John

If you have not already purchased the 40mm I would urge you to consider the 32mm instead. Looking at your scopes, a 32mm eyepiece will show pretty much as wide a true field of view and have a more effective exit pupil (the diameter of the bundle of light that exits the eye lens of the eyepiece). The optical quality of the 32mm will be the same as the 40mm.

Excellent

Sorry, I missed the question. The answer is yes. Hope it stayed clear for you.

After a rather excited and lengthy session of lunar observing tonight, I wanted to chill out and observe something very different before packing my 12 inch dobsonian away for the night. The seeing tonight was spectacular but the transparency was rather milky and the bright moon in the sky added to this to make the conditions far from suitable for hunting faint deep sky targets. But I fancied looking at something "deep" anyway. The "bowl" of Virgo was well presented and I remembered that within that area lies the brightest quasar in the sky which is known as 3C 273. When I say brightest, it is still a magnitude 12.9 object but it is a point source so I hoped that would help it to cut through the milky background sky and be faintly visible. Quasar 3C 273 certainly qualifies as a deep sky object as it lies at an immense distance of 2.443 Billion light years from us I used the finder charts in this 2019 Astronomy Now article by Ade Ashford to star hop to the right part of Virgo and the narrow field finder chart to nail which of the faint stars was the actually the quasar: https://astronomynow.com/2019/03/07/seek-out-3c-273-the-brightest-optical-quasar-in-the-spring-sky/ Under a transparent sky my 12 inch dob can get down to magnitude 14.7 point sources but under tonights sky magnitude 13 was pretty challenging and it took some time to allow my eye to get accustomed to picking out the dimmest stars in the field of view. But eventually I narrowed a faint suspect star down and used the detailed finder chart towards the bottom of the linked article to be sure, matching the alignment of my suspect with the brighter star patterns nearby. So there was the faint speck of light, at the edge of visibility tonight, comprised of photons that have traveled for billions of years to get to my eye. Just another faint star-like point but knowing what it was, made it a bit special Quite a contrast to the bright lunar features that I had been exploring earlier this evening. I think there are 3 other quasars that could be within the reach of my scope, especially under darker skies. I'll have a go at those when I feel like "going deep" again

Thanks Neil - glad you have the views as well I'm probably sounding like an overgrown kid in this thread It's nice to get a bit excited by the sky again though

Quite rare for the conditions to be this good, I agree. We have had some good seeing lately here though, for a change. Not so good transparency though but with a bright moon in the sky, faint DSO's are not on the menu anyway.

Thanks for all the feedback folks. Frankly, these are the best lunar views I've ever had The seeing is still steady and the misty clouds have thinned a lot so very high magnifications are bearing fruit again. 795x on Gassendi - I've never seen so much detail This is a LRO image but what I'm seeing is very similar even at that magnification: Having a good look at a number of lunar domes as well. A feature that I have not paid a lot of attention too in the past but once you realise that they are quite subtle features, there are plenty of nice ones to find around the Mare Insularum. Some have nice little (well, 2km diameter) central pits as well.

The cloud has thinned quite a bit here so lunar observing is still going on. Can't see too many stars though.

Got a look earlier (pre-clouds ) with my 12 inch dobsonian. I thought the nova might be a little bit brighter ?. Only a wee bit - maybe mag 7.5 ??

Superb here up until about 30 minutes ago when the cloud thickened up considerably blotting things out. I can see the moon through it but resolution is very limited now. Earlier it was truly wonderful. Gassendi was, as you say Paul, a real show stopper !

Doh ! - very thin and wispy clouds have thickened up so I can just about see the Moon and nothing else. I'll give it some time to see if things clear up again. Sirius split was the best I've had for ages. Could do with some more of that !

If you can, get out and observe the Moon I've just had a short session before supper with my 12 inch dobsonian and the seeing conditions seem to be outstanding currently. I've been observing the concentric crater Hesiodus A again, which I reported on last night: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/374414-more-unforecast-clear-skies/ The image was so sharp that I just kept piling on the magnification as my jaw dropped. Eventually I was using the 2mm (!!!) setting of the Nagler zoom for 795x and the crater looked stunning. Gassendi, it's rilles plus the central peaks are also really spectacular ! Also picked up the more challenging concentric crater Marth. The crater itself is 7 km in diameter and the interior ring probably 3-4km so very small targets so the high magnifications that seem to be working just now helped a lot. I don't know how long it will remain clear and steady here but I'm enjoying it while it lasts A good evening for spotting Plato craterlets and the rille on the floor of the Valles Alpes I think.

Is that a single element Steve ? The ED100 has an air spaced doublet objective doesn't it ?

Thanks Fozzie I'm finding the theories on the formation of these little craters fascinating to read about. I'm hoping to have a look at Marth (#27 on Wood's list) this evening if it stays clear. It should be on show tonight. The Ramsden Rilles are nearby and sound interesting as well

Whats that old saying ?: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"

It's great when the illumination allows the craterlets to show as actual pits with tiny ramparts You can see the "big 4" generally under more direct illumination as white spots but the smaller ones are very hard to spot that way. A bit of shadow is very helpful with those. Good guide to them in this CN post from David Knisely: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/34841-guide-to-plato-craterlets/?p=450105

I've just found that we have discussed concentric craters before on SGL. Here is an interesting thread started by @Fozzie: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/265608-concentric-craters-–-a-relatively-rare-lunar-feature/ When I next get a chance I'm going to try and find another one of these, Marth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marth_(lunar_crater)

Glad you saw it Stu

Went for the 130mm triplet tonight. Got a good couple of hours in before the clouds stopped play:

It's rather neat isn't it Steve ? I think it's one of the best of these concentric craters to observe. Interesting little Sky & Telescope piece on these here: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/crazy-about-concentric-craters02252015/ The theories on their formation are quite varied. I'll have a go at the other two mentioned in the above link sometime.

It's rather clouded over now so I'm having a coffee break. Not looking too good from where the weather is coming from so that might be it for tonight

Just had a look tonight at the nova. This time with a 130mm refractor. Brightness compared to nearby stars seems to be the same to my eye as it was last night.

Lunar highlight so far is this little fella, the 14km diameter Hesiodus A, on the shore of the Mare Nubuim. Last night it was shadow filled so the neat inner "doughnut" was not visible but tonight, all is revealed

"Clear Outside" gave me cloud cover all night but it's quite clear at the moment The seeing is a bit more variable than last night, good one moment and not the next. Slightly annoying gusts of wind now and then as well. I've managed to see the Pup star with the 130mm refractor on and off though. The moon is looking very nice again, sharp and steady at 400x with the big refractor. Some lovely detail along the terminator. I'll have another look at the Nova Cas 2021 later, if it stays clear. Have fun if you are out

There should be a couple of screws holding your 1.25 inch eyepiece adapter into the focuser drawtube but I can't see those on your scope. The arrangement should look like this: By loosening the lower pair of chrome screws in the photo above, the 1.25 inch eyepiece adapter can be removed and a 2 inch eyepiece adapter inserted. The 2 inch adapter looks like this: I wonder if your focuser drawtube has been modified in some way as it does not have that lower pair of screws