Special K

13 hours ago, Paul M said:

 

My avatar is one of my own Crab images. I don't do it justice but I like to try every season.

That’s an avatar to be proud of, Paul!  

Been quite a while since I have wielded the refractor but I set out last night to locate the Cats Eye planetary neb, and also pick up M1 later. Due to location and timing I didn’t get the cat but in the wee hours I got up to a glorious sky, still, quiet, and strikingly beautiful with the winter array swung round the back of the house. Having Jupiter gleaming westward really adds to the excitement!  Bagging the Crab was no problem, and I recall failing to get a decent look in previous attempts. An O-III with a 9mm EP seemed to be the best view.  As usual with nebulae our cones don’t register anything so it’s all grey but definitely oval in shape.

 It’s been over 1000 years since this supernova and it got me thinking why this Messier is the first in his catalogue.  Is it because at that time the nova was more prominent?  It would be quite spectacular for us to have a similar event in this time.  Makes me wonder if Betelgeuse has blown many years ago and that lightshow is on its way!  😊

Nice report, Stu!  What a great feeling to finally achieve a view after trying for so long. 

@markse68the double double should split easily at x100, so if that’s not working I’d agree there could be something mechanical at fault. 

On vacation at Lake Tahoe and have the bins with me this time. The weather has been perfect so a quick jaunt uphill out of the town provided some excellent views. The mountains are high all around us so the moon was not up until much later.  

As my eyes adapted, the Milky Way started to emerge. Without the moon this would have been much better even with local LP. The stunning sights were to the south west  where Jupiter hovers over Scorpius. Antares was a brilliant beacon and the tail clearly visible leading to a full view of the Teapot of Sagittarius which has Saturn near its handle. This alone was worth the climb! 

With the bins steadied on a convenient lean-to wooden fence, I hauled in some nice finds. M4 was a soft splotch compared to M22 which is bold as anything. M8 Lagoon was naked eye and in bins showed plenty of nebulousity. The Triffid’s cluster was neatly marked and thought I could detect a puff in there. Up to the M24 Star Cloud which this time reminded me of the smiling cat asterism in Auriga. As always this was a dense, well...cloud!  Aptly named.  To the east lay another Messier open cluster (thinking M50?). The Swan was bright but struck me as quite small without a telescope, while the Eagle’s cluster was nice and bright. 

Holding as steady as possible I could make out the oval shape of Saturn and those bright moons of Jupiter.  The highlight was discovering M8 Prolemy’s Cluster behind a fir tree!  This is a dazzler and was at a great angle to view from the fence.  The nearby M6 Butterfly was a nice bundle of stars as well.  All in all a refreshing and uplifting view of the summer sky.  

This is a great place to visit day and night, in all seasons.  There are some locations you can drive to if you want absolute dark but for a 10 minute walk, this is pretty good.   Clear (binocular) Skies!

I appreciate the headache this has involved for you and it’s not an outcome any one would have expected. Nevertheless, I look forward to the final verdict once you get your hands on the real goods!!!

Thanks for explaining that John!  (I should get some of these doohickies one day but I just trust to star testing for now) 

Something makes me think that dealing with smaller objectives is easier and that the problems increase exponentially with larger refractor lenses. That’s just a hunch based on the exponential price points on 6” scopes!  In the case of this scope Skywatcher have tightened the budget a little too far to account for proper QA at the point of assembly. 

I still hold out a lot of hope for this design and look forward to news of the comparisons we are keen to hear about. I suppose the biggest comparison for me is how it will weigh up against your ED120.

As a consumer, I would be thinking in this vein:  if I wanted a SW ED design and quality was pretty equal, it would all be about aperture and size with the cost this brings.  My assumption would be that I’d be getting a bigger version of my proven ED80. I think the one thing that could sway me in favor of a shorter focal length (such as my f/5.9) is the smaller FOV.  Having said this, f/8 seems to be the most popular.  Ultimately, I’d like to see how this stacks up against the Starwave 152.....I could be in for a long long wait!!!

I’m pretty surprised by the quality issues as the ED range has a good track record. 

Just a silly question because I don’t have experience of using cheshires:  on the first scope, the collimation check appeared to be ok but then failed the startest.  Is that to be expected?  I’m assuming a star test is more revealing than a Cheshire test.  Or was it possible the collimation was ok per the Cheshire but it could not detect the likely bent tube?  I just thought a Cheshire would have identified the misalignment of the overall system.  Sorry if I’m being dim!

Case finally arrived.....gosh it's small!!!  Surprisingly it fit the whole motley crew and there's even two spaces left where I can flex some expansion to the collection  

My first ever dedicated case on order!  Very excited!!!   Only needed a modest box for my small collection.....pic to follow once I've customized it. 

@moriniboy that's a huge collection!   That Equinox looks soooooooooo nice!  

