Halden Carrick 5 mm wide-field eyepiece, with soft pouch

Specifications

Description

The Carrick 5 mm is a seven-element wide-field eyepiece with a 60-degree apparent field and a 1.25 in barrel. It sits at the high-power end of a typical set, where the short focal length and narrow true field show the telescope's optics and the state of the atmosphere most clearly. Observers usually pair it with a telescope of long focal length, such as a 1,000 mm refractor or a 1,200 mm Dobsonian, to reach high magnifications on planets, double stars, and compact deep-sky objects.

A 5 mm eyepiece gives 200x in a 1,000 mm telescope and 240x in a 1,200 mm Dobsonian. At these powers the true field in a 1,200 mm telescope is about 0.24 degrees, which is roughly half the width of the Moon, so the target should be located at lower power first. A bright, steady image depends on the aperture and the seeing as much as on the eyepiece, and the clearest views come on nights of steady air and with instruments of good optical quality. Under good conditions, atmospheric turbulence usually limits useful magnification to about twice the aperture in millimetres, so a 100 mm refractor at 1,000 mm focal length will rarely show fine detail at 200x on a typical night.

With 9 mm of eye relief, the Carrick 5 mm asks you to hold your eye close to the lens, so it is easier to use without glasses or with the eyecup set against the brow. The 5.0 mm field stop sets the true field, and the eyepiece weighs 165 g, which keeps the load light on a diagonal. The barrel is threaded for standard 1.25 in filters, and the lenses carry multi-layer coatings on all air-glass surfaces to reduce reflections at high power. It works well as a companion to longer eyepieces in the same set.

About this configuration

The Halden Carrick 5 mm wide-field eyepiece is offered in several configurations, and the notes below describe what this particular one adds. The soft pouch keeps dust off the eyepiece and fits in a jacket pocket during a session. A soft pouch protects the lenses from scratches when you carry the eyepiece between the car and the telescope. A fold-down eyecup is simple and has no moving parts that can loosen in cold weather.

Titanium gray shows dust and fingerprints less than black, and it keeps a uniform look over time. The 2023 edition uses the same lens design as later years, with small differences in the grip pattern. Check the barrel size in the specifications against your focuser or star diagonal before you choose a configuration.

What's in the box

• Eyepiece with fold-down rubber eyecup
• Top and bottom dust caps
• Padded storage case
• Soft padded pouch

Compatibility notes

• Fits any 1.25 in focuser, diagonal, or Barlow lens.
• The barrel accepts standard 1.25 in filters (M28.5 x 0.6 thread).
• Designed for telescopes of f/6 and slower; faster instruments may show softness at the edge of the field.