jetstream

49 minutes ago, Piero said:

Good report, Gerry

Sometimes it is nice to simply revisit old favourites. I'm sure whatever you use, you will have a great galaxy season ahead! 

Hope that the sky becomes clear here too.

Thanks Piero, its like visiting old friends in the sky which I seem to do more and more. A small portion of the sessions are dedicated to exploring, including this one and some surprises do pop up such as near the Monkey Head- I do believe I got the best view yet of the Sharpless group SH2-254-258. I had seen some of this previously but tonight it was "in my face" with the new TV filters. Not sure if they had anything to do with it but the views were VG.

I seem to be better at these diffuse objects over galaxies for some reason. The galaxy observing is coming along though and the Delos/PCII are working very well. This f4.8 scope likes a bit lower mag than the 10D/PCII gives on most all but the faintest of cores. A 12D would be VG and of course the Doc UWA is working well.

Yes, clear skies to you!

7 hours ago, Mr_42tr0nomy said:

That sounds like a great night out! I have to ask, What are you views in the 15" like compared to the ones in your 24.5"? Im curious about both planetary/lunar and deep sky. I bet Globular cluster look thee dimensional with that 24". I have a 14" And I love it.. I cant imagine a 24 inch dob! haha

 

Clear Skies

Thanks, it felt good to observe for sure.

First off the sky here goes from 21.4 mag to 21.8 mag depending on season and transparency, so it is dark. From these skies all scopes offer very high contrast, even the H130 mini dob.

The 24" gives great view of galaxies, PN's and the Veil etc as it has large image scale at a bright eye illumination at f4.1. Globs are excellent in it...

The 15" is a top lunar/planetray scope- it is an exceptional scope that goes well beyond 760x on the moon, very sharp. It beats the 24" that goes 500x-but- more fine detail is seen in the 24". The 24" has thermal issues for consistent high power planetary/lunar viewing.

Your 14" should give great views!

An unexpected clear night had me wheeling out the 15" f4.8 dob to try the encoders out on some galaxies. They worked perfectly and the extra FOV over the 24" is a pleasure to use, no ladder either.

Nothing extravagant observed- NGC 2403 was very large and bright, M108 was revealing some delicate structure and M51 had the bridge and bright spirals showing superbly. I had a whole list of galaxies in the Sky Commander and the 15" finds them very fast. The Rosette showed huge and bright and the Monkeyhead same thing- I must check the maps out as I caught some extra nebulosity near the latter.

M106 has a few nearby galaxies- NGC4248, very bright and just off this one I caught a faint, very close pair-NGC 4231 and NGC4232. The 10mm Delos offered the best view of these, better than the lower mag Docter and all viewing was done with the PCII.

What a great relief to be able to have fun and view with all thats going on everywhere and I'm lucky that if I have to stay home I can still go out on the property in this rural lake area.

I hope others will be able to view soon and have a night like I did tonight

All the best to everyone, Gerry

On 10/03/2020 at 20:28, Louis D said:

Generally, the one man assembling operation Tani is credited with being the source of circle-T eyepieces.  The housings and lenses came from a variety of sources.  Tani-san was similar to Vernonscope's Don Yeier.

While I have no poor Circle T's different lens sources could partly explain why some are absolutely great eyepieces-very high transmission and razor sharp. These eyepieces are such good value to buy, obviously used. I managed to pick a few up unused,NIB. My 4mm UO/Circle T hangs right in there, only bested by the likes of the Vixen HR's.

If my TSA 120 is any indication the TSA 102 should be excellent. The 120mm takes seemingly endless mag and razor sharp.

1 hour ago, Dave1 said:

Well I own and use volcano top circle T ( Towa ) Orthoscopic and Kellner eyepieces. You can see in my signature what eyepieces I own. Very good eyepieces especially for planetary, as long as you don't mind the relatively short eye relief. They can be had relatively cheaply secondhand.

I own and use these as well, what great eyepieces- great for faint galaxies too- my 9mm is exceptional is is my 5mm, better than the 5mm KK Fuji ortho in the case.

2 hours ago, Piero said:

=> That's a massive improvement.. 

The plot to the right is what a lot Newtonian owners prefer to ignore. As you can see, there isn't really a "coma-free region" without a coma corrector

Excellent research Piero!

I havn't seen this before and  because my 15" gives such sharp on axis views without the PCII I am excited to observe the moon and planets under excellent seeing using it!

This might also explain why the DSO contrast is improved noticeably-thoughts?

3 minutes ago, Piero said:

I don't know and won't be able to test this as I sold my 20mm Lunt HDC as 100 deg is too much for my likes and I tend to jump from 30mm to 12.5mm.

The APM UFF 30mm is quite close to the Docter if I remember correctly, but I've never measured the distance. I'd be interested in knowing the TV paracorr2 setting for the 12.5mm Docter UWA too.

Next time the clouds disappear I'll check- we had 7" of snow the other day.

