John

The last couple of nights I've been out I've used practically all my eyepieces from 31mm down to 2.5mm. The range of targets seems to be hugely varied currently from tight double stars and fine lunar detail to expansive star clusters. I would say that the eyepieces that have seen most use in recent sessions are:

- 13mm Ethos

- 4.7mm Ethos

- Nagler 2-4mm zoom

- 7.2mm - 21.5mm zoom today for solar observing.

When the galaxy hunting grounds of Leo and Virgo are on show then I may well find that a single or pair of eyepieces carry me through a whole session with my 12 inch dobsonian. Usually those are the 21mm and 8mm Ethos.

7 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

I thought the "Blue Snowball" was (NGC 7662) or am I thinking of a different one.

You are quite right. I tend to post quite quickly at times and my memory plays tricks on me sometimes

NGC 7662 it is !

Took advantage of a nice sunny morning to get the Herschel Wedge on the Tak FC100-DL and to have a look at the Sun.

There are 3 active regions currently on the disk as shown in the Solar Monitor white light image below. Although the sunspots associated with these are small they have some nice details when observed at higher magnifications. I found 125x worked quite well under todays conditions. I'm not a frequent observer of our nearest star but it's nice to be able to take a safe peek now and then and the solar activity does seem to be increasing again

My rather basic mobile phone snap shows the refractor + diagonal view so E & W reversed compared with the Solar Monitor view.

I hope you enjoy the scope when you get it

I had the Takahashi 6x30 finder with my FC100-DL when I bought it but though it is a wonderful finder, I find a humble 6x30 Skywatcher was much more comfortable to use.

The seller should have told you about the crack in the eyepiece lens of that finder - it is quite a large one

Observed this one tonight with the ED120. That 20mm additional aperture makes a difference - got a clear split at 257x and 300x

You can see why some folks changed tack from planetary observing a few years back

Still, I'm not a specialist so I'll take whatever I can get. Very useful chart Stu

3 hours ago, John said:

It could be good here tonight but I'm not getting a scope out.

It's a hobby and I've learned that I enjoy it much more when I don't feel I have to do it whenever it's clear. Takes the pressure off

 

 

 

I'd like to apologize for the above fib

I got tempted by all those shiny things gleaming in the sky

It could be good here tonight but I'm not getting a scope out.

It's a hobby and I've learned that I enjoy it much more when I don't feel I have to do it whenever it's clear. Takes the pressure off

Have fun if you are out though

3 minutes ago, Carl Au said:

..... astronomy should be fun.

Yep, definitely

A few of the brighter nebulae will be visible but with the moon in the sky they will not be at their best by any means.

Planetary nebulae seem to "survive" moonlight the best. The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) in Gemini is well placed at the moment. The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) in Draco is also worth hunting down as is the Blue Snowball Nebula (NGC 2662) in Andromeda.

During the late spring the Ring Nebula (M57) and Dumbbell Nebula (M27) will be on show of course and they are possible with some moonlight around.

Currently well placed, the Crab Nebula (Messier 1) is a supernova remnant but it does not like a moonlit sky really. Messier 78 is in Orion and a reflection nebula but again, moonlight is not it's friend.

If you want to go further afield there is NGC 604 which is an immense star forming HII region in another galaxy, Messier 33. The trick is to find M33 first though, and that is tricky with any moonlight in the sky.

Nebulae are not the best targets in a moonlit sky but some are worth looking out

Some great detail there. You have caught the Hadley Rille and the Apollo 15 landing site on one of them !

So glad you are pleased with the scope. It looks just great on the AZ-4. Just the sort of setup that will get lots, and lots, and lots of use

Having fiddled around with mine all afternoon I've decided to live with the 40 degree AfoV. Assuming that the 9x magnification is correct that is a true field of 4.4 degrees which is usable combined with the reticules displayed by my Rigel Quikfinder. 

The problem I found is getting other eyepiece designs field stops anywhere near the focal plane of the finder objective. I can see why the manufacturer needed the odd low profile eyepiece attachment arrangement now. 

Nice report and pics Paul

The moon did look very nice last night as your photos show.

I use the Rigel and I've owned a couple of Telrads. The Rigel stays dew free a little longer in it's stock state and it's easy to make a simple dew cover for it from a small piece of cardboard. I had an add on dew shield / RA mirror attachment for the Telrads which was a bit of a fiddle but did work.

Last night was quite dewy though. Even my primary mirror got fogged up at the end of my session, and that practically never happens here. I had to keep the optical finder capped when not using it to keep the dew at bay on that.