Once again, this thread is fantastic!  Anyone wondering how to mount any refractor can get a lot of info just looking at the pics  

clear skies

That scope looks a smasher, John, and I'm not surprised by its quality as you've so well described. I guess a mount can never be too sturdy but that one you've got looks great. 

That Tak looks sweet for sure, John.  Many happy hours to you with it!  

I'm curious how your 6" achro fix-up project went with the Evostar. If you get many more tubes you might have to move house!!

It's turned out to be a great all rounder from my perspective: recent views of Jupiter have been amazing. Yet to try a fringe filter and may never bother with that. Update on defects with mine is I've got it back and they appear to have replaced the focus assembly. I don't have any image shift anymore with the fine focus. The lens cell still doesn't look spotless to me but maybe is just lint or dust. I'm emailing to get details on what actions were taken. While speaking with Altair on the phone I asked if there were any differences between white and v2 red and it's only the color.  I reckon they have realized it's a hot item and bumped up the price point due to demand!

Nice report Dave, and I feel cheated about that red!  Mine is barely a few weeks old but had a niggle or two so is back with Altair under warranty. I had a bit of fine focus wobble and a spec or two on inside of lens. But performance wise I love it!  (Squirming in my chair as I write, impatiently awaiting its return... )

Regarding the red, I couldn't tell what is different from the white?  Looks fabulous though!  On CA, it's very interesting to hear your thoughts. So far, I haven't been plagued by it on Jupiter or on the moon really, and I'm used to the ED80's good correction. I see some CA for sure but it's mild to my eye.  Maybe being red colourblind helps.

I'm getting by on an eq5 with 1 3/4" legs. Seems absolutely fine for visual.  As you say, it's a delight aimed at DSO's. 

The focus feels very proper!   Mechanically, the EQ5 seems fine with it, though a field test of vibration damping is needed.  Easily balanced though as I got two 5kg counterweights with my mount.  

I bought this for deep sky but no doubt will train it on everything going!

Help has arrived!!!  Haven't had first light yet but I've really got the feeling this was the right thing to do 

On 20 January 2016 at 23:37, John said:

I think it's my 4th or 5th but it is what I call a project scope so I may not hang onto it for that long. I tried some of the CA filters on another scope a while back and didn't really like the results. I prefer to use a Chromacor if at all possible.

They do need quite a heavy duty mounting arrangement, I agree. Not as severe a challenge as my Istar 6" F/12 was though ! 

Be sure to let us know if that "project" nears its end and you want to move on!!!

CA aside, these Synta f8's must be very effective on deep sky stuff. I'm very eager to try one out as a complement to my small frac.  

Derek, that ED120 looks like a nice outfit for sure!  I'd be interested to hear your impressions on combining it with the 31mm Nag.  Hat's off to you for trying different things too, and I'm keeping an eye out for your 'bargains!' 

Shame Skywatcher can't come out with a ED150!  Striking the balance of big glass with correction and a high enough f/ratio to keep out false color seems like a tightrope.................unless paying thousands which is way out of my league!  I looked at the Starwave 152mm before xmas which looks like a dream but such a short f/ratio must be prone to false color.

That was a cracking deal Garry, and I could have been tempted if I had known......but it all happened so quickly!! Enjoy

And a little background history for those interested. I only saw this in trying to find out what a Frauenhofer design is

https://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/tools/tools-refractors.htm

I like Struve's comment that he didn't know what to admire most: the look of his scope or its performance! I really get that

That's a very informative review, thanks for the time and effort to share your experience. Sounds like Baader are in there with the best of the rest with this new line. I got the 17mm Hyperion and ergonomically I love it, but over time I've learned to recognize the astigmatism it introduces. The Morpheus is a similar look though much cooler! 76 degrees will be more than sufficient and very close in appearance to 82mm EP's as you demonstrated. The choice of that AFOV must have overcome some design issues or in keeping the cost down.

Hi, I'm in the process of learning about this myself, but the contrast is the difference between the objects you are observing. In this case it will be the contrast between the stellar objects and the background of sky. Increasing magnification results in less surface brightness which can effectively reduce the ambient glow of a background sky. As stars are pins of light they have a low surface area and high surface brightness and consequently do not dim as much as an object that is larger like the sky or a huge nebula.

As I understand it, it's getting the balance if magnification right for a particular object to give good contrast but not reduce it's brightness too much.

Regarding the original question, I'd say good EPs will be worth it in any case but understanding the science and math involved can help you make informed decisions about what EPs to buy. I found this site super useful:

http://www.rocketmime.com/astronomy/Telescope/telescope_eqn.html

Excellent stuff and supply for several lunchtime reads!

Thanks very much for a great read, Qualia! The past two or three months have been an eye-opener and great to get a better understanding of the background of this planet. I'm still amazed by the current magnitude in relation to Jupiter and assume it is well and truly the second brightest object in our sky not counting our moon and the sun, of course. Your recommendation for patience while observing sure is true! This is a very elusive object.............but rewarding.