jetstream

Morning Stu! Yes the exit pupil increase was responsible IMHO, but a minor influence might be the excellent TV plossl transmission. Mind you I'm biased- the TV 25mm Plossl first showed me the HH in the 10" years ago, after trying for a long time. These plossls have a special place in my heart lol the pair of 32's reside in the Binotron case and give wicked views of the moon in them. If I recall it shows M42 but to my eyes nothing spectacular or I would be using the Hb there all the time. Because you have repeatedly see the misting I suspect you have seen hints of the nebulosity in the Pleaides stars. The Merope itself shows fan like and as @Nyctimene describes. It is surrounded by the sea of bright stars in the area, which can give the eyes fits. I love orthos and good plossls and the low scatter they provide can be an asset. It is a myth that a widefield scope is needed in the area IMHO, as I view the Merope with the 15" extremely well. The Narrow TFOV the 15" f4.8 will give with a 25mm plossl can help out immensely, but try an EP like the 24 ES 68, 24 Pan etc. Play with the mags and TFOV a bit and I'll bet money it appears for you. And I dont gamble .... Try everything though, your great fracs, H130 and in particular your 16" dob.

👍 And I slept like a baby till 8am I'm getting soft in my old age lol 🤣 That tub puts a big relax into the whole body thats for sure lol.

What a different set of conditions tonight, 21.5 bouncing to 21.6 mag and above avg transparency. I grabbed the Astronomik Hb to see how it would show the California neb using the 24 ES 68- much better than the UHC, but it looked pretty dark . In with the 32mm TV plossl and the California lit right up! The thin end just above Menkib showed very well, the whole thing visible, a dramatic improvement over the 24mm and espc over last night under sub par conditions. The 32mm/Hb followed Barnards Loop top to bottom, again much better than the 24mm. The 18mm BCO excelled on M42, better than the 16T5 Nagler and also showed the Flame nicely. M81/M82 showed brightly in it as well, orthos can be hard to beat and the coatings on the BCO are top notch IMHO. The Televue Plossls are no slouch either. Before I forget- the Merope nebula was good in the 24mm ES 68 but very good in the 18mm BCO, this nebula can respond nicely to a bit higher mag at times.The whole of the Pleaides was superb in the 24mm. Pretty cold tonight, -24c so the evening was finished off in the hot tub looking up at the stars. Gerry

Great scope and location Magnus! Congrats again and eagerly waiting first light!

Exactly correct Stu, many have played with different sec supports and the curved ones smear the diffraction but thats it. Glad you brought this fact of life to our attention ie diffraction spikes and newts go together, thanks Stu, Gerry

Our Heritage 130 showed Mars as a blurry, seething mess dancing all over the place last night However I know this scope well and it provides sharp, crisp views of the planets and moon- strikingly so actually. What was happening was very poor seeing and when its very bad nothing is going to punch through it. @fullmoon I think one of the things degrading your view could have been poor seeing and possibly the scope wasnt temp equalized either. Throw a hint of miscollimation in there and all you would see is a blurry seething mess. I'm sure that your scope will show shading on Mars and some detail on Jupiter, seeing considered, cooling considered and collimation considered.👍 The stock 10mm SW I found to be lacking, a nice 10mm BCO/Baader Q barlow could help things out once the things mentioned above are taken care of. Gerry

California Nebula Today was crystal clear so I figured tonight would be too... well, it was good but not that good. The SQM-L showed 21.4 mag but the MW was weak and NELM was down so transparency was below avg. In a way this was a good thing because it shows what the H130 can do under less than great conditions. As I was sky cruising the other nights I wandered by Perseus and thought to myself that I must target the California nebula and report. 3 eyepieces were on deck, the 32mm TV plossl 24ES 68 and the 16T5 Nagler. The Nagler was used to warm up on M42 which showed nicely with the lower loop just visible- not stark like the other night but there. The Flame showed ok , not great. In goes the 24mm with the DGM NPB hanging off the end and the finders dot on Menkib for a try. Nudging up and over a bit a delicate shade edge appeared, very faint actually. I was able go go through it and catch the edge on the other side. I must say again it was very faint and no doubt having observed it many times with the preferred Hb under much better skies helped catch it. I figured I'd try something- open up the exit pupil to 6mm+ to see what happens using a favourite EP, the 32mm TV plossl.Doing so brightened the view and made catching the nebula easier. Over to Barnards Loop with the 32mm and I found it no problem so this strategy worked. Increasing the exit pupil can be especially important using an Hb filter, which does show the California much better. I always have a large exit pupil eyepiece ready to go when going for faint nebula ie the 42mm LVW in the 90mm Raptor. Always worth a try thats for sure. So the H130, under less than perfect conditions, using a cheap UHC type filter will show many faint objects ( espc larger nebs). Btw, I snuck the stock Super 25 in the focuser before packing up... and yes it showed the California too👍 Clear Skies, Gerry