59 minutes ago, Piero said:

May I ask you what is the TV Paracorr 2 setting for the 30mm APM UFF, please?

Where did the 30mm UFF focus in comparison to the 20mm Lunt HDC?

12 hours ago, Piero said:

Which atlas have you ordered if you don't mind me to ask? With a 24" under dark skies as yours, I suspect that even Uranometria is "limited". Probably, the best guides to use are those in Alvin's faintfuzzies.com for 20"-30" dobsonians.

 

None ordered yet and yes the 24" challenges Uranometria and I do use Alvins excellent resources, gotta love those Hicksons and Arps.

With regards to the PCII and Delos sharpness- I think but don't know that the PCII barlow (telecentric?) has a positive effect on the Delos and if so the PCII "adds" sharpness and reduces coma.

With respect to "adding" sharpness, most likely the wrong term but my 16mm T5 Nagler also benefits from barlowing- with the VIP. The eyepiece is sharper with the VIP and was tested with the TSA120 as well as the newts. I have other eyepieces that benefit in this way too.

Does the PCII increase the coma free area?

Man, I shoved your thread sideways Piero, again sorry.

Just now, Piero said:

Yes the paracorr2 makes the whole FOV diffraction limited. It also decreases the focuser axial alignment tolerance by about 10 times. Glad to hear that it is working with the Zeiss zoom and the docter.

Many thanks again for the adapter advice Piero, the Baader Pushfix is permanently mounted to the Docter and the TV infocus adapter to the 17.3 Delos.  The Paracorr is also increasing DSO contrast but I need more time to be sure whats happening. As you say it makes the newts much more forgiving.

Sorry to sidetrack your thread Piero, I am ordering another atlas when I get a chance, Uranometria is good but a bit boggling in its format.

One more thing- Mr Nagler said his eyepieces were "sharp to the edge"...when using the Paracorr in newts. I'm puzzled how there are reports sharp to the edge without one in fast(ish) newts.

How do you star hop with the newt Piero? you have a finderscope or use a widefield-30mm UFF?

I just might try one Stu- I never realized how much more observing time one gets with the DSC and getting more seat time on objects is upping my abilities a squeak. I do like planning an object list for a session in a sequence. Side note: the new TV filters are VG Stu.

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

When you say universal, what do you mean?

I think but don't know that any encoder can be used with any DSC, I think mine are 10,000 step. They use a phone cord plug that is connected to a larger phone type connector, Randy at Astrosystems makes the cables- what does Nexus use?

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Glad you've got encoders now Gerry, I think you will really enjoy that. I had great fun with my 16" Sumerian with encoders and a Nexus unit connecting to Skysafari. The AZ100 works in exactly the same way and is really easy to use. I don't even use my finder once aligned, there is no need; centre the target on screen and there it is in the eyepiece.

Have you played around with the Ha Milkyway setting? With your scopes, skies and eyes it might be useful.

Thanks Stu, I'm trying to get up to speed on all this "new" stuff, new to me anyway. I'm going back to Nexus website to learn more about it- from what I understand these encoders might be universal so I'll check it out. I'm glad I took the time to learn the constellations (still learning) which does help with things and I find the DSC are helping me learn where many objects are faster.

2 hours ago, Piero said:

I love that eyepiece, but I suspect that the fact that it is not fully parfocal across the zoom range, could affect the setting of the paracorr2.

Also, when you said that the paracorr2 sharpened the views of your Delos eyepieces, do you mean on axis?

Yes the Zeiss zoom is top tier. Interestingly enough it does not require re focusing across it range with the paracorr implying it is stable enough for use with it. It is not off much, the lowest setting "A" could use an "A-" lol! The Zeiss maintained on axis sharpness and gain off axis sharpness to equal it- except right at the edge but is visually difficult to see unless using a star.

The Delos appears to sharpen to the Zeiss zoom level with the Paracorr II and is maintained right to the edge. I would say that they are now equal to eachother but one session is not good enough to be certain. I need one of our great nights of seeing that supports the 2.4mm HR to be sure.

A conversation with Al Nagler was enlightening to say the least as far as his eyepieces and PCII interact. The TV's will be diffraction limited across the field down to f 3.5 (IIRC) and better as f ratio goes up using the PCII.

To anyone else reading- the Delos is a very sharp eyepiece and is only slightly bested by a couple of eyepieces IMHO. Spltting hairs really but the Delos transmission is only equaled in the widefields by the Docter 12.5mm UWA IMHO. The 17.3 Delos offered less scatter last night compared to the 17E (21E too).

These are just my opinions.

On 04/03/2020 at 01:31, Piero said:

Last week, when the moon was not out, I was star hopping the Plaskett's star in a field down to 14 mag. Not that I needed to go so deep, but I wanted to make sure I was identifying it. I found sky safari quite accurate, particularly after aligning it to the telescope axis. I have the Pro version, but the Plus version would probably be fine too. If one needs deeper DSO, she or he can always download extra data. The current database is already huge though, probably on par with sky commander.

