Buying 1.25" eyepiecs for Tasco Luminova Scope.

See the scope here. http://www.tasco.com/telescopes/luminova_40114675.shtml

Any recommendations for a set of new eye pieces and where to buy them on the
net?

I'm looking to spend around £100 for at least 3 eyepieces and maybe more for
a barlow.

Thanks for any help.

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 13:37:43 -0600, Matalog wrote:

See the scope here.
http://www.tasco.com/telescopes/luminova_40114675.shtml

Any recommendations for a set of new eye pieces and where to buy them on
the
net?

I'm looking to spend around £100 for at least 3 eyepieces and maybe more
for
a barlow.

Thanks for any help.


I can't tell you anything about shopping the net from England,
but can give some info about eyepieces for your telescope.
The three eyepieces (all Huygens variety) are probably
functional, but far from ideal for anything.

With a 4" f/8, most properly constructed eyepieces will work
well. Plossls now cost about the same as Kellners, but
perform better. Orthoscopics are a little more expensive,
but preferred for lunar and planetary work.

Choose your eyepieces to cover a wide range of magnifications.
Low power is as important as high. If you would like a free
downloadable telescope calculator, you can find one at:

http://larryg54.home.texas.net/telecalc/telecalc.html

Hope this helps,
Larry G.

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"Matalog" wrote in message
...
See the scope here.
http://www.tasco.com/telescopes/luminova_40114675.shtml

Any recommendations for a set of new eye pieces and where to buy them on
the
net?

I'm looking to spend around £100 for at least 3 eyepieces and maybe more
for
a barlow.

Thanks for any help.



Tony Blair doesn't support astro shops?

"Matalog" wrote in message
...
See the scope here.
http://www.tasco.com/telescopes/luminova_40114675.shtml

Any recommendations for a set of new eye pieces and where to buy them on
the
net?

I'm looking to spend around £100 for at least 3 eyepieces and maybe more
for
a barlow.

Thanks for any help.


In terms of 'what' to get, I'd suggest something like
32-26mm,. 12-10mm and a 2x Barlow

Lenses should be at least Plossls.

In terms of 'where' to but them I can give very little advice, except that I
got a good quality 6mm Plossl from Loot.com specifying "less than 10 miles"
away.

If you want to try out a lens, I'd strongly suggest you search on the net
for a local ( up to 30 miles distant) astronomical Astro Soc, find out when
they are next having an 'observing meeting' and pack your 'scope in the
boot.

In my experience, if you are happy to lug your scope around, you can ask
the 'established' members if you can try out their EPs in your scope to try
out the different sizes.

OG

Have you considered the Antares set ? a good selection at a reasonable price. Not TV quality but not
TV prices either. eBay has several.

--
John Carruthers
http://mysite.freeserve.com/jc_atm/
"Matalog" wrote in message ...
See the scope here. http://www.tasco.com/telescopes/luminova_40114675.shtml

Any recommendations for a set of new eye pieces and where to buy them on the
net?

I'm looking to spend around £100 for at least 3 eyepieces and maybe more for
a barlow.

Thanks for any help.

I don't think you need a barlow, though others will disagree. I tried
an Orion Shorty Plus, supposedly an acceptable quality item, and when I
had combinations of eyepieces similar powers with vs. without the
barlow (eg a 25 mm plus barlow vs. a 12 mm), I slightly prefered the
image without the barlow in each case. Admittedly, the difference
wasn't dramatic.

In any case, a 4.5" newt isn't going to give great images above 150x.
That "675x" in the advertisement is COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL!!!! A
commonly stated max power is 50x per inch, but 25-30x per inch is
probably more realistic. IMHO, it's always more enjoyable to be a
little underpowered and have a clean, steady image than to be a bit
overpowered and be constantly distracted by bad seeing, tube currents,
and diffraction effects.

So, you don't need an effective focal length under 6 or 7 mm.
Unfortunately, the 6 mm wide-angle cheapy eps (sold under various
names, including Antares as mentioned by JC and Orion Expanse) have a
bad internal reflection, or at least they did when I bought mine. That
makes it almost unusable on the moon, but otherwise it's nice, with
bigger field of view and much better eye relief than the ortho or
plossl. Others in that series are supposed to be better in terms of
reflections, see reviews on Cloudy Nights or search this group.

