jetstream

The transparency was avg here tonight and dark with the NELM 6.4 at the elevation of the target, the Perseus cluster, Abell 426. I used the mid chain of stars in Pegasus for the test and dropping down a bit the extinction was at 6.15 NELM. Not bad, not the best. The 15" dob was already cooled and collimation took about 2 minutes with Glatters Tublug. Tonight I wanted to try my orthos as these are really proving themselves on the galaxies and have been under used by myself, except the 10BCO. After dark adapting for 1/2 hr or so the sky looked grey and I could see well out there- in stark contrast to when I stepped outside from the house. Abell 426: there is a whole pile of galaxies in this cluster and it is a VG proving ground for eyepieces. The Lunt 20mm HDC must have great transmission as it pulled not only the 2 brightest members NGC 1275 and NGC 1272 but also a couple of more- all very faint at this mag -91x. Now for the orthos. The 10 BCO did a great job but was underpowered for this task so the 7mm KK came out. This eyepiece has proven itself over and over but has been under used on the deep stuff. The 7mm KK got at least 8 members of the cluster as I looked through the soda straw view of .15 deg. A bit of delicate scope nudging was required to count the tally, and no doubt I missed some. I was pretty well satisfied with the views though the 7mm KK, let me tell you! the view at 261x was superb on these faint galaxies. I've been observing NGC 206 in M31 quite a bit of late and seem a bit infatuated with it for some reason. If anyone gets a chance swing over and try to see this nice star cloud. Many more galaxies were observed in Pisces as well as Pegasus and a few more places. All in all a satisfying evening!

Maybe someone in your observing crew has a 26mm-28mm ES or Nagler to try? A 32mm TV plossl as well? The brighter we can get IC434 the better. Another choice while unbelievable is the simple 25mm "Super Plossl". Ian likes a bit more mag than myself... having a wide range of eyepieces (18mm-32mm) is a very good thing to have for the HH, as is a narrowish FOV.

Nothing more than the thumbprint for me, but I must say that IC434 can give a nice, brightish presentation of itself. The extent of this nebula can easily be overlooked in our ever present infatuation with the HH.

Get whatever scope you need that will allow frequent dark site trips. My VX10 f4.8 shows a whole pile of objects and has been on hundreds of dark site trips with me. They are easy to carry (tube in one hand, base in the other) and that aluminum base has a nice small footprint. If I was purchasing a scope like this for myself again it would be the 12" f5.3 VX... it just depends on your circumstance.

I read a few reports that Brandons gave the same views as ZAOII on lunar/ planetary in some pretty nice refractors. Seeing is most likely the largest factor when comparing eyepieces for detail on solar system objects and over in the USA they get some fantastic seeing. My own arsenal of eyepieces has been picked apart under reasonable seeing with some surprises popping up. Brandons are not redundant, they are just expensive. Many adored "plossls" are really just symmetric doublets. Get this- not one Televue Plossl or any other Televue I've owned for that matter has beat my best orthos for on axis sharpness and I believe that Brandons could compete (at least) with my orthos running at f7 or slower. I will buy one to see.

Great report! I can say that the Heritage 130 works great with either the Lumicon OIII or the Astronomik OIII giving great views of the Veil, Pickerings Wisp and much more. The screw focuser provides a robust solution to scopes such as these IMHO.

This light map shows why dob mobbers head to where they do- maybe it could be useful for you too? That cloud you had could reflect the LP back making things worse as well. https://blue-marble.de/nightlights/2012

Great report Neil!

Getting firewood before bed is a bit of a ritual here and as the process began the sky was pretty freakin nice looking! Down with the wood out comes the scope. The 15" stays together and cooled so set up time including collimation is under 5 minutes. Tonight I just took a quick rip though the sky knocking off the Little Veil, a gorgeous Crescent, twisted filamented Pickerings Wisp and company and the Pacman for warm ups. Sliding up to NGC 7331 put me right in the spot to catch the 3 members of Stephans Quintet. Upping the mag revealed the other 2 faint members (orthos). M33's spirals were nicely presented as were the dust lanes of M31. Of course the NAN was observed, with billowing structure revealed in the 15". Back over to Cass and sliding to the Scorpion revealed the Lobster Claws and much more. Auriga was starting to emerge from behind the Pines so the dob was wheeled over to a clearing where it was unobscured. First time in what seems ages the Flaming Star was observed, man I like this one! I closed the session with Carolines Rose, an absolute favorite, all in all not bad for an hours observing tonight!

Kevin, I find it needs NELM of 6 or better.

The brightness of an extended object is fixed and contrast is the difference between this and the sky darkness. More focal length at a given (appropriate) exit pupil will make objects bigger while preserving eye illumination. If a 7mm exit pupil is used as a reference this chart shows the dimming effect of using smaller ones eventhough contrast between the extended object and the sky remains the same. If using a telescope and eyepiece combo that matches your max exit pupil then the telescope does not dim the object. Yes, the increased mag using a telescope at an appropriate exit pupil enhances or enables the view. The OP's binos did this eventhough the contrast stayed the same naked eye as did the objects surface brightness.

This is "perceived brightness"?

From CN " #5 Ernest_SPB Viking 1 Posts: 951 Joined: 13 Nov 2010 Loc: St.-Petersburg, Russia Posted Today, 08:50 AM Brightness of image (background or diffuse nebula foreground) does not depend from scope aperture... only from exit pupil diameter. Aperture allows to rich more or less magnification." Ernest knows his stuff.

The binos made the object bigger, therefore easier to see.

Nope. Yup, kind of.