Eyepiece and telescope pairing
Best eyepiece for the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian
Which eyepiece gets the most out of the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian, chosen by exit pupil rather than by guesswork.
- Aperture / focal length
- 203 mm / 1200 mm (f/5.9)
- Deep-sky pick
- Celestron Omni 12mm Plossl: 100x, 2.03 mm exit pupil
- Low-power pick
- Celestron Omni 32mm Plossl: 38x, 5.41 mm exit pupil
- Focuser barrel
- 2 in (both eyepieces fit)
For deep-sky detail, the Celestron Omni 12mm Plossl is the pick of the eyepieces here: at 100x it lands near the 2 mm exit pupil where faint-object contrast peaks in the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian. For wide low-power sweeping, drop to the Celestron Omni 32mm Plossl at 38x.
An exit pupil near 2 mm is the classic sweet spot for teasing detail out of faint deep-sky objects, because it concentrates the light while keeping the image bright enough. In the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian the Celestron Omni 12mm Plossl lands there, at 100x with a 2.03 mm exit pupil and a 0.5 degree field.
For a low-power finder-and-framing view you want a wider exit pupil, around 5 mm. Here the Celestron Omni 32mm Plossl gives 38x, a 5.41 mm exit pupil and a 1.28 degree field, the widest true field of the eyepieces that fit this focuser.
Eyepieces to buy
Search Amazon for Celestron Omni 12mm Plosslaffiliate searchFind Celestron Omni 12mm Plossl on eBayaffiliateSearch Amazon for Celestron Omni 32mm Plosslaffiliate searchFind Celestron Omni 32mm Plossl on eBayaffiliate