Sam's Telescope Eyepieces & Accessories

This page contains a listing of the eyepieces and related items that I use with my telescopes. Recent additions are listed in yellow. Please contact me if you'd like more information about my experiences with any of the items listed.

Tele Vue 31mm Nagler Type 5

This eyepiece dwarfs the 35mm Panoptic in a lot of ways: size, mass, cost and performance. It is this last item that makes the others unimportant. The main body is over 3" in diameter and the entire eyepiece is almost 6" long (with the end caps on). This thing is so huge I have to store it on its side in my eyepiece case. It weighs almost 2 1/4 pounds (about 1 kilogram). Cost? Did you notice that I traded both the 55mm Plössl and the 35mm Panoptic? The 31mm has a wider field of view than the 55mm Plössl - and you can cruise around the field. I was surprised that I became accustomed to the size/bulk of this eyepiece after only my first viewing session. What once seemed ridiculous is now just another eyepiece. The contrast and overall image quality makes this one eyepiece that I will always keep in my collection. I had the opportunity to compare this to the new Tele Vue 41mm Panoptic which only reaffirmed what an outstanding eyepiece the 31mm Nagler really is.

Tele Vue 22mm Panoptic

My all-around favorite eyepiece. This eyepiece is great for viewing just about everything but I think it's best on globular clusters and nebulae. Lunar and planetary viewing is also very good with this eyepiece. My favorite objects to view with this eyepiece are the Swan Nebula (M17), Lagoon Nebula (M8), Great Orion Nebula (M42), Hercules Cluster (M13), Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and the Moon.

Tele Vue 17mm Nagler Type 4

I had the opportunity to use a friend's 17mm Nagler on my old Obsession and the 25" Obsession. I really like the contrast and image quality, so I bought this eyepiece to add to my collection. I've used this eyepiece several times now and rate it as the best eyepiece of all. The contrast is outstanding and the stars are pinpoints out to the edge of the field of view. This eyepiece weighs considerably more than the 12mm Nagler (more than half again as much in my estimation.). It has the goofy adjustable eye shield, just like the 12mm Nagler, so I am sure to have at least a couple adrenalin rushes as the shield moves making me think the eyepiece has begun its trek toward the ground.

Tele Vue 12mm Nagler Type 4

I bought this eyepiece for (the high end of) intermediate magnification applications. This is my favorite eyepiece to use with the 25" Obsession. M51 is absolutely breathtaking with this eyepiece on the 25".  I could just split the "Double double" (Epsilon Lyrae) in Lyra using the 20" Obsession, which is a pretty good testament of the quality of both the eyepiece and the optics on the telescope. Unfortunately, this eyepiece isn't parfocal with any of my other eyepieces and requires quite a bit of out-focus travel.

Tele Vue 9mm Nagler

I use this eyepiece for higher power applications. The eye relief is still large enough so that I can view through my glasses if I wanted to. I usually don't because I like to get my eye as close as possible to the lens to really cruise around the field of view. At 82 degree AFOV this eyepiece really does allow you to see a lot. This eyepiece is a great one for viewing the planets and for splitting binary star systems. My favorite objects to view are the Ring Nebula (M57), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Trapezium in M42. The Swan and Lagoon nebulae are also good objects to view with this eyepiece.

Tele Vue 5mm Nagler Type 6

I use this eyepiece for higher power applications. The eye relief is respectable at 12mm, which allows for viewing with eye glasses, but I prefer to view with my glasses off so I can really cruise around the field of view. At 82 degree AFOV this eyepiece allows more to be seen than with a comparable focal length eyepiece.

Tele Vue 2.5mm Nagler Type 6

Like the 5mm Nagler, I use this eyepiece for high power applications. This eyepiece usually only gets used a few of nights a year when seeing conditions are good enough to support such high magnification. The eye relief is the same as the 5mm Nagler, which is 12mm, allowing for comfortable viewing even with my glasses on. It helps to remove your glasses to take full advantage of the 82 degree AFOV.

Tele Vue BinoVue

Wow! What a treat it is to view with both eyes open. No eye fatigue, squinting, etc. The views of Saturn and Jupiter are spectacular with the BinoVue and a pair of Celestron Ultima 35's. The downside (besides the steep price tag) is that you have to Barlow the unit, which already comes with a 2x Barlow installed, to achieve the same focal length as the Nagler 12mm (for example) on the Obsession 20" f/5. This gives a total magnification of about 290x which is a lot of power. The contrast is excellent, allowing me to see stars around the Trapezium (in M42) that I don't remember seeing before. Planetary detail is much improved as well, with much more definition of the bands in both Jupiter and Saturn. I recently (May 2003) used the BinoVue with the 25" Obsession on the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and was able to compare the view to a 20" Obsession using a 16mm eyepiece. I'd honestly give the edge to the BinoVue/25" Obsession in terms of the amount of detail seen. Of course, seeing with both eyes was really neat.

