eyepieces



The ETX came as standard with 26mm Series 4000 Super Plössl eyepiece, and when I bought the ETX I qualified for Meade's eyepiece offer.

So I now have the full Meade Series 4000 Super Plössl eyepiece set, which includes 40, 32, 26, 20, 15, 12.4, 9.7 and 6.4mm eyepieces, all stored in a nice alluminium case.

I also have a Meade 2x Telenegative Barlow.

While I was waiting for the Meade eyepiece set to arrive, I bought an Orion Explorer II 21-7mm zoom eyepiece. I use this to accurately centre things up when using the webcam or aligning the scope, so I don't need to keep changing eyepieces. I have now sold this eyepiece.

I thought I'd try to image some deep space objects. So I bought myself a Steven Mogg 0.66 focal reducer with a 0.33 extender. As I've discovered The 0.66 reducer works perfectly on the ETX, but it will not reach focus with the 0.33 extender (basically a threaded tube). Not so much of a problem really, as I found I can use it to double the power of my 2x Barlow.

I've now also got an Atik 0.5 focal reducer.

Update: October 2004

Since I sold the ETX, I sold the 26mm Series 4000 Super Plössl with it, but it was replaced when I got the Vixen tube by a really nice Vixen 25mm Lanthanum eyepiece.

I've also got the Vixen focal reducer for the VC200L. This was expensive but worth it, as it uses the full width of the generous 60mm exit aperture of the OTA. This reducer gives x0.7 reduction, taking the scope to f6.4 and a focal length of 1278mm.

When I bought the Megrez 80SD, it came with a gorgeous WO 2" second generation diagonal.

I also bought myself a 2" GSO x2 Barlow lens, and a Mogg 2" focal x0.66-0.7 focal reducer.