I love planetary eyepieces, in particular rare and interesting eyepieces. Here i will offer an overview of planetary beyepieces i have personally owned and used. CIRCLE T AND V JAPAN MADE ORTHOS Great value for money! These japan made eyepiece usually have a sticker with a letter T on it, or a barrel stamping with a circle enclosing a T or V. I recently owned a superb vintage 80's Celestron unit with a fantastic sharp field stop. very good sharpness and contrast, but some light scatter around bright planets.come in 4,5,6,7,9,12.5,18 and 25mm. FOV typically 42-45 degrees. very nice if binoviewing using 12.5 and 18/25mm's. fully coated. pay around £22-35 used, around £50 new. known as "volcano tops" MEADE RESEARCH GRADE ORTHOS 1.25" These were Meade's flagship orthos in the 70's and long out of production. very sharp performers, i think a bit better than the T's. multi coated optics with nice neutral tone, very light satin anodised aluminium barrels. i like the 7 and 10.5mm's. pay around £40-50 typically. came in 4,7,10.5,16.8 and 28mm. CARL ZEISS JENA ORTHOS .965" ORTHOS These are just superb, and my favourite planetary eyepieces. although .965", they are awesome. superb contrast and sharpness, only just behind the legendary Zeiss Abbe orthos. lovely zeiss coatings, bluish on older versions, purplish on later versions. older types had a double slotted top, but newer had a smooth top appearance. Views in a C8 with Denkmeier bino and a pair of 16mm was stunning. came in 4,6,8,10,12.5,16,25mm. I was lucky to own the very rare 12.5mm twice. The 8mm ia all but impossible to find. great scatter control with very dark background. Pay around £120-£150. CARL ZEISS ABBE ORTHOS 1.25" A legend! virtually perfect planetary eyepiece with fantastic sharpness and contrast. great zeiss T coatings give wonderful lack of scatter.I have used the 4,6.10,16 and 25mm. Ultimate for finest lunar/planetary detail.surpassed only very slightly by the newer ZAO II.slighly bigger FOV than the jenas. I have used the 10,16 and 25mm in the rare TAK TEC 225 sct with very impressive results. made in 4,6,10,16,25 and 34mm. The 34mm is all but impossible to find. expect to pay £400 plus. PENTAX SMC ORTHOS .965" Wonderful little gems! I rate these equal to the zeiss jena ortho. very sharp with superb contrast and excellent scatter control. Some production runs were plagued with internal dust. FOV around 44/45 degrees. Great SMC pentax coatings. I have used the 6,7,9,12 and 18mm, and the 12's are wonderful in a bino. made in 5.6.7.9.12 and 18mm. long out of production. pay around £150-220. ASTRO-PHYSICS SUPER PLANETARY A special ep from Astro-Physics USA, long out of production. Glass was by Aries of Ukraine, and assembled at AP. very steep eyelens giving greater eye relief than similar orthos. I have used the 8,10 and 12mm's. lovely cool tone with outstanding contrast. Lunar views were lovely in C8.C9.25. made in 4,5,6,8,10 and 12mm. Only to be found in USA, and expect to pay £250 plus. VERNONSCOPE BRANDON I have only used the 8mm in a fine C8, and it was superb, very nice contrast and sharpness. outstanding dark background. Try one if you can, it is worth it. I paid £100 for the 8mm. TMB SUPERMONO/SUPERMONOCENTRIC These are mow not made and were from APM Germany. A modern version of the monocentric design, with just 2 air to glass surfaces. very small FOV of 30 degrees, so you need a driven scope.Very sharp indeed with outstanding contrast.I've used these in various scopes including Tak FS 12/128, TEC 225, C8 anmd C9.25. always superb on axis, and great for teasing out finest lunar/planetary detail on good steady nights, cool tone, made in 4.5,6.7,8,9,10,12,14, and 16mm. pay around £100-150 CLAVE PLOSSL PARIS Sought after by collectors, these have a fine reputation for being very sharp and contrasty. lovely deep purple blue coatings. I have used the 12mm and 8mm in a C8, very nice views of Jupiter. Tone is very warm, which helps to bring out belts on Jupiter. rare and expect to pay around £150 plus. TELEVUE PLOSSLS These are great value/performance plossls, probably the sharpest, rivalling alot of orthos. I like the old smoothside versions, in particular the early versions with the NJ barrel stamp. great contrast on planets. I love the 10.5,13 and 17mm, great in a C8. available ex etock in 8,11,15,25,32 and 40mm.The older ones were 7.4,10.4,10.5,13,17,21,26,32 and 40mm. great eyepieces! Well that;s it for now. I hope this overview will be of interest to all you keen planetary observers Mike Bacanin