Tele Vue Paracorr

In essence, the Paracorr is a field flattener, and a pretty good one. It adds 1.15x magnification which takes my f/5 Obsession to f/5.75. I don't think I need this for visual work but field flatness is more of an issue with photography and CCD imaging.

Tele Vue 2" Powermate (2x)

This 2" barlow can be used with all of the other eyepieces listed above. I sold my Tele Vue Big Barlow (2x), choosing to upgrade to the Powermate because of Nagler's claim of better performance. I'll update this section once I've had the opportunity to put this lens through its paces. This barlow coupled with the 9mm Nagler yields a maximum magnification of 695x on my 25" Obsession setup and 450x on the Ultima 2000 (a bit too much for this scope). Coupled with the 5mm Nagler boosts the magnification to 1,390x on 25" Obsession setup. I know this is beyond the maximum magnification rule-of-thumb of 50x per inch of aperture, but this combination works as long as atmospheric conditions are favorable.

Celestron Ultima 35mm

I have two of these eyepieces that I use with the BinoVue. Eye relief is great and the wide field is just about right for the binocular arrangement. The one-sided rubber eye caps are great for blocking stray light coming from either side.

Celestron 26mm Plössl

This eyepiece came with the Ultima 2000. It's a pretty good eyepiece but doesn't compare to the field of view on the Naglers. This is a good star party eyepiece because you don't have to be too worried about the expense if something should happen to it.

Celestron 12.5mm Micro Guide Illuminator

I purchased this eyepiece for assistance in guiding for long CCD and photographic exposures. I use this eyepiece for star alignments when setting up the Sky Commander and Ultima computers. The reticle has numerous scale engravings which allow for determining angular size, measurement of angular separation of double stars, etc. The micro illuminator has adjustable brightness controls so that guiding can be accomplished under a variety of seeing conditions. The eye relief is not great and necessitates that I remove my glasses when looking through this eyepiece.

Lumicon O-III Filter

This is a must-have filter for viewing nebulae. It does really cut down star light but the emission nebulae are outstanding. The Veil Nebula (NGC 6960 & 6992) is absolutely breathtaking when viewed through this filter. In general, this filter enhances the image of just about every emission nebula which I've had the pleasure of viewing.

Lumicon H-Beta Filter

I had wanted to get an H-Beta from Lumicon, but waited too long and the company went out of business in 2002. I placed an ad on Astromart and was able to buy a 2" version that is in excellent condition and about 25% less than what these had originally listed. I've used this filter to view the Horsehead Nebula with both the 20" Obsession and 25" Obsession. Definitely an improvement over no filter at all with the 20" Obsession. With the 25" Obsession the view is fantastic. The background glow is very noticeable as is the dust cloud of the Horsehead. Forget averted vision, the Horshead jumps out and is in your face with this filter on the 25". The impact isn't as great with smaller apertures.

Lumicon Deep Sky Filter

I'm not sure what advantage this filter has over the O-III. I rarely use this one; if I'm missing out on something here, please let me know.

Celestron Polarizing Filter

I use two of these 1.25 inch filters in tandem to vary the amount of light transmission when viewing the planets and the Moon. I rarely went out to view the Moon because it is just too bright. These filters really help to cut down that brightness to pleasant levels. Cutting down the extra light really helps to increase the contrast and detail. The image tends to take on a blue hue when these filters are in the greatest light blocking orientation. This is because the shorter wavelengths (blue, purple, UV) are able to pass through the polarizing material. These filters are required especially if you have an instrument that gathers a bunch of photons.

Thousand Oaks Type 2 Plus Visible Light Solar Filter

This is a glass filter that transmits only 0.001% of the visible light from the Sun and is great for visual as well as photographic work for Sunspot viewing. I had to cut a notch out of one end so that this fit the Celestron Ultima 2000 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope, but that modification has no effect on the performance of the filter. The image of the Sun is a orangish-yellow color thru this filter. Note: this type of filter can't be used to view solar prominence or flares because this filter pass too much visible light. Prominences and flares can only be seen with much more narrow band pass.