You are correct though, very low temperature can affect the performance of a tablet battery and possibly screen. So, under your extreme conditions, your solution might be the only one.

Regarding the "old school", nothing wrong with that. I like to get the best of both school. Consider Burnham's celestial handbook or Sidgwick's books.. certainly old school, but, oh man, how much inspiration and thought they offer!

So your Sky Safari is not hooked up to the dob? your using it as a visual aid to star hop etc? just looked it up- the parent company is va good one- I've run starry Night in the past. Tried the 15" with newly installed encoders- works great- faulksy has run Nexus which I hear is VG too.

On a side note- the Zeiss zoom could not quuite focus down using the ParacorrII last night (after set up with 21E) -but- coma was only visible right at the field stop, maybe 5% and the views were extremely sharp across the field, not just on axis. The Paracorr II gave sharpness increases to the Delos and might with others.

The Paracorr II works well for me.

10 hours ago, Piero said:

Yes, encoders can be very valuable. Sky Safari can go quite close though, with the main difference that it lets you star hop.  

What is the accuracy of Sky Safari Piero? I use the Sky Commander for 2 things -finding the object and also re finding the object at very high powers and narrow FOV- I can "lose" a galaxy for instance, scope bump or whatever and then use the arrows to find again down to .13 deg TFOV. Sky Commander is old school but then again so am I lol!- and it works in -35C now that I figured it out.

I have the pocket atlas and Uranometria as well. These days I'm lazy using the Sky Commander- I look up objects in Stellarium or the paper atlases and then enter the objects in the SC while in the house. Outside, the favorites menu stores these and are accessed to observe, it actually works really well and fast. Doing this also pre plans the observing session maximizing time.

To each their own but the DSC has increased time spent observing instead of searching. I extensively use free charts/info provided by Vogel, Alvin Huey, Gottlieb and others and have printed hundreds of pages from these sources. Arps, Hickson, Abell, Sharpless etc, works for me.

On 25/02/2020 at 14:03, mdstuart said:

So how many galaxies can you see visually?

I hope to give this a try next time the moon is gone, I believe you can see galaxies better than myself and hopefully practise helps.  Mag 13 ish NGC 3691 in Leo was relatively easy in the 15"/ 10mm Delos the other night. Conditions were excellent however, I had 6.4 mag 20 UMi in direct NELM and 17 UMi flick in and out a few times.

M51 was stunning in the 15" to say the least. Having some ice crystal issues on my secondary, which blows light all over the place so a heater will be installed and with increased heat from the maker. Once resolved in both dobs I'll give a serious try on some small and faint galaxies. The snow is impacting galaxy viewing at the moment-you can literally see everything once dark adapted, from the starlight.

The Sky Commander encoders are being installed today on the 15" which will help me on these faint and small objects.

Excellent report Mark and inspirational- glad the 10 BCO is working out, they really do work IMHO.

18 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

Argh! You're supposed to say nothing beats the Astronomiks!

lol!

I just speak (my version of) the truth

Actually the newer Astronomiks are tighter than my old version, so alls well. If purchasing new filters I would choose TeleVue or Astronomik... really pleased Tele Vue has revised their line up.

BTW, if I had a newer Astronomik I would not, out of necessity, buy the TV- they are most likely the same or very close IMHO.

On 18/02/2019 at 18:06, John said:

I believe Astronomik are now making Tele Vue's new range of narrowband and line filters, which are also starting to get some great feedback. Much better than the previous versions of the Tele Vue Bandmate O-III and UHC I understand.

 

I received the Tele Vue OIII and "UHC" last week and have compared the OIII to an older Astronomic OIII and an excellent copy of the Lumicon OIII.

The new TeleVue OIII equaled or beat my  excellent Lumicon OIII, with more structure shown in M1 for example. IC 443, the Jellyfish showed more contrasted in the TV as well, with the Eskimo neb equal in both. I believe transmission is higher with the Televue.

The nod goes to the TV with the OIII. It is excellent.

My very tight and superb Lumicon UHC appears tighter than the TV UHC but more testing is needed. Oddly the TV shows a lighter background but very similar nebula contrast. IC 443 had the Lumicon a tiny squeak ahead on contrast but the TV offered a different and unique view with VG contrast.

Both TV's have really high transmission which is altering my oh so familiar view of many objects- and I'm liking it. Can't wait for the Veil to come back round...

note: the TV UHC showed some very faint sky texture in places around the Jellyfish neb, the Lumicon UHC did not... rumor has it there is much more nebulosity around the main visible streak....

10 hours ago, mdstuart said:

I am now wondering about getting another 7mm eyepiece which gives better contrast than the 7mm WO!

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.

9 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

I dont like to be wasting precious clear-sky time with star collimation,

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.

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.

9 hours ago, Prador said:

I'd probably happily sacrifice a bit of FOV if the eyepiece is sharper.

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.