Stupid question from n00b to astronomy

Hi,

When I say I am a totally n00b to astronomy I mean it. I have a question about eye relief. I get that it is about the distance between the eye and the eyepiece lens but on my scope when i use the eyepiece the eye relief seems to be quite large i.e. I don't actually make contact with the eyepiece itself to get the full viewing angle. I suppose my question is, is that normal, or have I made some stupid mistake somewhere?

See I told you its a stupid question

(Also if this is posted in wrong section I apologies to moderators in advance.)

Cheers,

Will.

Hi Will, welcome to the board!

From what I understand of Eye Relief all it is is the max distance between your eye and the eyepiece that the field of view remains at its max.

So if say the max field of view of the eyepiece is 50 degrees and the eye relief is 20mm then anywhere from 0mm to 20mm distance from the eyepiece you will still have your max field of view.

Eye relief would be important if say you have glasses that you want to leave on and cant get physically closer to the eyepiece or if say you have a wonky tripod and dont want to touch your eye off the eyepiece then you can still enjoy all the benefits of a wide angle eyepiece without getting too close and inadvertently shaking your scope.

I am entirely open to correction!!!

Graham

Sounds like a good answer to me Graham. I've always been a little clueless about eye relief. I read about it a few times before I got a scope- but it was kind of wasted on me then. I needed some sort of reference. Anyway, it's now on my to do list!

Sorry I cant be of help Will, but I'm thinking that Graham is spot on.

Sean

Thanks guys. That has been really good info. This astronomy gig can be difficult to comprehend when starting out

There's a link to a radio/podcast that Al Nagler did on the televue website www.televue.com/engine/TV3_page.asp?id=108#Eyepieces

Sure, it's mainly about Naglers but it's worth a listen for his comments on eye relief and field of view.