Eyepiece and telescope pairing

Best eyepiece for the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P

Which eyepiece gets the most out of the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P, chosen by exit pupil rather than by guesswork.

Aperture / focal length
130 mm / 650 mm (f/5)
Deep-sky pick
Celestron Omni 9mm Plossl: 72x, 1.8 mm exit pupil
Low-power pick
Celestron X-Cel LX 25mm: 26x, 5 mm exit pupil
Focuser barrel
1.25 in (both eyepieces fit)
Fits

For deep-sky detail, the Celestron Omni 9mm Plossl is the pick of the eyepieces here: at 72x it lands near the 2 mm exit pupil where faint-object contrast peaks in the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P. 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 Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P the Celestron Omni 9mm Plossl lands there, at 72x with a 1.8 mm exit pupil and a 0.69 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.