Celestron X-Cel Series 1-1/4" 2.3mm Eyepiece

by Celestron

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 6 inches ; 1.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• ASIN: B00008Y0SV
• Item model number: 93386
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 19, 2003

Product Description

If you are looking for an eyepiece that excels for planetary viewing, then Celestron?s X-Cel offers the unique features you are looking for. A 6-element fully multi-coated optical design, the X-Cel utilizes extra low dispersion (ED) glass on its most highly curved surfaces, to minimize chromatic aberration that can hinder sharp planetary views. With a wide 55 apparent field of view, and a large 25mm clear aperture the X-Cel is one of the most comfortable eyepieces to use. Every X-Cel eyepiece is parfocal with each other, meaning little or no focusing is needed when changing from low to high power.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great eyepiece for the money!!, January 18, 2009

By 

Brandon S. Keefer (Sanford, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Celestron X-Cel Series 1-1/4" 2.3mm Eyepiece (Electronics)

The eyepiece works great. The price was also a lot cheaper than anywhere else I looked, and I looked for a few days. If you buy this eyepiece I hope that you have a equatorial mount as well. This eyepiece gets you so close to the objects your looking at that they are not in view for very long. It also helps to use another eyepiece such as a 10mm or higher to find the object and then swap it with this one. I have not been able to look at Saturn or Jupiter yet as they are not out. But looking forward to it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for the moon, June 14, 2010

By 

L. Mitchell "Gamer" (Bonham, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Celestron X-Cel Series 1-1/4" 2.3mm Eyepiece (Electronics)

This is the first EP I bought for my Nexstar 130SLT F/5 Newtonian. Being a rookie, all I thought about was maximum magnification for my scope. My scope's theoretical highest useful magnification is 300X. This eyepiece gave me 280X -close enough I thought. Viewing the moon it was awesome - not too much trouble focusing and had crisp images all the way to the edge of the fov. Next up - saturn. Pain in the rear getting it in the field of view - you have to start out with a 25mm, then go down to a 10mm, then barlow the 10mm to get 5mm, then you can get the 2.3mm lined up. Now comes the real tricky part - Focusing. Just touching the focusing knob at that high magnification will cause the image to vibrate across half the field of view (now I know what a 2-speed focuser is used for). Since saturn is out in the early evening this time of the year, and it is one of my favorite things to look at, I've probably looked at it 25 - 30 times in the last 2 months. It's the first thing I look at when I set up my scope every evening, and it is what I use to align my Nexstar GoTo tracking computer. Of all those times looking at saturn, only 4 or 5 times has the seeing conditions been good enough for me to get a crisp image through the 2.3mm. All the other times the atmospheric turbulence, moisture, etc. has made the image at that high of a magnification look like I was looking at it underwater. Now I just go as far as a barlowed 8mm which gives me 162X and a crisp excellent view of the rings. If the seeing is exceptional and I notice no distortion or turbulence at 162X, then I'll take the time and trouble to look through the 2.3mm. If I was a big fan of viewing the moon, I would not regret the purchase. Since I rarely look at the moon, I should have bought a 5mm instead, getting a lot more use at 130X and when those rare times of exceptional seeing occur, Barlow it for 260X.
Also the eye relief on this focal length EP is not that great. To see the entire field of view you have to have your eye close enough to the lens that your eyelashes will brush the lens. I tried it with my eyeglasses on and the eyecup rolled down, and with my eyeglasses touching the EP, I was only able to see about 75% of the FOV. This is not the case with the other X-Cels I own (8, 10, and 25mm).
You can read my review of the 25mm X-cel to see my thoughts on build quality, coma ,etc. here: Celestron X-CEL Series 1-1/4 25MM Eyepiece