jetstream

While not for everyone, the Baader VIP barlow does not add anything to Suiters "wobbly stack" so to speak- it does not detract anything from the 10BCO or any other eyepiece I've used it with. I use this combo with VG results in my dobs. I sorted through a bunch of orthos and came up with a top notch 7mm KK ortho on par with the 10BCO but with a cooler tone on the planets. It is a very deep eyepiece. My 5mm KK is not on the same level but a few of the Circle T's are really deep. On a side note the 10 BCO gave more contrast on the Leo super cluster than the 10 Delos- and had more galaxies in and out of averted.More mag would have pulled those out in direct vision. Using 93 Leo as a guide I studied IC 732 and NGC 3884 with the 2 eyepieces, what a great area to explore.

Great point and I don't waste time collimating like this either. The tools available to collimate a newt are fast, easy and accurate- even my 300+ lb 24" f4, after wheeling it down a ramp and across a gravel pad is easy and fast to collimate.

Did I forget to mention the Spider and Fly when talking about the Flaming Star area in Auriga? Welcome to the world of IC 417 and NGC 1931! Theres a bunch of goodies in Auriga, congrats for a fine session. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180129.html

I'm curios about how everyone does the star test? The only accurate way I know of is using very high mag that needs VG seeing to do. I don't think using the secondary shadow is that great a method.

There is the 25mm Televue plossl that offers 17mm of eye relief and is a sharp eyepiece, with great build quality. I own two and they are very versatile- from seeing the Horse Head, to binoviewing to sharp low power views on the moon and planets. To this I would add a quality barlow such as the Baader VIP,or any other good 2x barlow. The barlow benefits things in a couple of ways including pushing the eye relief out a bit, possibly useful for your son. Down the road a 2" APM 20mm HDC or the TS equivalent tsxwa 20mm is a super low power eyepiece. The 25mm TV plossl is sharper, with less scatter and will show less perceived coma in the f4.7 newt however.

The other night using the 24" at 287x there is a bright not quite complete inner ring (annular ring?) that is surrounded by the fine radial filaments. If am Eskimo hood is looked up on the computer there is a nice resemblance with the inner hood the ring and the fur the radial filaments. This one is sensitive to seeing as poor seeing will limit the mag where features are seen or not and a filter brightens the object but kills the fine features (to my eyes). Just found this from NASA: "This stellar relic, first spied by William Herschel in 1787, is nicknamed the Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) because, when viewed through ground-based telescopes, it resembles a face surrounded by a fur parka. In this Hubble telescope image, the 'parka' is really a disk of material embellished with a ring of comet-shaped objects, with their tails streaming away from the central, dying star. Although the Eskimo's 'face' resembles a ball of twine, it is, in reality, a bubble of material being blown into space by the central star's intense 'wind' of high-speed material. This object is an example of a planetary nebula, so named because many of them have a round appearance resembling that of a planet when viewed through a small telescope. A planetary nebula forms when dying sun-like stars eject their outer gaseous layers, which then become bright nebulae with amazing and confounding shapes. The Eskimo Nebula is about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini and began forming about 10,000 years ago." Image Credit: NASA

lol! Yes I've been nosing around this area- so many to see but so hard to identify individuals, now I just find the clusters and stare in amazement. @mdstuart we need your expertise on these galaxies.

No laughing, you have a very good start JOC! Being able to split the double double tells much about your optics, cooling and collimation- its all good. Excellent. I must also point out that it was @John who helped me first find the Veil, again many thanks to him. I still like to observe objects near constellations for ease of finding and when the DSC froze up the other night I was driving the 24" @ .7deg TFOV around manually, a challenge indeed, but the basics carried me through. Your goto should work well if you have a stable base and use very tight FOV (high mag) to align, my SynScan is like this on the AZEQ6. Right now M81/M82 are VG, M108 is so easy to find and is a nice taste of things to come for you. One last and important thing to our observing plan:dark adaptation- you need 30mins in darkness to fully adapt for the Veil,galxies etc. Vogel is an expert on this. http://www.reinervogel.net/index_e.html

Thanks Damian, I just put it on the list with Copelands Septet. Looked up some Abell clusters- gonna go for the Abell Leo cluster soon, weather permitting.

For me astronomy has been a process and still is as I venture into different areas to observe. Extended objects vs points sources...when does an extended object act like a point source? look at Hickson 55 for example. I have recently learned about some of this with help from others. The Veil is an extended object with much light in OIII. In order for our eyes to work well with the OIII we should have an exit pupil between 4mm-5mm (or more), but under less than dark skies the 4mm gets the nod. So the 31mm gives about 5mm exit pupil. Your 26mm plossl gives about 4.3mm. We know have a plan- try them both. No need for expensive eyepieces to view the Veil ie the 25mm SW Super plossl works very well. However, filter choice can make a huge difference. The only one I would buy now is the Astronomik OIII (or TV, same thing). Lumicon had big issues that I'm not sure theyve overcome. So a plan overview might include: Practise observing 52 Cygni naked eye View the Veil when high in the sky Try your current OIII with both the 26mm and 31mm Purchase an Astronomik OIII, try again If no luck, its off to darker skies. JOC you will see the Veil, but it is a process. Out of curiosity what are your favorite objects to observe?

I didn't want to come right out and say this. but we share the same thoughts on this.

Just in from a sauna, the Harvia works great- may as well as it is starting to snow. Commission? I wish lol! its cost me a lot of money sorting through things and I do relate what I find. I can see why they are out of them, they work, plain old work and for such a low price. Congrats for pulling out some galaxies under challenging conditions- the Leo Triplet is such a great target. There are places to observe- galaxy clusters- that will boggle your mind, they boggle my mind.. Seyferts Sextet should be on your list! another mesmerizing set of galaxies set around a pile of them, also known a Hickson 79- check out nearby ARP 172 aka IC 1178 the number your 20" will show in the EP will amaze. Of course we have to wait for this one to come around. But, UMa is climbing.....

From Vogel: Hickson 55 "22" f/4: one of the highlights of the Hickson catalog, though not easy. Starting from NGC 3735, the chain is quite obvious with indirect vision, though difficult to split into single galaxies. After extended observation three, sometimes four knots could be separated with averted vision, but could not be held steadily. Very difficult group that is nevertheless worth the effort of trying to get to your limits " This one showed really well for me and I have viewed it repeatedly, now a favorite goto object, conditions considered. @Ships and Stars get that 10BCO/VIP on this one IMHO.

Just a heads up... if you have serious trouble seeing the Veil with either set up your filter might not be up to par. I had an Orion Ultrablock that was a very poor sample, it turned me off UHC type filters for a couple of years. Bottom line- the filter needs to be good. How dark is your location? For perspective, the Veil is easily seen with no filter in truly dark skies as is Pickerings Wisp. JOC, your pursuit will be well worth the while on this object. How many stars can you see around the 4 stars of the Little Dipper bowl? Any?

I feel this is a group effort, many interesting things have been recommended to me by @estwing and @mapstar including the MUST see Hickson 55 in Draco. I absolutely love this one. It needs piles of mag and I use orthos and now Delos. I now use the SC to maximize observing time, star hopping works and I respect those that do. Reiner Vogels site has great charts/Info as does Alvin Huey on FaintFuzzies. I got the Pn nebs suggestions from one of these by Massimo Zecchin. Eagerly waiting reports! ps try the Jellyfish in Gemini tonight...