SuburbanMak

No gentleman’s study should be without one…

Is brass ‘frac a 3 inch Clarkson? Very interested in the mount, mine currently resides on modern rings.

Thursday January 13th was one of the those rare days in Winchester where an azure blue sky persists to the horizon. As dusk fell the moon was tantalisingly crisp naked eye but I hadn't got my hopes up as thick fog was forecast from 7pm with a Met Office weather warning. After supper Kathy (spouse) suggested I go out as she 'd noticed the sky was still crystal clear (very thoughtful & she has a good book on the go obviously...) so I put the Mak out to cool. By the time I started at around 9pm, seeing looked very steady in all but the last 10 degrees or so above the rooftops to the S & SE. It was around freezing and dropping fast and it got better all the time. Transparency was initially good and only started to worsen after midnight as the threatened fog began to build, thankfully five hours late. After some detailed Messier hunting in the last couple of sessions I was happy to align the GoTo (Procyon & Sirius, the latter in that low zone and flashing away like a Christmas tree, back there later...) & linked the SynScan app to SkySafari on my phone to work through the Orion area stars in the app's "Best Doubles" list for a lazier un-prepped tour. Reading on SGL made me keen to visit some of the Orion doubles I'd either missed or only picked out the obvious in last winter. Rigel, Beta Or (Mag 0.1 & 6.7, Sep 9", PA 203°) - always start here to benchmark seeing and tonight despite being still quite low down the pale white dot of the secondary popped out immediately, going to be a good night! Alnitak, Zeta Or (Mag 2 & 3.7, Sep 2.2", PA 167°) - the Eastern most belt star, have never actually tried to split this one as a double star before and was a main target having read about it on SGL. Was showing elongation at 100x & a clean split close white pair at 224x. Lovely view! Mintaka, Delta Or (Mag 2.3 & 6.8, Sep 52.5", PA 0° - the Western most belt star, easy split at 100x, secondary is faint but the wide separation makes it easy - White & Blue white. Saiph al Jabbar, Eta Or, (Mag 3.3, 4.7, Sep 1.7", PA 77° - love the arabic star names, this one means "sword of the giant" apparently although its not now considered part of Orion's sword being further West, a quarter of the way between belt-star Mintaka & Rigel. This yielded a clean split at 224x with a nice black separation between, slightly yellow white compared to the hot blues so far & lovely overlapping diffraction rings on both. Spent a good while on this view and will be back. Na'ir al Saif - Iota Or (Mag 2.9 & 7, Sep 10.8", PA 138) - "The Jewel in the Sword". Having enjoyed some spectacular view of M42 under dark skies earlier in the month I was able to pass over the moon-washed nebula where I often get sidetracked and downward to focus on the job in hand. White primary and pale blueish secondary looked great at both 100x & 224x. Popped the 32mm in to enjoy a lovely field with Struve 747 & 745 to the SW, three doubles for the price of one and a stunning view. There's another Struve star, 754 off to the SE but I didn't register this. Read later that Iota has a C star too which I wasn't looking for - Mag 9.7 at 49" separation, as if I needed a reason to go back. Sigma Or - (Mag 4.2, 6.6, 6.6 & 9 Sep AB-C 11", AB -D 12", AB-E 42"). Below and West of Alnitak, I've looked at this almost every time I observe Orion and only noted it as a triple, reading on SGL there's a faint C I was keen to tease it out, and sure enough a pale dot emerged at 224x just outside the first diffraction ring of the AB star (B being wayyy beyond my 121mm of effective aperture at 0.25" distant from A). An amazing system this - (always like to imagine what the sky would be like from a planet orbiting one of those stars) creating a dog-leg line starting with C then the bright AB and on to D and E. The Trapezium - Theta Or. Didn't spend too long in the heart of the Orion Nebula as I look at this so often & was enjoying my voyage of discovery. Checked in to verify seeing and was getting five stars reliably at 100x and the sixth winking slowly in and out of direct vision at 224x. Meissa - Lambda Or (Mag 3.4 & 5.5, Sep 4.2", PA 44°) "The Head of Orion" forming the tip of a broad triangle between Betelgeuse and Belatrix. Nice bright pair to my eye yellowish, close but not difficult, lovely rings at 224x - again have looked at this rich cluster, Collinder 69, many times at low power & with binoculars but never put the power on it to split. I subsequently read that its a quintuple system with other elements down around 9th / 10th magnitude, so yet another where there's more to come back and see. Beta Mononceros - (Mag 4.6, 5 & 5.4, Sep AB - 7.25" AC 2.8", PA 132° & 109°). Hopped South West from Orion to neighbouring Monoceros for the stunning triple. Went up to 250x to maximise the separation and enjoyed the view of 3 fairly even in brightness white discs with steady rings. 