Need Diag and Eyepiece advice

All:

I'm a novice. Just bought a used Intes M500 from a member here. Gonna mount it on a heavy photo tripod to start. But, no diag or eyepieces came with it. It does come with a 2" back (pic enclosed of back of scope) and want to purchase, new or used, a decent diag and a few eyepieces.

Initial observing will be: terrestrial and moon/planets. I think I may need 2 different diags in order to handle the terrestrial, right? Any recommendations on diags as they seem to vary in price and quality a lot both new and used. Same for eyepiecs. I am going to go the 2" route so that if/when I move to a bigger scope I can use my good eyepieces.

Thanks,

Tom

Attached Image:

I'd suggest a 2" diagonal by William Optics (wouldn't worry about enhanced vs. dielectric). For low power on a slow scope I like the William Optics SWAN 40mm 2" eyepiece. It's about half the price of the highly touted 40mm TMB Paragon but the performance is basically the same in a F10 scope like yours. It would give you a nice 2 deg. field view and make it easy to find objects. An eyepiece in the 20mm range would be nice in case you decide to try for any deep sky objects. For planets I would suggest an eyepiece in the 8 to 9 mm range. Another option would be an 8-24mm zoom which would be handy for terrestrial use and would cover a good range for astronomy as well. You'll get better image quality if you stick to a 90 deg mirror diagonal but you would have to get used the Left/ Right reversed image.

Joplin

Tom:

Congratulations on the purchase of your new toy. A couple bits of good news. The Intes Mak-Casses are excellent scopes - I owned a 6" and it produced razor sharp images. At f/10 they are VERY eyepiece friendly so super expensive eyepieces aren't needed for good views. You could get by with just one diagonal - a 90degree one. For terrestial viewing, stuff will be right side up, but reversed left to right. If you want, and the budget allows, grab yourself an inexpensive 45 degree diagonal. There are several choices at our sponsor's website - here http://www.buytelescopes.com/product_list.asp?t=54 Another place is here: http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=diagonals/~pcategory=accessories;jsessionid=50DA92D87612C93038BFDD879CB09F63.ivprod1 I'd go with a cheap 45 degree and pay more for the dielectric one in the 90degree version. That type is more durable and gives more light throughput.

As for eyepieces your options are pretty wide open depending on your budget. I agree a 40mm widefield type is a must for the widest possible field of view at low power. An eyepiece such as the one listed in the other post would give you 32x and a 2.1 degree field of view - over 4 full moons in width. Even though I have a case full of eyepeices, I use three primary focal lengths - 40mm for low power, 15 - 17mm for medium power and 8 - 10mm for high power. You don't need 2" for medium/high power 1-1/4" will do. Hope this helps.

Just a quick suggestion:

For terrestrial viewing you may well be happy using the 90 degree star diagonal, as others have said, the image will still be upright, the most important thing, it will just be reversed left-right. At first it may seem a bit odd but it does provide a better view and any confusion about which way to move the scope soon disappears. Myself, I use star-diagonals for birding and a correct image initially confuses me as I am so used to the star diagonal both at night and during the day.

At least give it a try.

Jon

All:

Found a nice 2" William Optics 90 diagonal (non-dialectric) here today and made a deal with the seller. It should be good enough for me to get started and was $95 to my door.

Tom