jetstream

I had Siebert make me a 50mm 1.25 EP, it is actually good but it didnt get along with the Quirk. It showed part of the Quarks internals along with Ha detail.

Im in the same boat.

Excellent report Magnus! I too need to have a clean mirror and find that it does make a real difference. Great observation of M51, this one can just keep the glow increasing with the arms buried in it. Breaking them out like you did is very rewarding. A 12" newt is perhaps the best all round size scope there is- nice choice. Its focal length vs image scale and brightness will punch way above its weight. What a great gift M13 is! The "Propeller" feature is simply amazing to me and many refer to it as the Mercedes symbol. M101 is tough... not to see but to get it to reveal its delicate off center arms. The dob mob years ago were pros at this one seeing HII regions in the arms. I find that much practise can be needed to get the most out of this one and usehighly value my 100 deg eyepieces for it. Maybe there really is something to Al Naglers "Majesty Factor"? One slip in the mag/FOV on M101 and the arms will be lost IMHO. Speaking of M33... I can see it naked eye- with difficulty. I have a hard time with the Bortle scale and it has a lot to do with its description of skies needed to see it... Even from very dark skies its difficult IMHO. Another unbelievably good series of galaxies. I'm a 'chain" counter- how many did you get? There are a couple of tough elusive galaxies floating around the neighborhood that are always worth trying to see in averted. Here, the Chain is always the launching point for "vacuuming up" galaxies. Great observing Magnus!! Your skies are superbly dark and many more fine sessions await you- there is so much to see up there. Your 12" will reveal the oddball ARPs and Hicksons. Eagerly waiting your report on Hickson 55 a super favourite, my 15" gets 4 of them and your 12" will show at least 3 but probably 4. Mind you there is a trick to seeing them...

Thanks, yes I went into the tub with the phone sitting on the ladder we use to get in. The advantage to this phone is that it seems to do a good job setting the ISO etc automatically and goes into night mode by itself. My old Canon needs manual setting for the ISO etc and I would have missed some of the bright bursts playing around with it. I'm very happy with the iPhone 11.

These types of eyepieces do make a real difference IMHO. My best planetary/lunar eyepieces best all the others in all of my scopes- from the SW120ED through the 24" f4.1/PCII. Yeah even the big one, after fiddling some astig out and with the 3.4HR gave a superb view of the moon at 845x. A neutral density filter is mandatory here. I would presume the difference between the TOE and HR to be very small and the difference between those two and others like XW and Delos to be easily noticeable. Forgot to say- my 90mm SV uses the 3.4mm HR very frequently, not even a challenge.

@Space Hopper @TakMan @Mr Magoo The DM6 arrived today and this mount is very well built, I must say that I am impressed to say the least. The mount looks great and the transaction very smooth. Tom Peters is a very good guy and everything from the saddle to the extension looks fantastic. I purchased the Starbeam adapter as well. Gerry

Excellent. I can tell by the look of M51 that you have vg skies, possibly better than the Bortle indicates- I dislike that scale myself. A quick NELM does very well, but takes some practise to get the faintest stars available. Great work sketching, but more importantly observing👍

Thanks Stephan, I marked this one for next time out as well, cant wait to get on these. Gerry

Excellent! Now I'm off to NGC 3395 next time out, hopefully tonight. I cant wait to be able to get the big scope out finally.

What a nice spot. Great image Magnus.

@Ratlet These are excellent sketches, great observing!! Out of curiosity how dark are your skies you think? A 10" dob can be one of the best scopes to have, nice choice. Gerry

@Sunshine Congrats! I should have bought one of these instead of the Quirk, - eagerly waiting reports!!!

Thanks Mark, I was so excited seeing all these galaxies and kept looking up and to the right of the bottom of the cluster! 😬😁 I wont forget this now lol The Needle galaxy is spectacular and simply amazing to me. I saw so many in Virgo I stopped counting at 27 and checking the Rigel at times had me all over the place. Its really something what a 10" can do, fast and easy to set up, collimate and get going. Glad I didnt sell it.