32 Eridani - (Mag4.8 & 5.9, Sep 7", PA 347°) Off to the West of Orion in an area I don't often look at is 32 Eridani. After all those shades of blue & white in Orion this is a stunning colour contrast of golden yellow and sea green, a real gem and one I'll often visit. Tried for 55 Eridani but behind a tree! Keid, Omicron/40 Eri - (Mag 4.51 & 9.7, Sep 82.4, PA 102°). Swept quite quickly over this one, a dim wide spaced secondary. Apparently in Star Trek, Vulcan orbits 40 Eri & there are further dim components that should be in reach of the Mak so maybe I have a reason to go back and spend more time here sometime in search of Spock. By this time I was getting cold. After a spell inside to de-ice my fingers and toes I came back out, now a heavy frost and still rock-steady seeing, spent some time on the moon (Gruithissen Domes & Rilles in Gassendi courtesy of tips from @Nik271) then the seeing lured me back to the doubles for a tour of some favourites & nemeses... 55 Eridani - (Mag 6.7 & 6.8, Sep 9"). Out from the trees now & a relatively easy split of an even pair, doesn't stand out so much in the memory. Castor - Alpha Gem (Mag 1.93, 3 & 9.3, Sep AB 5.4", AC 71", PA 62° & 164°). The first double I split with the Mak, Castor was blazing away, I'd read on here about the dim C star and was delighted to pick it up glimmering away to the South at 100x. Sirius - Alpha Ca Ma. (Mag -ve 1.46, 8.4 , Sep 11" PA 70°) by now high in the sky & steady I glanced at Sirius. Have spent many hours on this one and after a quick look in case the Pup was immediately & dramatically more obvious (it wasn't) The A star was so bright with a large apparent disc and bright rings, but steadier than I've seen. I have noticed that when I get a hint of the pup star its often in the first few seconds when I put my eye to the eyepiece - wonder if this is something to do with receptors in the eye - tonight though the longer I looked, the less I saw so I moved on. Theta Aurigae - (Mag 2.6, 7.2, 10.6 & 10.1, Sep AB: AB: 4.0” AC: 55.2” AD: 135.3”. PA AB: 304°, AC: 300°, AD: 351°. Having seen the B star once in my f15 80mm Towa 339, then quite easliy, I've found this one a bit of a nemesis since. The faint C & D stars can be found easily but for me with small apertures, B has needed the best nights. Tonight it sat with very obvious separation in the Mak at 224x , a white dot on the first diffraction ring. Satisfying & a good test of seeing. Achird - Eta Cass (Mag 3.5, 7.4, Sep 13.3", PA 322°). Returning to a favourite, a lovely White/Orange pair. There are apparently more faint companions to tease out so will be back for a closer search. Iota Cass - (Mag 4.6, 6.9 9.0, Sep AB: 2.6″, AC: 7.1″ PA AB: 229°, AC: 116°). Often check out this lovely triple after recommendation from @John a few months back, super view tonight rock steady off-set L shape. I read there's a faint D star a little way off so will be back soon to track that down. Tegmine - Zeta Cancri (Mag 5.6, 6 & 6.3, Sep 1.1" & 6.3", PA 80° & 70°). It was gone midnight now and signs of the forecast fog were building, halo round the moon but seeing still close to perfect. Cancer had risen to the ESE and I was able to pick Tegmine out of the mist in the finder. At 224x I got the best view of this I've had - it sits right on the optical limits for the Mak 127 at 1.1." separation for the close pair and they appeared as a steady figure of eight with a clean black line between, the C star still close in at 6.3" making a spectacular trio with nice rings. I've only fully split this once before and normally see it as a "notched" pair, one night with my son (19) he could see the separation where I only had it as notched, tonight though was definitive. Elated with both telescope performing at diffraction limits, a good night for the observer and with freezing fog finally building, I looked at one final star before a brew & bed... Algieba - Gamma Leonis (Mag 2.2, 3.5. Sep 4.4", PA 127°). Along with Castor a favourite from my first tries at double stars, Algieba's golden orbs shining through a circular halo of mist looked like an owl's eyes peering back at me. Lovely way to end a great session. A note on equipment: I'd taken out my set of Baader Classic Orthoscopics -18mm, 10mm & 6mm, a Televue 15mm Plossl plus the Badder 2.25 Barlow that is built for the Hyperion Zoom. I found myself gravitating to the TV 15mm to start giving 100x & barlowing it down to 6.67mm to give 224x for the closer pairs, occasionally dropping in the BCO 6mm to give 250x to confirm the closest splits. The TV+ Barlow combination was working superbly - nice and bright and better ergononmics than the BCOs in the Mak. I wear contacts so am ok with close eye relief but the TV + Barlow combo was more comfortable from both this perspective and the longer tube made viewing easier on the Mak with less headbanging against the finderscope & Telrad and consequent time spent waiting for vibration to settle. A session to remember.

