The Panoptic range of astronomical oculars (eyepieces) was the original ultra-wide angle eyepiece series from Televue, with a 68-degree field-of-view (FOV). Televue was founded and these eyepieces were designed by Al Nagler, of great fame in the amateur astronomical community, for both his eyepieces and his scopes (e.g., NP101, NP127). These eyepieces are much bigger than they look, with the 41mm (on far left in above picture) standing nearly 6" tall and weighing close to 2 lbs (!). The weight of these eyepieces may be too much for smaller scopes and/or smaller mounts.

The above photo includes the entire range of Panoptic eyepieces: 41 mm, 35 mm, 27 mm, 24 mm, 22 mm, 19 mm, and 15 mm. With a large scope (like my 12" LX200, with a focal length of 3200 mm), these eyepieces give a range of approximately 75 power to 215 power - a very useful range. As the focal length of the eyepiece gets shorter, the magnification ("power") increases (as the power is just the focal length of the scope divided by the focal length of the eyepiece). For a short focal length refractor, one might want 2 mm-9 mm eyepieces, to give a magnification of something like 50-250 (e..g, on a 500 mm scope); however, for a long focal length scope, like the SCT, long focal length eyepieces (41, 35, 27, 24) are very useful to gain a wider field of view. Generally the field of view decreases with increasing power. However, the magic of Al Nagler's wide-angle eyepieces is that they maintain a very wide field of view, even at high power. Thus, you can see more AND see things bigger! Another important consideration is "eye relief" - i.e., the distance your eye can be from the eyepiece and still take in the entire field-of-view; The Panoptic (and Nagler) eyepieces have quite respectable eye relief, allowing them to be used by eyeglass wearers. Alternatively, Televue provides diopter correctors for these eyepieces for those who are near-sighted.