Planet viewing eyepiece

[Langers]

Afternoon All,

So about a month ago I purchased a SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian telescope with a 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepiece. Now I have had great viewing with it managing to see the Andromeda galaxy and great star clusters etc, however, I really want to upgrade the eyepiece to be able to resolve some images more clearly, for example, I want to see the rings around Saturn and to resolve Jupiter a bit more clearly.

Is there an eyepiece you guys would recommend that would work with the 2" Crayford focuser??

Thanks,
Joe.

[Lady Fraktor]

A 6mm eyepiece would give you best resolution/ exit pupil with your telescope but with the planets still low in the skies great views will be hard to get.
Enjoy the new telescope

[Langers]

Thanks for the reply. So let me understand this (i'm very new to all this) the smaller the eyepiece the more detail you will see?

[notFritzArgelander]

Thanks for the reply. So let me understand this (i'm very new to all this) the smaller the eyepiece the more detail you will see?

The shorter the focal length the greater the magnification. The optical speed of the telescope (in your case f5.9) in focal length of eyepiece gives the maximum magnification on ordinary nights for planetary viewing. The f-number is a useful key to designing a good set of eyepieces for different tasks. This thread has all you need to know for starters and maybe all you need to know period...

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=550

[Bigzmey]

Congrats on the new scope Joe, it is a nice instrument.

If you don't mind short eye relief, Orthos are great planetary EPs. Like 6mm Baader Classic Ortho (BCO).

[Langers]

Thanks for the replies guys, what is the downside with short eye relief? and Bigzmey, will that 6mm Baader classic ortho fit with the standard 2" crayford focuser?

[notFritzArgelander]

Downside is trouble using eyeglasses or eyelashes touching the lens. I take my glasses off to observe. Since I don’t have astigmatism I can get good focus with the scope.

Upside is the sharpest possible image, which is the point.

Orthoscopics have eye relief at 75% of focal length. Plossl is 50%.

[Lady Fraktor]

Thanks for the replies guys, what is the downside with short eye relief? and Bigzmey, will that 6mm Baader classic ortho fit with the standard 2" crayford focuser?

Your focuser should have come with a 2" to 1.25" adapter.

[Langers]

ok i'm going to get a 6mm eyepiece, just going to look at a few companies, thanks again!!