So, I might suggest a 32 mm plossl, 15 mm Antares/Expanse and a 7 mm
ortho or plossl. Or if you really want to fuss with a barlow, a 32, a
20 mm Expanse, a 12.5 mm ortho (I have a UO and like it a lot, despite
the small field) or 12 mm plossl and a 2x barlow. If that fits your
budget, it does give a lot of options. You could omit the 20 mm and
not lose much.

"mx" wrote in message
ups.com...
I don't think you need a barlow, though others will disagree. I tried
an Orion Shorty Plus, supposedly an acceptable quality item, and when I
had combinations of eyepieces similar powers with vs. without the
barlow (eg a 25 mm plus barlow vs. a 12 mm), I slightly prefered the
image without the barlow in each case. Admittedly, the difference
wasn't dramatic.

In any case, a 4.5" newt isn't going to give great images above 150x.
That "675x" in the advertisement is COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL!!!! A
commonly stated max power is 50x per inch, but 25-30x per inch is
probably more realistic. IMHO, it's always more enjoyable to be a
little underpowered and have a clean, steady image than to be a bit
overpowered and be constantly distracted by bad seeing, tube currents,
and diffraction effects.

So, you don't need an effective focal length under 6 or 7 mm.
Unfortunately, the 6 mm wide-angle cheapy eps (sold under various
names, including Antares as mentioned by JC and Orion Expanse) have a
bad internal reflection, or at least they did when I bought mine. That
makes it almost unusable on the moon, but otherwise it's nice, with
bigger field of view and much better eye relief than the ortho or
plossl. Others in that series are supposed to be better in terms of
reflections, see reviews on Cloudy Nights or search this group.

So, I might suggest a 32 mm plossl, 15 mm Antares/Expanse and a 7 mm
ortho or plossl. Or if you really want to fuss with a barlow, a 32, a
20 mm Expanse, a 12.5 mm ortho (I have a UO and like it a lot, despite
the small field) or 12 mm plossl and a 2x barlow. If that fits your
budget, it does give a lot of options. You could omit the 20 mm and
not lose much.

I agree about the barlow, althought that's only speaking with experience
from the factory supplied barlow and eyepieces.

Does it matter who makes the eyepieces you mention? Antares make a plossl
and superplossl would they do?

I have bee looking at ones on this page -
http://www.scopesnskies.com/cat/eyep...eyepieces.html

what about those?

Is ortho a type of lens or is it a brand?

Thanks again.

--
"Matalog" wrote in message news


So, I might suggest a 32 mm plossl, 15 mm Antares/Expanse and a 7 mm
ortho or plossl. Or if you really want to fuss with a barlow, a 32, a
20 mm Expanse, a 12.5 mm ortho (I have a UO and like it a lot, despite
the small field) or 12 mm plossl and a 2x barlow. If that fits your
budget, it does give a lot of options. You could omit the 20 mm and
not lose much.

I agree about the barlow, althought that's only speaking with experience
from the factory supplied barlow and eyepieces.

Does it matter who makes the eyepieces you mention? Antares make a plossl
and superplossl would they do?

I have bee looking at ones on this page -
http://www.scopesnskies.com/cat/eyep...eyepieces.html

what about those?

Is ortho a type of lens or is it a brand?

Thanks again.


You are in a slight quandary here, are you going to upgrade your 'scope at some point ? If so then
it's worth investing in really good EPs, if not then the budget EPs are ok.
I recently bought some odds and ends from Scopenskies, very fast service. Most of their range looks
good VFM.
The traditional Abbe Orthoscopic eyepieces are a particular configuration having a 3 element
cemented field lens and a single eye lens. They have a narrower field than a Plossl for instance but
good contrast and so are generally used for planetary work. Other designs can be called orthoscopic
though.
The Antares Plossls I've seen are 'OK'. You can find better but is the quality/price warranted ? For
my 10" F6.1 I have a 25mm Celestron Plossl, a 20mm Kelner, a 16mm Erfle, a cheapo 10mm (?), a 6mm
ortho and a Burgess 6mm planetary. Along with a 0.5X focal reducer, a 1.6X Magnimax and a 2X Meade
shorty Barlow they cover most things . Plenty of room for improvement though.
http://www.skiesunlimited.co.uk/ are another source as are SCS Astro
http://www.scsastro.co.uk/index.shtml where I bought my 6mm Burgess/TMB.

John Carruthers
http://mysite.freeserve.com/jc_atm/