Thanks John - if only seeing were like Thursday every night!

Mak 127 hunting moonlit Orion doubles on Thursday - was a a superb session.

All of the above Beta Monocerotis, below & off to the East of Orion’s Belt is a cracking triple. Alnitak & Mintaka - both the ends of Orion’s Belt are doubles offering different levels of challenge. Just below the Orion Nebula is Iota Orionis , a beautiful pair and this whole cluster makes a stunning field. One I looked at for the first time last night was 32 Eridani, low-ish in the sparser area to the W of Orion. Lovely Gold vs Green jewel. Have fun!

Packed up now as the fog rolled in - 5 hours late thank goodness as that was a truly memorable session. Thanks @Nik271 for the tips on the G-domes & rilles in Gassendi - the moon was as several have said mesmerising in its detail but I often find there’s so much to see so it’s great to get tips on what’s showing well tonight. Couldn’t resist going back to the doubles and among many memorable views I got the best split of Tegmine I’ve had - rock steady trio with a defined black line between the close pair. This is right on theoretical limit of the Mak 127’s (121 in reality) performance at around 1” separation. Best view with a 15mm TV Plossl Barlowed to 6.67mm giving 224x . Chuffed! Finished on one my all time fave’s Algeiba, looking in the gathering mist halo for all the world like a pair of golden owl’s eyes peering back at me. Time to thaw out - TGIF.

Stunning seeing down in Winchester & no sign of the forecast fog - a big haul of doubles in Orion & region with the highlights so far Eta Orionis at 1.7”, Theta Aurigae giving up its secrets and 32 Eridani a golden & green jewel. De-icing (mainly me) and heading out to spend some time looking at the moon’s amazing detail under silly magnification.

Hmmm - tough one, but probably the Telrad. It has concentric circles of 4 degrees, 2 degrees and 0.5 degree diameter, so you can use it to measure star-hops to find things. If you look online you'l find loads of free charts with Telrad circles that are amazingly useful for finding your way around. (Besides which it always makes me feel a bit like a Spitfire pilot...)

