Baader Morpheus 17.5mm — image 1
Baader Planetarium

Baader Morpheus 17.5mm

A 17.5mm Baader Morpheus: a low-power eyepiece for framing large nebulae, galaxies and open clusters, from a 76-degree wide-field that trades blows with eyepieces twice its price.

89/ 100
Polaris Score
Optical quality · Immersion · Comfort · Value
See the breakdown ↓
What it's for
Low power · wide fieldHigh power · narrow field

Low power. At 17.5mm this is a low-power eyepiece for framing large nebulae, galaxies and open clusters; it is not the eyepiece for high-power planetary detail.

Apparent Field
76°
Barrel Size
1.25"
Eye Relief
17.5mm
Focal Length
17.5mm
From$383

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The spacewalk

You don’t look at a field.
You look into the sky.

Every number on the spec sheet matters less than one feeling: how much sky wraps around your eye. Widen the apparent field and watch the black edge of the eyepiece slip away.

76° apparent field

At 76°, the black rim sits out at the corner of your attention rather than in front of you.
Try this eyepiece on your own scope in the Simulator →
01What it's good at

What it's best at — and the trade-offs.

A genuinely usable 17.5mm of eye relief, so eyeglass wearers see the whole 76-degree field.
Best at
✓A genuinely usable 17.5mm of eye relief, so eyeglass wearers see the whole 76-degree field.
✓A dual 1.25-inch/2-inch barrel that drops into either focuser without an adapter.
✓At 17.5mm it lands squarely in low power territory, exactly where wide star fields and large objects belong.
Trade-offs
!Heavy enough to shift the balance of a small refractor or a light Dobsonian.
!The rubber eyecup and winged eyeguard are fiddly until you settle on one position.
!Not quite the edge perfection of an Ethos, if you go pixel-peeping the last few degrees.
02In your telescope

One eyepiece. A different job in every scope.

27× in a small refractor, 116× in a long SCT

An eyepiece has no magnification of its own — the telescope decides. The same eyepiece becomes 27× and 2.8° of sky in a little refractor, or 116× and a tight frame in a long SCT. Here’s what it does across common scopes.

Small apo refractor
480 mm · f/5.5
Magnification
27×
True field
2.8°
Exit pupil
3.2 mm
27× across a 2.8° field at a 3.2mm exit pupil, right in the deep-sky sweet spot, bright and easy on the eye.
8-inch Dobsonian
1200 mm · f/6
Magnification
69×
True field
1.1°
Exit pupil
2.9 mm
69× across a 1.1° field at a 2.9mm exit pupil, right in the deep-sky sweet spot, bright and easy on the eye.
12-inch Dobsonian
1500 mm · f/5
Magnification
86×
True field
53′
Exit pupil
3.5 mm
86× across a 53′ field at a 3.5mm exit pupil, right in the deep-sky sweet spot, bright and easy on the eye.
8-inch SCT
2032 mm · f/10
Magnification
116×
True field
39′
Exit pupil
1.8 mm
116× across a 39′ field at a 1.8mm exit pupil, crisp medium power for galaxies, clusters and planetary nebulae.
Exit pupil is how wide the beam of light leaving the eyepiece is. Around 5–6 mm is bright and immersive under dark skies; push much past 6 mm and you waste light, and under light pollution a smaller exit pupil shows more contrast.
03In plain English

The numbers, in plain English.

17.5mm FL · 76° AFOV · 1.25"
Focal lengthLow to mid power
17.5mm
About 69x in an 8 inch f/5.9 Dobsonian and 116x in an 8 inch SCT. Low enough to find and frame comfortably, high enough that the sky stays dark behind the target.
Apparent fieldVery wide
76°
The longest focal length in the range paired with a very wide field gives the largest true field the family offers, enough to hold most open clusters and larger nebulae whole.
Eye reliefExcellent
17.5mm
Ample for spectacle wearers, and welcome at low power where you spend the time scanning rather than concentrating on one point of detail.
BarrelStandard
1.25"
Fits any telescope. At this focal length and 76 degrees the field stop is close to the practical ceiling of the 1.25 inch format, which is why the range stops here.
OpticsPremium wide-field
Baader Phantom multi-coatings
Low-scatter coatings and strong field correction, so the wide view stays sharp rather than smearing at the edges. Sealed construction keeps dust and moisture out of the internals.
04What comes alive

The targets this eyepiece was born for.