C'mon over! stopping in Quetico to rent a canoe and paddle a few miles out might reveal some of the best skies anywhere in the world and just got the top dark sky rating. Years ago outdoor people from around the world went here but sadly its not that busy now, not like before. I think that the true outdoors people are getting older and few and far between. Quetico is huge and is linked together with Voyageurs NP and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) for a massive chunk of protected land and lakes. My views last night were seen toward these skies, a few miles away. https://www.darksky.org/quetico-provincial-park-awarded-international-dark-sky-park-designation/

Your new scope can utilize these eyepieces frequently IMHO and I would not hesitate to use the TOE EPs from what I hear from respected friends. Im on the lookout for the 2mm and 1,6mm and might have to wait a long time unfortunately.

Great night tonight and after an early Easter feast I came home to a cooled VX10 sitting outside. Collimation was checked and was still excellent- 3rd time out with it with no change. Sky is very dark and transparent. I'm trying to get my galaxy eyes back and switched from the nebula observing so much practise is needed. All of tonights obs was point and shoot with the Rigel, no DSC. I use the 42mm LVW-shhh- as a finder eventhough the exit pupil is 8.75mm, but regulated by my eye. Markarians Chain! It felt so good to visit this friend out there and tonight brought 13 members into easy view. The Nikon 14 HW/EIC did a good job but was out "deeped" by the 12,5mm UWA Docter, the deepest widefield Ive seen yet. All told in Virgo I counted 27 galaxies before moving on. The Leo Triplet was stunning but the best view was of the Hamburger- the Docter brought out the dust lane very nicely! Got to love this one. 4 more in the interior of the Leo triangle and time to move on to UMA. So many.. got 8 inside the dipper , many more outside including in the area of the Owl neb, many just over from this one. M51 was excellent and a companion galaxy was seen not far off. M101 has many galaxy friends near it and spotted 4 of them, the spirals of M101 were reveal very nicely. M81 very lightly showed its 2 short spikes of arms buried in the glow using averted, the 15" brings them right out easily. M82 excellent and companions were seen in this area too. In reality I saw over 60 galaxies but whos really counting. I could go on the map and get the names but I dont care, I just like seeing them. I got all these from memory having viewed these areas many many times. BUT I should have done my homework because I coudnt find my favourite- the Needle galaxy 😔 Coma can give me fits and practise and map study is needed as a reminder here. Always had trouble remembering where things are in Coma. All in all a great day and an excellent obs session 👍 Gerry

And the 2.4mm, which might be more used than one might think, IMHO. Last night I could have used the 2mm on Mars.

The mirror must not be restrained or really strange things happen like intermittent astig

@mikeDnight I use Pickering scale and last night was a 9 with the disk just moving. I use it because its easy and not subject to interpretation really. https://www.damianpeach.com/pickering.htm

Yes, up near Vega is an "easy" section and by M31 too. Its a hobby within a hobby and Ive no reason as to why I can see this- but Ive chatted with a few others that do as well. When looking for it I very very slowly pan until something stops me... and then concentrate on that area looking to define an edge. They appear as a "liquid grey" shadow, very faint to my eyes and can texture the sky. Your "old" image really looks similar to what I see but fainter and grey.

I just had to look this up 😶 Well, I hope that whoever made these eyepieces for Vixen is still able to fire up production for some more. Last night the 3.4HR/2.4HR bested the Zeiss zoom/VIP noticeably on Mars under excellent seeing, which is no easy task.

Excellent images and believe it or not Ive seen some IFN here, looks more like the second image but dimmer. Thanks for bringing the IFN out so well Gorann! Gerry

A 10" f5 ish dob is a very capable scope and last night did very well. M101 offset spirals and HII, Leo Triplet bright and stunning and M81/M82 showcase bright. I like a 17mm ish EP on these. These days I'm liking bright objects as compared to mostly finding very faint things. M51 is tough- I saw the spirals last night and bridge but its still tough to bring the details out. Seeing 2 separate galaxies is easy but to bring out detail play with the mags. IMHO Great luck to you!

Excellent catch!

Its possible but I didnt see the associated haze or glare out there. The disk was sharp at 375x and I went up and down with mag trying things. I thought I saw something white in there and out of position for the cap, but who knows. I think it all boils down to me as an observer lol! I dont have filters, just a Neodymnium where ever that is.I must get the binoviewers out with the TSA, forgot last night in my flurry of scope set ups.The main thing is I had fun! ps seeing was vg and I opened up a star to a nearly perfect diffraction pattern.