8 inch dobsonian

Hi! I am a complete newcomer to astronomy and, after looking at the stars for a year with binocs, I decided to take the plunge and purchase a scope. I was able to pickup a second hand 8 inch dobsonian from a friend at work. It came with a 26mm and 10 mm plossl and, after using it for the past couple of months, I would like to upgrade my eyepieces.

I have done a bunch of looking around and there appears to be alot of choices, only thing is, I am not sure which way to go. My requirements are as follows:
a) Find nebula, galaxies, etc. (still haven't seen M31)
b) Check out planets
c) Share with my two young sons. Oh, and no computers involved. I want to enjoy the journey of learning the stars.
d) Choose lenses that will do me for a few years.

Is a person better to go with an excellent set of plossls eps (televue?) or, should one stray into the world of wide angle lenses (orion stratus?)? For now I would like to pick up one or two lenses and stay under $250 Can.

thanks for your advice

kalias

I suggest you might consider a 1rpd 30mm,80deg afov for a finder, it won't be in focus on the edge, but it is a great finder, and a poor mans wide field, a 9mm ortho and a 2x barlow will give you planetary observing, and somebody else's suggestion for an 18mm, or so. I use an ortho because out of focus stars bug me, but the field is narrow.
I sold my cheap plossls for pennies, but later regretted not having them for general use for others.
My $.02
Dan

I'd go with the Stratus (or Hyperion is basically the same or close) over the Plossl design. In addition to the wider apparent field of view (Plossl = 50-55deg, Stratus = 68deg), and you also get lots more eye relief from the Stratus making them easier to use - very important factor. Eye relief means you don't have to put your eye so close to the eyepiece.

Performance wise, even in a fast newtonian (F/5) they perform very well. Not as good as a Nagler, but close, especially considering the price differential.

I would get the 21mm and the 8mm, then a fairly good 1.5x barlow so you'd have 21, 14, 8, 5 when you add the barlow. If your scope accepts a 2" eyepiece, then later you can add a good longer focal length eyepiece for scanning the stars, something in the 30-40mm range.

FYI, I've personally compared the 13mm Hyperion to the Nagler 12mmT4 in my f/4.7 10" Dob and they perform closely, the Nagler having a much larger field of view of course, byt I find anything near 70deg extremely pleasing.

Good luck.

Depending on your finances I'd recommend the following. First the wide angle finder eyepiece.

If you can afford it get the 35mm Stratus. It's 90% of a Pan at half the cost. Nothing will touch it for $200. A 35 Pan is still obviously better, but at a cost. Below the Stratus I'd look at the TV 32 plossl, the 30mm Celestron Ultima or Orion Ultrascopic. If those are still too expensive then try a 32mm GSO plossl. It's a heckuva bargain at Agena Astro.

For planetary use look at the B/TMB planetaries. Especially the 'garage sale' 6mm if you can find one. It's the best $50 eyepiece that ever sold. It gets tons of use in my 8" dob and in my refractors. I have the 'full-price' 4mm, 5mm, 7mm & 9mm B/TMBs but I still use the 6mm more than any of them. It's just the right focal length.