have a Meade Series 4000 ND and it works well - without it one walks away from the scope dazed.

If I can piggy-back a pertinant question to the group - I read in "Astronomy Hacks" (O'Reilly) p283 the following:

"Meade eyepieces and filters, for example, use a thread that is not quite standard...it's quite easy to strip or crossthread a Meade filter in a standard eyepiece or a standard filter in a Meade eyepiece..."

I have not experiened any problems my self with my Meade ND filter on non-Meade eyepeices - but I haven't used it much. Is there any experience on the forum with resepct to any difficulty with the Meade filter-thread?

Mark

I dont have the meade neutral density filter but do have the meade colour filter sets, and they work fine on my 1.25inch naglers, so no problem there with threads.
I have found that the the wratten no.8 filter (pale yellow) is great for taking the glare off planets like Jupiter and Saturn.
Funnily enough, for the moon, I dont use any filter, I prefer to see it as it is, but I do end up been blinded for a good few minutes in that eye, but I figure that since the moon is up anyway that I wont be needing dark adaption.
Have a look at the link for a list of the meade filter sets and what each filter is good for,
www.opticsplanet.net/meade-color-filters-sets.html

Definitely Baader Hyperion. I would recommend the 17mm and the 8mm to begin with. In fact, if you buy the fine tuning rings as well, they may be the only eyepieces you will ever need. I see that the price has dropped a bit in recent weeks as well.
You could also consider the Baader Hyperion Zoom eyepiece. Make sure to buy from First Light Optics, they are very good.

www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=hyperion

Tony..

To match your scope and budget get a Baader Zoom . The 24mm setting is like looking through a straw but the view really opens up from about 16mm to 8mm,and it barlows well. I have one and found it fantastic on my 8" f6 Dob. It is still my most used Ep . It will cost you about €190ish delivered from ''Teleskopeservice'' .

Many people have sold there higher end Ep sets after purchasing a Baader zoom because of the versitility.

Trust me you will not be disapointed. Check out the reviews on the net and on Cloudynights.

While I will second the Hyperion Zoom (not from personal experience yet - only from reading other astronomer's opinions on the likes of CloudyNights), there is another possibility to get very good eyepieces at a low enough cost, but with a bit of work involved.

In the US at the moment, the Meade series 5000 SWA Super Wide Angle eyepieces are going for cheap due to an offer by Meade. If you have somewhere in the US that can be used as a delivery address, or you order from Agena Astro on EBay, you can get the likes of the 16mm 68 degree SWA for under $50 not including the shipping (if you can find it in stock or back-ordered)

As for why would one use a 2" eyepiece?
2" eyepieces will allow a wider real field of view. 1.25" eyepieces have a maximum of about a 27mm wide focal plane, while a 2" can see a 46mm wide focal plane. On my scope (8" f5.7) a 32mm plossl with a 52 degree field of view is the widest field of view I can manage with a 1.25" which is actually about 1.5 degrees. If I wanted a wider true field of view at any magnification I would have to use a 2" eyepiece. If I used a 21mm Ethos eyepiece I would get a real 1.9 degrees true field of view. A Televue panoptic 40mm will give me a 2.4 degree field of view at a huge cost in cash and weight.
Note - there is no optical advantage in a 2" eyepiece in focal lengths less than about 16mm, as they just not limited by the barrel size.

Filters?
I cannot recommend enough getting a decent neutral density filter for looking at the moon. I use the standard Meade green Moon filter, and I've found it does help with minimising the seeing when looking at the moon. It does make it more comfortable to view, and another reason to use a good ND filter is to stop your pupil from contracting too much from the brightness. If the pupil is too small, you'll lose contrast and fine detail with diffraction effects. 2mm is about ideal, so try to avoid the dazzle if you can.
I have a Lumicon UHC filter, and an old secondhand OIII filter. These do make a really big difference on nebulae, as long as you can minimise the stray light that can reflect off the eyepiece side of the filter. Wearing a hood to block light from around your head and minimise eye reflections does help.
I got the OIII cheap as it was blemished around the outside of the filter. Luckily I noted that the centre of the filter was still good, so I use it in the short FL eyepieces without issue.
If you get only one filter for deep-sky, get a Lumicon UHC, you won't regret it.

I'm currently hoping to get myself one of the Hyperion zooms before the summer to minimise the number of eyepieces I'll have to carry with my briefcase dobsonian project. That, a decent 2x barlow and maybe another 32mm plossl as a "finder" eyepiece and I'll be sorted until I get more disposable income for astronomy stuff..

For what it is worth, I bought the 17mm and 8mm hyperion's a couple of years ago. I've got to say the 17mm is great (and i use it constantly) but I find the 8mm difficult to come to focus - maybe its me, but I find it difficult in both the 10" dob and the 16", You never know maybe it is a manufacturing fault?. In any case I have no issues with the 17mm

Declan