18 October 21:00 to 23:00 : Wixey earns its keep

[themos]

Hello, tonight I thought I would have a pretty quick sweep of anything I could spot quickly with the Dob and Wixey (a digital inclinometer). The "search" eyepiece was a Celestron Plossl 32mm and I also had the Nagler 12mm out for higher power (125x). I used Celestron's (Bisque's really) "The Sky" to tell me how high things were at the time. So here's the rundown

targetAltitudeWixey readingNotesM2753.953.9easy find, surprised meM1550.150.4hey, this really worksM3346.2[/td]too low, trees in the wayBlue Snowball76.276.1took a bit of sweepingCocoon Nebula82.3didn't find itNGC 720982.682.6found this instead though!M3978.578.6getting the hang of thisAlderamin73.873.7crossing over Cepheus nowM5279.279.2yet another open clusterM10367.267.4not sure if I've got the right thingM33 again56.7Polaris52.252.5finish with this one

All in all, the Wixey inclinometer meant that I didn't have to star hop to a target. I just set the right altitude and sweep in from the right or left. This is the first time I've visited so many targets in so little time. It's a keeper, get your own!

[jonifive]

That sounds far too easy!

Great use of this little tool. D : Does it come with a red LED readout?

JV

[GazOC]

Sounds great, have you got a link for this gadget?

[themos]

No light on the readout. I used a bicycle red LED held in place by a rubber band round the finder! A bit too bright but ok for now.

Gaz, all my gear is "live" in my signature

[GazOC]

Cheers....pretty cheap as well!!

[themos]

don't tell anybody that!

[lunator]

Themos

Nice little tool you have there.

Don't worry about M33 if you have any LP you were probably looking right at it................but couldn't see it

Cheers

Ian

[themos]

Yes, I think you are right. The thing is I'm pretty sure I did see something that matched M 33 the other night. I guess a filter is next on the spending agenda. But I have to decide among 4 candidates: a street light killer, an OIII+Hbeta, an OIII and an Hbeta.

[GazOC]

UHC-S (OIII+beta) is probably the best choice...