The supplied SW 90 degree diagonal is actually pretty decent. I did upgrade eventually but certainly wasn’t the first. Aside from the dew shield, my next most important priority was to make stuff easier to find - the Maks are quite narrow field. I went for both a 9x50 Right Angled Correct Image (RACI) finderscope and a Telrad (like an illuminated gunsight with circles). The 102 has a bit smaller tube to stick the sight on - there’s another well loved version called the Rigel which has a smaller footprint. These made a huge difference to amount of time spent observing vs. searching. The killer eyepieces for me were an 8-24mm zoom, I bought a Baader Hyperion IV which is great but there’s others at or around that focal length that push the budget less (folk on here speak well of the Hyperflex zoom). The beauty of a zoom is it gives lots of magnification options & reduces finger numbing faff on cold night! Next up would be something that gives you the max possible field of view - a simple 32mm Plossl will do that job or if you can stretch a bit & want slightly higher magnification for the same field I went with a Baader Hyperion 24mm 68 degree. There are many more experienced that I’m sure will comment but personally these were the things that enhanced my enjoyment & ease of use the most per £

If you have the Skywatcher Mak then the supplied 25mm is nice, crisp & bright the 10mm much less so. Will do ok on the moon, which is looking nice tonight!

The Prinz 330 is now permanently set up & back on solar duty having had a nocturnal break to test on doubles and lunar. Its a lovely little scope for these tasks and on an AZGTi and BB 312 able to deliver magnification well over its theoretical usable limit - had it up to 161x with a Barlowed 10mm BCO for doubles and it did a great job. VIews of Polaris, Rigel, Sigma Orionis, Almach giving tight ball-like stars with rich colour contrast on a black background. Since acquiring a Towa 339 80mm f15 however which is an absolute doubles machine, the Prinz had been temporarily unemployed, languishing in its box. Happy to have it re-united with its original mount and ready for an easy one-hand carry for WL quick peeks, am even using the original .965 prism which today. Was giving super crisp views of a very active sun and a nice full disc taking up about 3/4 of the field with a TV 15mm Plossl.

Thanks for the heads up - this prompted me to take a break between calls and nip outside with a Prinz 330 60mm f11.8 in WL mode. Lovely detailed view (at 47x with a TV 15mm Plossl + Baader Solar Continuum filter) & the most active I've seen the sun yet (not been doing this long). 5 active groups strung out in a zigzag right across the Southern hemisphere and a diamond shaped group in the NW quadrant. A chain of smaller spots connecting the first two southern groups and lots of texture and plage (new word for me today, thank you @Mark at Beaufort) around the spots.

Enjoyed reading this Dave, especially to hear that you are well & back out there! Looking forward to working through targets from my new Cambridge Double Star Anthology around Orion this week, so you are providing the inspiration on a couple of levels...

Hi & welcome to SGL! I'm a regular Mak 127 user, I'm sure more experienced heads will comment but my I've been out with the Mak across the last year on all sorts of nights. A bit of dew on the scope won't hurt as long as you allow it to dry before putting it away. It will rapidly shorten your viewing sessions though! For that reason, an AstroZap dew shield was pretty much the first accessory I bought and its been amazing, certainly haven't needed to go in for dew heaters or anything so far. There's no reason not to get out there without one though, not all nights are dewy and worst case you realise after half an hour that its all gone misty! The one thing I would say is if you do dew up, resist the temptation to wipe the collector lens which might damage some of the coatings You can make a dew shield incredibly easily - if you have a foam camping roll mat, get the scissors out and cut a strip that will stick out about 20cm or more beyond the lens. Stick it on with gaffer tape, it won't look pretty but it will work (one night I forgot my dewshield so wrapped the foam padding I use to cushion the OTA in my backpack and it worked fine). The Mak is a brilliant tool which punches well above its weight in optical terms and is robust and portable - get out there as often as possible Clear skies!

Drooling slightly whilst reading this - the 76 DCU is my ultimate “one day” upgrade solution for widefield & grab & go. Congratulations on your first lights…

Mak 127 & ST80 deployed on the South Downs this week…

I picked the Owl up on the basis of its distinctive shape - I use a Baader Neodymium filter pretty much all the time & often forget to switch in my OIII or UHC. Will have to give them arty, but then I’ll be back there hunting M108 down anyway… Generally I find the OIII & UHC dim the view to an extent that I prefer without. Have enjoyed them on the Lagoon, Swan & Triffid nebs in the summer though & last night on M42. They pull out different features so your brain builds up a layered view - like a bio-astrophoto!

