Televue and Vixen eyepieces

There are however two general advices I would like to give:

• Read, read and read. There are many articles on eyepieces available on the Internet, but also in the popular astronomy magazines (Astronomy and Sky and Telescope). By reading all this information, you will gradually build op some basic knowledge about all the different aspects you have to think of while choosing a set of eyepieces, like magnification, eye-relief field of view, different type’s etc.
  
  
• Join a local astronomy club, visit friends who already own a telescope, or go to some star-parties. Talk to people about their equipment, and most important, look through as much different telescopes and eyepieces as possible. Doing this you will learn what objects you like to observe, and most important, which equipment is best for observing your favorite objects.

Here are some links to articles that I found very helpful when choosing an eyepiece-collection.

- How to start an introductory eyepiece collection on $50.00 by Allister St. Claire

- Eyepieces & Choosing an eyepiece Set by Jay Michaels

- Eyepiece Review Pitfalls by Bill Brady

- Choosing your telescope’s magnification by Al Nagler

How did I choose my set of eyepieces?

After the initial phase of gathering some basic knowledge about eyepieces, I started talking to others, looking through different eyepieces at the local astronomy club etc. and I decided to go for the Vixen Lanthanum's. This is how I came to my decision:

Because I suffer from astigmatism, I have to be able to wear my glasses while observing. The number of eyepieces that I found useful for observing with glasses narrowed down very quickly. I found out that only eyepieces with an eye-relief around 20mm would be suitable. Basically, there where two series of eyepieces that fitted my need, the Televue Radian’s and the Vixen Lanthanum's. For me, the choice between these two was very easy: budget, the most limiting factor again. For the price of two Radian's I could buy five Lanthanum's.
(I never tested the Radian's, so I can't compare them to the Lanthanum's!)

So I started out with buying a 20mm and a 12mm Vixen Lanthanum. In combination with the TAL 200K they delivered very satisfying views of the moon, the planets and the deep sky, and I could observe using my glasses! From time to time I added an eyepiece, and at the moment I have seven Vixen Lanthanum's.

My favorite eyepiece however is the TeleVue 32mm plossl. This eyepiece has an even bigger eye-relief and with it's apparent field of view of 50 degrees, it gives me a nice "window" into the night sky, even with my glasses on. I compared this eyepiece to the 42-degree 40mm plossl from Televue, the 42-degree 40mm Vixen Lanthanum and the 40mm TAL plossl.

I couldn't get the 40mm Televue into focus. The 40mm TAL had some nasty "kidney bean" or darkening effect. I liked the Vixen 40mm best (of these three), but the 32mm plossl from Televue had a 50 degree field of view, and the True field of view (46.5 arc-minutes with my 200K) was slightly bigger than with the 42 degree Vixen 40mm. Also the 32mm Televue plossl proved to be even more comfortable to look through than the Vixen 40mm, wearing my glasses.

Basic data on my eyepieces

Here is some basic data on the eyepieces I own at the moment (all eyepieces are 1.25"):

Legend:

If you want to read some reviews on these (and a lot of other) eyepieces, please visit the following links:

- Cloudy Nights Telescope reviews

- Todd Gross' Weather and Astronomy site

- The telescope review site by Ed Ting

- Excelsis eyepiece reviews