Eyepiece and telescope pairing
Best eyepiece for the Orion SpaceProbe 130ST
Which eyepiece gets the most out of the Orion SpaceProbe 130ST, chosen by exit pupil rather than by guesswork.
- Aperture / focal length
- 130 mm / 650 mm (f/5)
- Deep-sky pick
- Tele Vue 10mm Delos: 65x, 2 mm exit pupil
- Low-power pick
- Celestron X-Cel LX 25mm: 26x, 5 mm exit pupil
- Focuser barrel
- 1.25 in (both eyepieces fit)
For deep-sky detail, the Tele Vue 10mm Delos is the pick of the eyepieces here: at 65x it lands near the 2 mm exit pupil where faint-object contrast peaks in the Orion SpaceProbe 130ST. For wide low-power sweeping, drop to the Celestron X-Cel LX 25mm at 26x.
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 SpaceProbe 130ST the Tele Vue 10mm Delos lands there, at 65x with a 2 mm exit pupil and a 1.11 degree field.
For a low-power finder-and-framing view you want a wider exit pupil, around 5 mm. Here the Celestron X-Cel LX 25mm gives 26x, a 5 mm exit pupil and a 2.31 degree field, the widest true field of the eyepieces that fit this focuser.