I finally got first light with the 6mm Vixen SLV. The eyepiece itself is well made and feels weighty (149 grammes) for its size. It is about 7.5 centimetres long and 4.5 centimetres at its widest. The optics include lanthanum glass and it has seven elements in four groups. With a supposed* AFOV of 45° it is nearer to the 44.4° of a 10mm Baader Eudiascopic eyepiece than a standard Plossl. It features a twist-up eyeguard. I was initially sceptical about the eyeguard with its three twist-up positions. The positions didn’t seem to lock particularly firmly, but in use I found that this made it easier to operate the eyeguard when using a helical focuser. The top dust cap is large and fits snugly, the field lens dust cap is a standard Vixen type.



The larger field stop, eye lens and overall size of the SLV gives the illusion that its AFOV is slightly larger than 45° though. The eye lens is about 2 centimetres wide and gives 2 centimetres of eye relief. The housing body features an unusual polygonal rubber grip and the drawtube is chromed brass and smooth with no undercut. This makes it quite easy to manipulate in the cold and the dark, especially if like me, you have any form of disability or difficulty with manual dexterity.



The first target was Jupiter. A 6mm eyepiece gives me 150x on my f/6.9 130mm Newtonian. With the conditions deteriorating slightly from an observing session earlier on, and Jupiter rapidly setting (notwithstanding a bright Full Moon), I found that the SLV gave a very bright, sharp and clear image. I couldn’t detect any ghosting, light scatter or internal reflections at all. I could see detail in the Jovian equatorial zones and belts as well as a tiny amount of detail in the northern temperate and tropical regions. Saturn was bright and well defined and it was nicely contrasted as if observing through a large orthoscopic eyepiece. I watched Saturn until a while after transit. I'm pretty sure I got a hint of surface detail in the northern equatorial region although I used a few filters including a Baader Blue 470nm bandpass, a Wratten #82A Light Blue and a #11Yellow Green filter to more easily achieve this. I could just about make out the moon Titan.

*On their website Vixen claim an AFOV of 45° yet it claims a '50° Field' on the eyepiece housing.