Al Nagler, the head and founder of Televue has always strived for quality in his products (even if it does mean shelling out a bit extra for that televue eyepiece). Televue lead the way in terms of wide field eyepieces with the 13mm Ethos being perhaps the finest example. Nagler describes the view through one of his monster wide fielders as a ‘simulator experience’, referring to the views that training astronauts get in the lunar lander simulator.
The 13mm Ethos offers a staggering 100 degree field of view which in itself is incredible, what’s even more unbelievable though is just how sharp stellar objects appear even right out at the fringe of field. When viewing the double cluster both piles of sparkling diamonds were visible in the same view and the stars were pin sharp all the way out. If that was the only view I’d ever had through this amazing eyepiece I’d say it was worth the £450 price tag but this eyepiece performs magnificently on all objects with special note on large extended galaxies and big open clusters. Then there’s the moon; it’s hard to put down in words the experience of viewing our lunar neighbour through an Ethos, it really does feel like you’re in a space ship looking out a port hole at the stark and rocky surface.
At 13mm, this king of eyepieces can serve just as well on the planets, especially for undriven mounts. Let me tell you it takes Jupiter a hell of a long time to drift through 100 degrees of eyepiece. This means less fumbling with a freezing cold telescope and more time concentrating on the object you’re observing. As well as reducing frustration levels the wider field actually enables you to pull fainter details out of a planetary disk as more of your mind is focused on observing and less is held back to deal with thinking about keeping the planet in the fov.
Simply put, if you can afford this eyepiece then buy it, it not only out performs any other eyepiece in my collection but does it with about twice the field of view as your average plossl.
It is quite large and heavy (to be expected with such a humongous field) but slight balancing issues when switching eyepieces won’t bother you when you’re getting the most breathtaking views of the cosmos you’ve ever had, after all why would you ever need to switch eyepieces again with the emperor Ethos nestled snuggly in your drawtube.