Coronado SolarMax 90 Hydrogen Alpha Filter

I looked through a hydrogen-alpha filter while at Starizona one day. I was told to get the largest filter I could afford because it would allow for greater detail at higher magnified sections of the Sun. I still remember first light through this filter, with the view of several large prominences on the Sun's limb. At a 0.7 angstrom bandwidth, you can also make out the granular structure on the Sun's disk, with prominences seen as slightly darker swaths against the brighter granularity. I've seen some pretty spectacular images of the Sun with people who where use 0.5 angstrom filter set-ups. The only way to get this bandwidth with the Coronado filters is to double-stack, or have two filters at the front of the telescope. I purchased a second SolarMax 90 (used, from Astromart) to double stack. Double stacking takes the bandwidth from 0.7 angstroms down to 0.5 angstroms which, while it doesn't sound like a significant difference, allows for much greater detail on surface features, like prominences above the Sun's disc. I did have to have an adapter made which allows for one SM-90 to be screwed in front of another SM-90. Am I glad that I spent the extra money for the double stack? So far, yes, but this is a ridiculously expensive set-up. Pictures of the SM-90s double stacked on the NP-127 can be seen here.

Previously owned eyepieces (traded for other eyepieces or sold outright)

Tele Vue 55mm Plössl

I used this eyepiece for the first time on 25 December 1999, though partially cloudy skies prevented me from viewing some of the objects for which I bought this eyepiece. Excellent for viewing the Andromeda galaxy, the Pleiades and Perseus Double Cluster, etc. My only negative comment is that this eyepiece doesn't have that "space walk" feel that's present with Tele Vue's Naglers and Panoptics. The field is wide and sharp from edge to edge, but I never could get beyond the feeling that I was looking through a long tube.

Tele Vue 35mm Panoptic

A monster eyepiece, weighing almost 2 pounds. It has very good light gathering ability, and the image is sharp and free from color aberration even to the edge of the field. The eye relief is so great that I can view with my glasses on. This is the eyepiece I use for general hunting and viewing of larger objects. My favorite objects to view with this eyepiece are the Veil Nebula (NGC 6960 & 6992) and the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24). The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is also great to view but even with the 68 degree apparent field of view (AFOV) this eyepiece only shows a little more than half of the galaxy.

Tele Vue 41mm Panoptic

I purchased this eyepiece with the idea that it would be great for "wide" field views of objects like The Veil Nebula, The Double Cluster in Perseus, The Andromeda galaxy, the galaxy fields in Virgo, etc. I used this eyepiece on several occasions to do some viewing on the 25" Obsession. In general, this is a very good eyepiece. Stars were pinpoints throughout the entire field. Using this eyepiece on the 25" f/5 gives a magnification of 76x, yielding an apparent FOV of 1.2 degrees.

Here's how this eyepiece stacked up to the Nagler 31 (Nagler 31 on the 25" f/5 gives a magnification of 101x, yielding an apparent FOV of 1.1 degrees. Also, eyepieces were used straight-up (no Paracorr, Barlow, or filters):

Contrast: The 41 Panoptic does not have the contrast of the 31. Faint galaxies were not as obvious as they were in the 31. A good example was in looking at NCG 3691 (mag 13.4) in Leo. This galaxy was pretty washed out in the 41, but jumped out in the 31.

Color: The 41 is a bit warmer than the 31. This is mainly for stars fainter than Sirius (which was blazingly blue-white in either eyepiece). Other stars were more yellow than in the 31. Come to think of it, perhaps viewing Sirius in the 25" caused some retinal damage and that explains the contrast in the 41 that I saw later on.....

FOV: The 10% greater FOV does make a difference. The 41 doesn't have as much of the "spacewalk" ability as does the 31. Still, you can cruise around the field in the 41. Most memorable image during one evening's viewing with the 41 --- tie between M13 and NGC 6207 in the same field and M81 & M82 in the same field. (Spiral arm structure seen in M81).

Size / Weight: The 41 is actually a bit shorter than the 31. The 41 is easier to handle because the shape is more uniform through out the entire body. Both weigh about the same.

Overall I rate this as a great eyepiece for smaller apertures. The loss of contrast is significant on both the 20" & 25" Obsessions. This is due to a limitation in the laws of optics and not due to a design flaw in the eyepiece itself. Anyone considering purchasing this eyepiece should first consider the 31mm Nagler. The slight increase in field of view in the 41mm Panoptic does not compensate for the loss in contrast compared to the 31mm Nagler. I traded this eyepiece for a 17mm Nagler and a 2x Powermate (not an even trade, of course).

Tele Vue Big Barlow (2x)

This 2" barlow can be used with all of the other eyepieces listed above. A corrector is recommend for use with panoptics but I have not found this to be really necessary. This barlow coupled with the 9mm Nagler yields a maximum magnification of 655x on a 20" Obsession, 695x on my 25" Obsession, and 450x on the Ultima 2000 (a bit too much for this scope).