Not that easy - I tracked down the Owl a few nights ago but failed to find the galaxy , have a few to locate in UM which will keep me busy for the next few weeks

Great report & nice work on the Owl & M108!

Headed out to the South Downs tonight. Seeing pretty good but a biting, steady wind didn’t support the list I had in mind. Hunted long and in vain for M76. If I found that I’d planned to look for M77 & M74 but transparency was quite nasty lower down to SW so abandoned that idea. Might have seen M79, just, need to check the charts. Nice look at M41. Sirius was stable and got fleeting hints of the Pup between gusts. Orion neb spectacular as always, played with OIII & UHC filters but concluded I prefer the view with the lighter Neodymium filter. Wind dropped a bit after midnight but as it did so mist started to roll in from the Solent. Packed up with numb fingers and rounded off with a 10x50 cluster tour lying back on the car bonnet. Still, nice to be out under the stars… EDIT: Forgot to add I took a second look at M1 at the start of the session, still a grey oval this time bouncing about in the wind, but right where it should be

Despite many enjoyable distractions, my main observing project is to track down all the Messier objects with a Mak 127 so although I don't know much about exit pupil vs aperture, I can add something practical on what this OTA can do on galaxy targets in the field. So far I've seen 30 galaxies with the Mak of which 24 are Messiers. It took me a number of sessions to get my eye in after the obvious M31. M81 & 82 were next and then after multiple attempts I picked up the Leo Triplet. From there I did a good deal of prep of star hops in Stellarium to identify the various smudges in Markarian's chain/Virgo (observing notes below in case you find them useful). I also did a couple of recce sessions with an ST80 to familiarise myself with "mini-asterisms" in the starfields local to my targets on nights when the moon was up. The biggest things I have learned are: That a darker site makes a HUGE difference to the Mak's capabilties (solid Bortle 4 vs. light Bortle 5). Getting your eye in to picking up "suspicious" smudges in the 9x50 finderscope improves session by session and is definitely a knack - one I am having to re-acquire after a spell of looking at brighter targets. Lots of these galaxies have been little more than fuzzy stars with the almost-five inch Mak, but I have seen good structure in a few particularly on the darkest, most transparent nights - notably M51, M99, M100 & M63 stand out in my notes. The biggest learning is that it takes patience at the eyepiece but the Mak is much more than just a planetary/lunar tool. One final thought, a brilliant resource for us Mak 127 users is Phillip Pugh's eBook in the Patrick Moore series "Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope" - Pugh uses exactly the scope we have and his notes on how to find and what to expect are great, he doesn't beat about the bush on the difference between which objects can yield decent views vs. as he describes it "one to tick off before you die". Clear skies!

Thank you - this is (and its an overused word) awesome!

I made a similar observation a couple of nights ago and after a time was surprised to note that “Mercury” had flashing red & green wingtip lights…

Thank you! The Mak 127 is a great compromise for grab and go - enough aperture to at least pick out faint objects, resolves doubles down to around 1 sec (Tegmine on one exceptional night is my record close split). Is a superb lunar instrument and gave me lots of detail & pleasure on the gas giants in the summer. As, I suspect, with anything, performance is dramatically improved under a dark sky. It is also built like a tank, collimation free, short enough not to flap about in a light breeze and light enough to ride on an AZGTi whilst still of a size that cooling is a minor issue (I leave mine in a backpack next to our draughtiest door or in the boot of the car and it’s 80% acclimatised by the time I get the eyepiece in). There is a slight compromise on field of view - just over a degree is the max so the Pleiades for example goes over the lines, M31 you have to pan across and as above M33 filled so much of the view I ended up looking, as @Stu puts it, through rather than at the object at first. Mine has a 9x50 RACI finder and a Telrad on board which made a massive difference to finding my way around. I am hankering after a 10inch Dob as my interest in faint things grows but, quite apart from the fact it was a 50th birthday family present, the Mak 127 is a keeper for sure.