What eyepiece(s) do I need?

[RichardG]

I read a lot of the post "Would this be a good first scope?" and sort of wish I had read it before buying the scope I bought, but that's water under the bridge. I am very new, like 2 weeks and am fairly happy with what I have for the money I paid. So here is my question/problem:
I have an Orion 130 ST on EQ2 mount with single axis motor drive.
I have an Orion 25mm and Meade 9mm Plossl eyepieces. I have just acquired a Meade 3X shorty Barlow and a High power Green Laser w/mount to use instead of the 6X finder scope.
The 130 ST has a FL of 650mm @f5.

I think, from the math that I should have a 12-13 mm eyepiece and have been shopping on the internet.
I find wide angle, super, Plossl eyepieces, The prices seem to range from $30 to $130. I like both the Orion and Meade line, but think there has to be others.
Any recommendations or preferences? Reasons?
Oh! Your going to ask what I want to look for/at? That would be nebula and galaxy's.
I found one seller of a brand that claims to be the Chinese manufacturer for many lenses for Meade, Orion, and Celestron and the prices are about half. Buy or stay away?

Like I said I am new and probably wrote too much here and I am sorry.

 

[crazyeddie]

I read a lot of the post "Would this be a good first scope?" and sort of wish I had read it before buying the scope I bought, but that's water under the bridge. I am very new, like 2 weeks and am fairly happy with what I have for the money I paid. So here is my question/problem:
I have an Orion 130 ST on EQ2 mount with single axis motor drive.
I have an Orion 25mm and Meade 9mm Plossl eyepieces. I have just acquired a Meade 3X shorty Barlow and a High power Green Laser w/mount to use instead of the 6X finder scope.
The 130 ST has a FL of 650mm @f5.

I think, from the math that I should have a 12-13 mm eyepiece and have been shopping on the internet.
I find wide angle, super, Plossl eyepieces, The prices seem to range from $30 to $130. I like both the Orion and Meade line, but think there has to be others.
Any recommendations or preferences? Reasons?
Oh! Your going to ask what I want to look for/at? That would be nebula and galaxy's.
I found one seller of a brand that claims to be the Chinese manufacturer for many lenses for Meade, Orion, and Celestron and the prices are about half. Buy or stay away?

Like I said I am new and probably wrote too much here and I am sorry.

I wouldn't worry too much about Chinese-made eyepieces. They have improved to the point that they compete well with Japanese and European manufacturers. The important thing is to buy from a reputable dealer who will gladly accept returns and exchanges if you don't like a particular eyepiece. Some eyepieces work well with certain scopes, but poorly with another, so buying from a dealer with good customer service is a must.

If I were you, I might go with an Orion Expanse 15mm, or a 13mm Orion Stratus, if you can afford it. University Optics 70-degree WideScan eyepieces in the 15mm size would be a good buy. If you plan on upgrading all of your equipment someday and you want to buy an eyepiece you will keep forever, consider almost any Televue eyepiece.....they are the best.

 

[RichardG]

That's great info, Thank you very much.
I was looking at the Plossl and Super Plossl but couldn't find anything different to justify the extra cost.
Also for a little more there is the Orion Epic ED-2 Telescope Eyepieces. What the heck is "Extra Low Dispersion" glass?
And is 6 elements any better than 4 elements?
I like the extra long eye relief idea (20mm) of the Epic ED-2.

Thanks
RichardG

 

[crazyeddie]

That's great info, Thank you very much.
I was looking at the Plossl and Super Plossl but couldn't find anything different to justify the extra cost.
Also for a little more there is the Orion Epic ED-2 Telescope Eyepieces. What the heck is "Extra Low Dispersion" glass?
And is 6 elements any better than 4 elements?
I like the extra long eye relief idea (20mm) of the Epic ED-2.

Thanks
RichardG

I own an Orion Epic ED-2, and it's an OK eyepiece, but it's not nearly as sharp as my plossl and orthoscopic models. The best thing going for it is the 20mm eye relief. If you need that because you wear glasses, and if viewing the moon and planets is not important to you, they are a good buy. The Orion Sirius line of eyepieces is an outstanding value, but they do not have a very wide field, and if you are interested in viewing nebula, a wider field is desirable.

What eyepieces with many lens elements, as opposed to fewer, buys you is such features as wider fields or longer eye relief, but more is not necessarily better, especially when it comes to planetary viewing. I use University Optics orthoscopic eyepieces for high-magnification viewing, and they have only 4 lens elements and a 45-degree field, but they have superb sharpness and high contrast, which is what you want for planets.

 

[matthewota]

I did some research on your telescope by reading the specifications here [urlhttp://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=reflectors/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09007/~sSearchSession=2e14c6cb-cae8-4abb-a60a-dd0f38b624e8[/url].

Seeing that its focal ratio is F5, the eyepieces you have are sufficient. The telescope, at that focal ratio, does not magnify as much as the typical Schmidt Cassegrain telescope (F10) or long tube refractor.

So, it seems to me that you will be needing eyepieces at the range of 5mm to 25mm to give a broad magnification range.

Teleview makes the world's best eyepieces, but they are godawful expensive. The Meade, Orion and Celestron eyepieces are almost as good and they are more economical. Stay away from the real cheap eyepieces as the optics are poor.

You have a nice telescope I hope you enjoy it.

 

[RichardG]

I have a 9mm Mead, a 25mm Orion (which has a lot of distortion around the perimeter leaving only the center half for a clear image). I bought a Meade 3X shorty Barlow and a GSO Super Plossl 12 mm Fully Multi-coated lens with a machined aluminum barrel with a safety groove like the Tele-Vue and Celestron eyepieces.
Right now, that new GSO eyepiece from Taiwan is the clearest sharpest eyepiece I have. It is suppose dot be made by the same source as the Celestron and Meade eyepieces. Price was about half at $29.95 delivered in 3 days.
With this eyepiece I have been able to see several Globular Clusters and two Nebula. It works out to 50X in my f=650mm 130 mm Orion reflector which puts it mid way between the 9mm and the 25mm.

Thanks to all for their input and recommendations. Right now I think I have a good usable range of magnification for a beginner.

Great skys last few nights up here in the White Mountains of Arizona...

 

[Geoff_G]

Tele Vue in general makes the best eyepieces, especially for telescopes like yours with short focal ratios. They're the only eyepieces tested and guaranteed at f/5. They may seem expensive, but basically you're buying them for life, since you may change telescopes fairly often, but good eyepieces you keep forever. I'm still using eyepieces which I bought 50 years ago!

With eyepieces you generally get what you pay for. More money generally means a wider field of view and/or more comfortable eye relief. A wide angle eyepiece serves the function of two different eyepieces, so really costs less than a bunch of narrow field eyepieces. Almost all my eyepieces nowadays are Tele Vue Naglers, with an 82° field of view. I currently own 31mm, 22mm, 16mm, 11mm, and 4.7mm.

Geoff Gaherty
Foxmead Observatory
Coldwater, Ontario, Canada