The Orion Nebula (M42), The Andromeda Galaxy (M31), The Pleiades (M45), The Double Cluster…
The Orion Nebula (M42)Comes alive
The Orion Nebula (M42)
Wings of nebulosity fill the field with the Trapezium embedded.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)Excellent
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
The bright core with its two companion galaxies framed.
The Pleiades (M45)Excellent
The Pleiades (M45)
The whole cluster with dark sky to spare around it.
The Double ClusterComes alive
The Double Cluster
Two open clusters glittering side by side in one view.
The Beehive (M44)Excellent
The Beehive (M44)
A loose scatter of bright stars, best at low power.
Large open clustersExcellent
Large open clusters
Bright, wide targets that want field, not magnification.
05Role in a collection

Where it sits in your eyepiece case.

Where it sits across 3 focal lengths

A good eyepiece collection isn’t a pile of glass — it’s two or three focal lengths that hand off from wide to tight. This is the anchor at the bottom of the ladder: the one you find and frame with. You buy it once, and it stays your low-power eyepiece for life.

32 mm
Low power · wide field
Find, frame and sweep. Your widest true field and the lowest useful magnification, the eyepiece you reach for first.
Veil Nebula · Pleiades · Milky Way star clouds
17.5 mmThis one
Medium power · the workhorse
Where most deep-sky objects look their best, galaxies, globulars and planetary nebulae at a comfortable scale.
M13 · Ring Nebula · most galaxies
7 mm
High power · detail
Planets, the Moon at the terminator, tight double stars and the smallest planetary nebulae. Steady-air nights only.
Jupiter · Saturn · lunar craters
06Build around it

What it pairs with.

The telescope · Pair it · Filter it
The telescope
What it goes into
Any 1.25-inch focuser
Fits essentially every telescope made.
Fast, short scopes love this field
A fast Newtonian or refractor turns this focal length into a rich, wide sweep.
Pair it
What extends its range
A high-power eyepiece (~11mm)
Locate and frame with this one, then swap to high power for planets and small objects.
Filter it
What transforms the view
A UHC or OIII nebula filter
At low power this eyepiece frames big emission nebulae; a narrowband filter makes the Veil and North America jump out.
07The Polaris Score

How it scores, and why.

89/100
89/ 100
Baader Morpheus 17.5mm

Judged as a low-power eyepiece for framing large nebulae, galaxies and open clusters, it earns its score on sharp very nearly to the field stop, even in fast newtonians where cheaper wide-fields smear. The comfortable eye relief lifts it further. A wide field is what this focal length is for, and it delivers.

Optical quality
90
Immersion
87
Comfort
90
Value
86

Polaris weighs how well the eyepiece does the job it was designed for — optics, immersion, comfort and value — never list price or brand.

08Who it's for

An honest fit check.

Observers who want a low-power eyepiece for framing large nebulae, galaxies and open…
Buy it if you
✓Observers who want a low-power eyepiece for framing large nebulae, galaxies and open clusters.
✓Anyone who observes in eyeglasses; the eye relief here is long enough to see the whole field.
✓Observers who want a comfortably wide field without paying ultra-wide prices.
Look elsewhere if you
!Anyone chasing the absolute widest field, who should look at a 100-degree eyepiece.
!Grab-and-go observers watching every gram, since this is not the lightest option.
!Planetary specialists who want the last ounce of high-power contrast from an orthoscopic.
09The numbers

Full specifications.

4 measured and stated values
Optical
Focal Length17.5mm
Apparent Field76°
Comfort & handling
Eye Relief17.5mm
Fit & build
Barrel Size1.25"
Editor’s Take

Sweep it across a rich star field and the reason to own this focal length is obvious in a second. That is what the Morpheus is for.

— The Skynocular verdict
10Alternatives

For a different goal, start here.

2 alternatives, each mapped to the goal it wins at
More magnification

Baader Morpheus 12.5mm

The same line at higher power, for planets and the smallest deep-sky detail.

→
Cross-shop

Tele Vue Delos

A natural alternative at a similar price point, if you want to compare field and feel before committing.

→