Meade 18mm Series 5000 HD-60

This Meade 18mm HD-60 eyepiece is the latest medium power addition to the renowned Meade Series 5000 eyepiece line. Its advanced six-element optical design uses premium-grade and exotic glass for the best possible performance and image brightness. It is super fully multi-coated, with blackened lens edges for enhanced contrast. The Meade 18mm HD-60 offers a large 60° apparent field of view that is flat and tack sharp right to the edge. In addition, there is as much as a 40% improvement in chromatic aberration levels and edge distortion over traditional Plössls.

With a short focal length refractor the new Meade 18mm HD-60 is a medium to low power eyepiece well suited to scanning the crowded star clouds of Sagittarius. For example, with the 430mm focal length f/6 Astro-Tech AT72ED it provides 24x, a field five times as wide as the full Moon, and a 3mm exit pupil that is excellent for rich field observing and revealing large nebulas.

It is also a good choice for medium power observing with long focal length refractors, reflectors, or catadioptric scopes. On an 8" f/10 catadioptric, for example, it yields 111x, with a 0.54° field. This is a very useful magnification for observing compact planetary nebulas and globular clusters, as well as lunar observing. Its high contrast makes observing small features along the lunar terminator a nightly delight as the terminator creeps across the face of the Moon.

Eye relief is a long 17mm and a twist-up rubber eyeguard provides viewing comfort and improved contrast, with eyeglasses or without. Its 1.25" chromed barrel is threaded for standard 1.25" filters, and a shallow safety groove is machined into the barrel. This groove engages the thumbscrew or compression ring of your focuser or star diagonal to prevent the eyepiece from falling should the thumbscrew loosen accidentally during use.