I just bought a Meade 10" LX50 f/10 and finally figured out how to polar align it and operate the Magellan II. I have 26mm eyepiece and a 6.4mm. I know the 6.4mm is good for planets but whats the best eyepeice for viewing Globular Clusters, and what's 26mm eyepiece best used for?
2007-07-21 09:31:53 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The 26mm eyepiece will provide about 96x magnification which is good for M13 on your telescope. The 6.4mm will provide 390x magnification, which is too much to provide a pleasing view of such a wide and vibrant object.
The shorter the focal length of the eyepiece, the more magnification through the telescope. The longer the focal length of the eyepiece, the lower the magnification through the telescope.
High magnification should be reserved for small objects (or small portions of objects) when the sky in your area is calm and steady. If there is a lot of upper atmospheric disturbance or a lot of wind, using high magnification will yield very blurry images that make it difficult to enjoy the view. Using high magnification also tends to decrease the apparent brightness of objects so it's often difficult to see much of anything (especially combined with the blurring effects of the atmosphere).
Lower magnification is typically used on large objects where you want to see a wide field of view. This includes galaxies (like Andromeda, M51, M33, M81), large nebula (like the Orion nebula, Lagoon, Eagle, Swan...), and larger globular clusters.
Finding magnification is a simple matter of dividing the focal length of your telescope (2500mm) by the focal length of the eyepiece, both in millimeters.
Hope that helps. Have fun!
2007-07-21 10:26:23 · answer #1 · answered by Daniel P 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think 26mm is too low power for M13, but I think 6.4mm is a bit high. M13 looks best with about a 12mm eyepiece, IMO. Or maybe the 26mm with a 2x Barlow.
2007-07-21 18:16:32 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you want to look at M13 as well as the other Messier and NGC objects you should invest in some wide field eyepieces around 40mm to 25mm (your 26mm will be good if its a wide field). I have always used Plossel eyepieces.
I have viewed nearly 95 of the Messier objects and have used low power, wide field eyepieces. Higher powers are not good for deep sky objects. They should only be used for lunar and planetary object view, and only after you have the object in the exact center of your field of view. Once you place that high power eyepiece in the scope its had to realign objects in your FOV.
I have hardly ever used anything below 25mm for anything but crater studies of the lunar surface.
Hope this helps. Good luck and clear skies.
2007-07-22 00:11:22 · answer #3 · answered by Anthony W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any eyepiece that gives you a 1/3 to 1/2 degree true field of view is best for M13 in my experience. What power that is depends on the apparant field of the eyepiece. You find the true field of the eypiece by dividing it's apparant field by the magnifcation it produces in your telescope. For me, I use a 15mm eyepiece to look at M13. My scope has a focal length of 2800mm, so 2800/15 = about 187 power. The 15mm eyepiece has a 70 degree apparant field of view, so 70 / 187 = about 0.375 degrees, a little more than 1/3.
2007-07-21 18:16:10 · answer #4 · answered by Arkalius 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I view m13 through my 18mm and my 24.5mm. Your 26mm will be kinda wide for m13,but ok. The 26mm is good for open star clusters,and even large Galaxy's like Andromeda
2007-07-22 12:03:48 · answer #5 · answered by comethunter 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