Late to this but a huge congrats!! "They" say that this telescope has what is most likely the best optics out there...they being some frac people that have owned many of the best. Eagerly waiting reports! Gerry

Hi Don, I use the TV intravel adapter and leave it on the superb 17.3mm Delos, a top favourite of mine. I also use a Baader adapter #2408151 to leave on another favourite , the 12.5mm UWA . I had the good fortune to chat with Al Nagler a few years ago- what a great guy- and he gave me the heads up on how to use the PCII with most any eyepiece. I'm still amazed that the PCII can improve the views of some things such as nebula like the Veil and also planetary nebula. I'm off topic- of course lol but how do you find the 17.3mm Delos? I sure like mine, Gerry

👍 This is what I would use with the OP's scope, and it is what I use with the 90mm Raptor and H130.

ans wolves lol

Great report Paul! Yes accidents can happen , you are not alone 👍 Keep up the great observing. Gerry

I had a Celestron Luminos that would ghost Jupiter and cause strange glare at times, but I highly doubt the 6mm BCO would be the issue. I also had a very bad diagonal one time that caused massive scatter- rare but it happens. You could try going " straight through" if you have a means to reach focus.

You are doing very well, I'm just recently back here from a break induced by other interests and -42c weather ...etc. Years ago in my pursuit of nebula I found a sketcher that sees thing similar to me on some things. Here is Mr Perez's sketch showing the lower loop I (you) see.

The skies are nice here in NW Ontario, Canada. Near me the dark sky group just designated Quetico NP as a site, same goes for Voyageurs NP in MN, USA a few miles from me. Downside? I live rural, on a big lake and fish, boat and snowmobile. We just got back from a great sled ride today and tonight we'll be in my home built hot tub. I can drive to cities for a visit, but its sure great to come home here I'll tell you 👍

For sure, you also got something I mistook for it too! Your complete sketch shows it "below" M43. I can tell you what I'm not good at- following the different orientation types of scopes and sketches can give, I normally describe things as in a newt but some sketchers invert or whatever. You saw a pile of nebulosity in the area, great work.

I dont use the Bortle system and dislike it as to me it can be very misleading. My sky goes from about 21.5 to 21.9 depending on the snow and ice.I approach NELM 7 using averted vision and I still have good eyes at 60. I also use the appearance of the MW- if its shows bright with jagged structure then its going to be a great night, btw the SQM-L will show over .25 mag difference on and off the MW... or more Yes, you are seeing the Running Man nebulosity for sure!

You also managed a portion of the lower loop in m42 IMHO👍

The bottom of your sketch below the circle that says M42 04:36 with that small hint of glow is the Running Man.The top portion of your image near the "N" arrow is M43 Imo. Nice observing, you saw both the Running Man nebulosity and M43, Gerry

You can definitely see the Running Man nebulosity, not only this you can see the shape. The other night the H130 showed a glow of nebulosity surrounding it with hints of darker structure in it. In my 200mm and 250mm dobs it all grows with the lanes appearing and in my 15" the shape "is in your face". The shape -arms, leg etc are not difficult. All this assumes dark skies. Marvin I have no doubt you saw the glow of nebulosity of the Running Man 👍 Great observing, Gerry

Me too, but I do use them in my 15"- the best view of Jupiter ever was around 350x with the Binotrons, some views we just dont forget. The colours and detail were superb, eclipsing all other views in my varied scopes.

Just saw your scope in the other thread- nice scope! Really it depends how much you want to spend but a good barlow would be an asset like the Baader VIP. Also you can get eyepiece barrel extensions to increase the distance of the EP to barlow lens. Its too bad the Vixen HR are no more- they were made for your application. Keeping an eye out for these is also a great option in the used market. They are stunning.

Hi Iain! Yes that is the premium choice for sure.

The Vixen SLV's are vg- 2.5mm or 4mm FLO has them. A 10mm BCO/Baader Q Barlow would be a good combo - giving 4.4mm The BST 3.2mm might be good as well.

👍 You should see the difference between my 15" dob and the TSA120 😀