I was playing with filters last night as well with my 12 inch dob, comparing filterless vs UHC vs O-III vs H-beta on Messier 42. Still think I prefer filterless on balance but it's interesting to see different portions of the nebula responding in different ways to the filters.

Good to see others are getting this one.

I was going to try last night but the seeing went milky and my dob mirror (unusually) fogged up at about 1:30 am. I would have had another hour to wait and was struggling to see mag 9.5 galaxies under the conditions so I beat a retreat.

Hopefully I'll get another chance over the next few days.

Glad you had a positive 1st experience.

Sitting down when observing can help hold the eye position steady. Some people use a ironing seat or even a drummers stool.

I'm just having a look at my Celestron illuminated reticule RACI. I use this with my 12 inch dobsonian. Now I look at it the AFoV of the eyepiece is narrow - about 40 degrees I reckon, comparing it with a plossl.

On mine the eyepiece optics are held in a section that screws up and down in a body which contains the element with the etched cross hairs on and which the illuminator illuminates though a side port. 

Is this like yours Michael ?

Great report Nick !

It was lovely to be out last night

51 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

For me the highlight of the evening was splitting 32 and 52 Orionis that  John  suggested in an earlier post.

First I bagged 32 Orionis which was easier, I used 9mm eyepiece at the Mak giving 300x and the pair were clearly split in roughly SW-NE direction.

With the same magnification I could only get 'elongated egg shape' from 52 Orionis due to unsteady seeing so I went down to 6mm and 450x, crazy magnification but it worked. They were clearly separated at the first diffraction ring in moments of steady seeing. What makes it possible is that both components are of equal magnitude. This was my first 1'' double, very happy!

I think I got a hint of Sirius B, north-east of the primary but the heat plumes of the houses were making Sirius a rainbow blob and I was freezing and had trouble keeping still at the eyepiece at that stage so this will be continued on another night. Saturday looks good here! 

 

 

Some excellent catches there with the big mak !

14 minutes ago, keora said:

...It seems to take lots of experience and skill to use a telescope effectively. What do forum members suggest I do?

 

You are absolutely right - it does take lots of time to build up the skills and experience.

You seem to be going about things the right way though so my suggestion is simply to keep at it. You will have ups and downs, successes and failures but that is the way of it I think.

Try and give yourself an "easy win"at the end of each session so that you end on a high note 😀

I've packed the scopes in now. It's still clear but it has got a little "milky". I was finding mag 9.5 galaxies none too easy and then I noticed a fine fogging on my primary mirror as well as a milkiness in the sky. The galaxy with the SN in is a mag fainter so I figured that tonight was not really a good one for that challenge, all in all.

Plus I'm cold and fancy a glass of warm Shiraz before turning in

14 minutes ago, Saganite said:

I am finding the same John with my Vixen ED103  and Nagler 3-6 zoom, 264x and seeing the notched resolution at best.

I guess we can't complain - the theoretical resolution limit (Dawes) for a 4 inch scope is 1.14 arc seconds. The Zeta2 pair are 1.11 arc seconds I think so our scopes are doing pretty well in the probably-not-too-perfect UK January seeing 

18 hours ago, Voyager 3 said:

Did you try with your tak John ?

I'm observing Tegmine with my Tak FC100-DL tonight.

I can't quite split the close pair (Zeta2, 1.11 arc seconds I think) consistently and convincingly but I am getting a heavily "notched" pair as per the illustration below. Maybe a split during moments of best seeing ?. The split between Zeta1 and Zeta2 is no problem at all. I was using magnifications from 225x to 360x. 300x was probably the optimum.

I'm still out there. I've got the Tak 100 out as well to give the dob some company.

It's fun comparing the views of targets with such a difference in aperture.

The seeing is not too bad here but is not 100%. The dob is splitting stars down to an arc second separation but the star images are not tight and text book like the Tak refractor shows.

Both scopes showed the Eskimo Nebula rather well, the dob at 338x and the refractor at 225x. The central star and "layered" structure of the nebula was visible in both scopes but the contrast between the central zone of the nebula and the outer layer (the Eskimo's parka hood) was more marked with the 12 inch scope as you would expect.

The 12 was showing Sirius B intermittently as the seeing fluctuated but the 100mm Tak didn't although the view of Sirius A through the refractor was much tidier.

Trapezium E & F very obvious with the big dob but just E tonight with the smaller refractor.

The challenging triple star Tegmine (Zeta Cancri) showed as a single star plus a touching pair with the refractor whereas the 12 inch dob split the close pair clearly.

Good fun and nice to be out