Tele Vue 55mm Plossl: 55 mm focal length, 50 degree apparent field, 2 in barrel. The magnification and true field it produces in real telescopes, worked from the specs.

Updated 05 September 2026.

Optical reference

Tele Vue 55mm Plossl: focal length, field and the magnification it gives

What the Tele Vue 55mm Plossl measures and the magnification and true field it produces once you drop it into a telescope of a given focal length.

Published specifications

Focal length
55 mm
Apparent field of view
50 degrees
Barrel size
2 in
Optical design
4-element Plossl

An eyepiece has no magnification of its own. The Tele Vue 55mm Plossl gives 12x in a 650 mm scope, 22x in a 1200 mm scope, 37x in a 2032 mm scope, because magnification is the telescope's focal length divided by this eyepiece's 55 mm focal length.

Its 50 degree apparent field becomes the true field of view once divided by that magnification: wider in a short-focal-length scope, narrower in a long one. The exit pupil equals this 55 mm focal length divided by the telescope's focal ratio, so at f/5 the exit pupil is 11 mm and at f/10 it is 5.5 mm.

The 2 in barrel decides which focusers it fits: a 2 in barrel needs a 2 in focuser or diagonal and will not drop into a 1.25 in one.

Questions and answers

What is the focal length of the Tele Vue 55mm Plossl?

55 mm

What is the apparent field of view of the Tele Vue 55mm Plossl?

50 degrees

What is the barrel size of the Tele Vue 55mm Plossl?

2 in

What is the optical design of the Tele Vue 55mm Plossl?

4-element Plossl