jetstream

We have a very good DGM NPB, in the Heritage 130 the Flaming Star is easily visible among many many others.

not much... lol! The galaxy is there and I thought I saw a flick of light but I can't confrim as it was just once in a session. Maybe another 3 years of trying will have a confirmation. Experienced DSO observers say I might get 2 of the lensed quasar and possibly 3. I have learned a lot about whats needed though and have been nailing down my mag. I can only do this for a half hour or so before my eyes go. I just may have to throw the towel in and get the lensed object in UMa .Q0957+561, the Twin Quasar. I love Quasars they just don't love me lol!

All I know is that I could see more of this in my 24" QSO J2240+0321

@Whistlin Bob Excellent report! Congrats for seeing Stephans Quintet! It sure does like a bit of mag and a 10mm-12mm in your scope just might show you 2 or three ghostly lobes.

I need to clarify- I mean that in light skies the OIII will "give" better contrast. An OIII in dark skies is superb.

The reason I ask is that some older ones were a bit wider than the newest ones and you can check with Gerd using the serial number- he is vg to deal with.

How old is the OIII?

In the end you will get both the OIII and UHC type and your on the right track with the new TV filters IMHO. I had mine tested before they were sent to me and they tested well indeed. The lighter the skies the more the OIII comes in IMHO. In dark skies I flick back and forth with my filter slide to see whats responding to what.

If I was in the UK and the new Televue OIII was too expensive I would not hesitate to buy a new version of Astronomiks OIII- they are tighter than the older ones. I must say that my older Astronomik OIII is still vg. For interest my older (excellent) Lumicons show more focus difference - internal diffraction (refraction?)- than my new Televue filters. The new TV's focus points are nearly identical and I would expect this from the new Astronomiks.

Feel free to discuss anything in my threads as I just like astro talk in general. It doesn't "freak" me out when a thread goes wandering around and usually interesting information surfaces out of them. I hope you can get great skies for your trip Robert!

Btw, Vogel has interesting info on vision "All cats are gray in the dark An astronomical view on the physiology of vision" http://www.reinervogel.net/index_e.html

Excellent. The reason for my interest is I think you are seeing a feature called the Pleiades Bubble as coined by Bartels. Seeing nebulosity like this with an SCT at 3mm exit pupil and filters is a vg achievement. In my own pursuit of this beautiful object I have gone widefield and actually the Heritage 130 with a 24mm ES 68 is a superb instrument to see more of this feature. If you can get to yet darker skies and with a widefield newt (or proven frac) there is more to see. Keep on obsevring this target...theres more.

@Fraunhoffer- very very interesting sketch of the Pleiades. Have you tried no filter? out of curiousity how dark were the skies there? Nice work, Gerry

The 16T5 has nothing over the ES 82 18mm except lighter weight. Either eyepiece is very good . ES goes on sale once in a while.

Not at all Robert, an 8" scope is capable of so much, but like I mentioned nothing beats good skies. My VX10 gave me a view from town of Mars years ago that is still burned in my brain. The 24" gave a view of Stephans Quintet in the past- same thing. I keep comparing that view to subsequent views (like last night) hoping for another chance at the grail lol! I use an 8 foot step ladder for this scope but it all works out. We all have goals, some realistic and some at the far end- I see Pisces from up on my hill...a stark reminder that just over a bit resides Einsteins Cross- is it year 2 or 3 that I've been hammering at this one? Ah well it will be there a long time. I always finish observing on a good note, saving a favorite object that I'll be able to see easily for the conditions. Thanks Btw Robert!

Thanks John, it was nice to get the big scope out after a long hiatus. I made a small concrete pad for the scopes and the Sky Commander loves it ( no scope shifting). Yes I usually have a bunch of different targets on the list just in case but I do remember the days when I flailed away at targets not suited to the conditions lol! Oddly enough I really like the brighter objects in the 2 footer, man some of the objects are photo like. Those little fork splits in the Broom make me smile. I truly wish some one would make an Ethos quality 25mm eye piece! I must add- there is zero doubt that the Paracorr II "adds" contrast, I did many comparisons last night. Test were on the Veil and Little Veil primarily. The Little Veils bright Wisp was very easy, no skills required last night, but the poor trans did make the other section near it almost invisible.

If you put 58 Cyg and 62 Cyg on the edge of your telrad outer cirlce you will find it, its just off the NAN- not too hard to find and use an OIII first to find it IMHO.

Thanks Baz, I had a list of a few good bright and coloured Pn somewhere but the Magic Carpet is always favorite! For some reason the 24" has me going for bright objects eventhough its vg on faint ones. Yes give the Magic Carpet a go!

Thanks David! I wish I had the 120 on the truss poles! Mars was taunting me and the large aperture did show features like the ice cap and albedo-but- the 120 would have punched through this...for sure.

Atfer a few great nights of transparency the far off fires have reduced it a bit. The Milky Way showed light structure and the spur around Cygnus was weak. It did not stretch from horizon to horizon. The 24" excels on DSO. The first target was Veil- stunning, just stunning. The 20 APM/Lumicon OIII is a great combo and a newly noticed feature in that offset bubble in Wisp was seen- a very nice almost vertical streak on the "right" side of it- why didn't I notice it before? Anyway- the Witches Broom tips had the "DEVIL FORKS" firing off the end of 2 of the split tips! this feature is amazing in my eyes and the level of detail this scope shows in this object is staggering. Up for a few galaxies, with reservations. NGC 7331 showed OK as a longish streak with a core but over to Stephans Quintet highlighted my less than good transparency- they were OK, direct vision and all but weak, weak enough where I didn't pursue my galaxy list. So, plan B... planetary nebula. The 2 highlights were NGC 7027, the Magic Carpet and NGC 6543, the Catseye. I could only go 250x because of seeing and possibly remnant thermals (mirror) but the brightly coloured Pn were very nice to revisit. The Magic Carpet showed its lobe in the 10BCO and the Catseye has 2 shells just starting. The unfiltered colour in these 2 are super! The summarize- no matter what scope, how big the scope, how good the glass if conditions are not top notch views will suffer. I picked bright targets because of sub par transparency and was rewarded, If I had stuck with galaxies it would have been a disappointing night. But it was not- it was a great night out with a nice telescope!

Every little bit past this really matters IMHO, but at the 21.5 level and up transparency takes over. I'll take a truly transparent 21.5 sky anyday over a less transparent 21.8... Right now my skies can be the best for here- no snow and very good transparency at times. Thing is snow and all in a high pressure -30c after a snowstorm is hard to beat. Just go by the Milky Way- transparent dark skies give it a jagged look. In truly good conditions the look of the Milky Way makes us ignore our telescopes...

Rain washed skies really help or over here snow, it takes dust etc out of the atmosphere for a bit. Looking clear tonight so Cepheus it is lol!

Ah yes an ortho and great glass combined to get a superb view of Mars- VG obs David!

Excellent observing and report Neil! Great catch on the Tulip. I think I'll revisit the Wizard and go for SH2-132, the Lion- you up for a visit to Cepheus? My little 200mm dobs works pretty good up there, that is when I can find Cepheus lol!

I have a OOUK 200mm f3.8 dob and yes the skies here can be good- NW Ont.