Eyepiece Confession

Dear Abby: I've got pairs of Pentax orthos, TV Plossls, and RKEs, but I find myself using Orion Expanse eyepieces on Mars with a binovoewer. Should I feel guilty about the comfort with ghosts, or is this perfectly normal? What are other people using with Mars?

I don't have any Pentax or TV anythings -- My best 2 eyepieces are 16mm and 8mm konigs -- I also have a 12mm Intes wide-angle. These are all pretty nice but I must confess I got some of my best views last night using these with a $25 chinese barlow :-O

Hello there Mike,

I use almost exclusively Tele Vue Radian on Mars and on occasion my 5mm Tak LE. I'm anxiously awaiting my new 5mm and 4mm TMB SuperMonocentric eyepieces (Thomas Back had finished testing them as I've written this).

Ron B[ee]

This situation is not as bizarre as the thread in the equipment forum by the guy who had an owl drop a rat on him several nights ago while observing Mars, but it is almost as weird Mike.

I too must confess that I have been unfaithful to my Vixen LVs an Ultimas and am two-timing with the 6mm and 9mm Expanses. I'll be darned if the Expanses don't seem a little sharper on Mars much of the time and they are also brighter, particularly on the margin of the SPC and darker features, even though they ghost slightly. However, I have noticed that the Expanses are actually producing less magnification than the equivalent focal length plossls and LVs, which might account for them 'seeming' sharper. They are mighty comfortable to use, though not as comfortable as the LVs.

I actually got the LVs to replace the Expanses, but I'm hanging on to both now to see which perform better on Saturn and Jupiter later this year.

Nothing special for me:

Celestron (Vixen) Plossl
Televu Plossl
UO Ortho
Antares 2x Barlow (performs well)

and a Celestron 7mm Ortho that doesn't get so much use beside the UO 6mm.

At 380x the C8 can get a good image when the seeing cooperates. Contrast could always be better with the ole C8 though!

Tim