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I have an old Shilba Eclipse 60900 telescope.

Specs:

  • Object diameter: 60mm
  • Focal Distance: 900mm.

Optics:

  • Barlow 3x
  • 1.5x Erecting Eyepiece
  • 4mm and 12.5mm eyepieces.

I'm aware it's a basic one, with a limiting magnification of about 120x. However, it's more than enough for the use I'm willing to give it.

Are there any eyepieces or other auxiliary optics that might provide either better quality images or a better observing experience?

Edit: Thank you all for the kind answers and corrections. By lens I meant the eyepiece. I've just taken it off the telescope and it measures at about 3cm in diameter. It is an old telescope so it's likely the only surviving eyepiece.

I'm linking a few pictures: Eyepiece in question

Full telescope with finder.

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  • $\begingroup$ By "lenses" do you mean "eyepieces" (ie the bit you look through, not the big lens at the end.) The big objective lens normally can't be changed easily, and at 60mm, it will limit what you can do with the rest of the telescope (it won't gather enough light to make high magnification possible) $\endgroup$
    – James K
    Sep 1 at 23:09
  • $\begingroup$ What is the diameter of the eyepiece where it fits into the focuser? $\endgroup$
    – Mike G
    Sep 2 at 9:46
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Astronomy SE! If you can add more information about the eyepieces it would really help! Do you know their effective field of view, or their design? Is there writing on the eyepieces? For example "12.5 Erfle 55°" If you added one or two photos of your collection of eyepieces and other optics that would be great as well, Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Sep 2 at 23:44
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    $\begingroup$ The first photo indicates an objective focal length of 700 mm. $\endgroup$
    – Mike G
    Sep 4 at 13:47
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    $\begingroup$ These telescopes were sold under a lot of brand names. They are OK for looking at the moon, or Saturn or Jupiter, and that's about it (but that can be fun). Buying new eyepieces for it would not be worthwhile. So make sure anything you buy is compatible with a better scope if you think you might upgrade. E.g. these scopes usually came with a .976" eyepiece holder, where most other scopes use a 1.25" holder. $\endgroup$
    – Greg Miller
    Sep 4 at 14:34

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If the eyepiece holder has inner diameter 31.75 mm (1.25 inch), there are many eyepieces available in that size, also compatible with larger telescopes. As you may know, magnification is objective focal length divided by eyepiece focal length.

An eyepiece with a longer focal length, e.g. 25 to 40 mm, would offer a lower magnification. This would help you see nebulae, e.g. M42 and M8, and nearby galaxies, e.g. M31, more brightly. If you get only one eyepiece, get one in that range.

A 6-8 mm eyepiece would provide a step up in magnification from the 12.5 mm you have without requiring the Barlow or running afoul of the the 2× per mm aperture rule.

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