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Mak 180 on DSOs 24th July


philj

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I tried the 180 Mak on DSOs when I first got it and I must say I was pleased with the views on some objects but since then the Mak has been a dedicated lunar and planetary scope. So tonight I thought I would give it a try tonight for a change. Knowing that the scope gives good views on Globular clusters I thought I would take a tour tonight around some of the summer ones and the brighter DSOs.

Scope Skymax 180 Pro

Eyepieces used Vixen LVW 22 (77x) 13 (130x) 5 (340x)

Had to spend awhile realigning the finder scope, the limited FOV of the mak makes this an important task if you want to stand a chance with mount calibration.

Mount calibrated successfully at 22:20 so started on a few doubles to await darker skies

Albireo of course, glorious

Epsilon Lyra 77x split both pairs with ease

Cygnus doubles:-

STF2576  matched pair at 8 mag but with a 1.5" split. Easy split with 77x

STF2588 a wide 9.6" almost matched mag 7 pair

19 Cyg Bags of space at 54" and a nice mag contrast of 6 and 10. Primary looked slightly orange

STT 386 a toughy at .09" split and almost matched mag 8. Only just split with 340x due to atmospherics. (I much prefer the cleaner views of doubles with a refractor my 6" would have made this one easier due to the cleaner star images)

STT387 another tough one at 0.6" split and mag 7 pairs but split again at 340x.

STT383 Mag 7 and 10.5 with 18.7 made spotting the secondary easy

5 Aquilae a nice triple with 6, 7.8 and 11.2 mag components. A to B is 13" and A to C is 26". This was easy at 130x as the components form a lop sided triangle.

OK it was dark enough for some DSOs now

M13. What a stunner, with a dark background this takes up almost a third of the FOV with the 22mm and is glorious with star chains dripping from the core and the resolution of core stars was very good. This view is on a par with what I used to get from the old C11 but not quite as bright.

Then on to M12, M10, M14 M63, M9   

I imaged M17 the other night through my FLT98 so I thought I would have a look at this through the Mak. Wow its big at 77x and responds to an O111 filter but not H beta filter.

M16, cluster only visible

M11, lovely with dark lanes through the dense part of the cluster. Stretches across most of the 22mm FOV.

M57. Oh yes, at 77x this is the best view I have had of this nebula since my C11. Really bright with a clearly defined ring shape. 130x gave a hint at detail in the ring itself. OIII filter made it stand out more but didnt help with detail.

M27, Massive at 77x. Brighter on one main lobe with a hint of the fainter lobes. O111 filter turned it into a round blob with the apple core shape in the middle, great stuff.

M31, 32 & 110.  Very large at 77x, 32 really striking but had to hunt for 110.

So if anyone tells you a Mak 180 is a planetary scope only and not very good on DSOs, don't believe them. They perform very well well.

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I was using my 180mm Mak Wednesday evening here in sunny France and Mars, Saturn, M57 and M13 all put on a great show. Wish I had goto as I find it hard to navigate for DSO objects as there are 10 times as many visible stars here as opposed to my home site just north of Manchester. Still can't beat observing beyond midnight in a T-shirt and shorts.

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I agree David, I started the evening in similar atire but covered up when a couple of mossies decided they would like a snack. Goto with the mak helps but its not essential ive used the mak on an altaz push to mount many times, it helps to hone ones star hopping skills :-)

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Phil I totally agree that the Mak 180mm can be brilliant on certain DSOs. When I use the 21mm Ethos I get a mag of 129x and a FOV of 46 minutes and the Globs look fantastic. I use the Mak on my SkyTee 2 mount and put a 80mm f5 frac on the other side with a correct image diagonal and a wide field EP to act as a finder - together they are brilliant.

Clearly you had a great nights viewing I really must have a look at M57 through the Mak.

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Sounds a good combination Mark, narrow fov high mag one side and wide and low the other.

I reckon my next task for the Mak is the Mintron on Dso's. I used to do this regularly with the c11 and I reckon this would be a good combination especially with globs

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  • 3 weeks later...

Nice report. People often say slow scopes are better for planets, fast scopes better for DSOs, but speed is largely irrelevant, visually. My fairly slow C8 has bagged me over 800 DSOs including 400+ galaxies. My *" F/10 with a 22mm EP gives the same views as an 8" F/5 with an 11mm. Your 180 Mak (F/15) would need about 33mm of focal length for the same views. The only drawback of a slow scope is the limited field of view, but this only matters on a few objects

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Nice report. People often say slow scopes are better for planets, fast scopes better for DSOs, but speed is largely irrelevant, visually. My fairly slow C8 has bagged me over 800 DSOs including 400+ galaxies. My *" F/10 with a 22mm EP gives the same views as an 8" F/5 with an 11mm. Your 180 Mak (F/15) would need about 33mm of focal length for the same views. The only drawback of a slow scope is the limited field of view, but this only matters on a few objects

Michael, would you agree that my 6" f12 mak will show the same objects as my 6" f5 newt  at same magnification

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Michael, would you agree that my 6" f12 mak will show the same objects as my 6" f5 newt  at same magnification

They would, except perhaps for minor differences due to the size of the central obstruction, transmission of the optics, etc. In practice these difference would be hard to notice.

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