Jupiter with Hyperion Zoom & Barlow

[SnakeyJ]

Finally I have managed to get out and use my new Baader Hyperion Clickstop Zoom & Hyperion Zoom Barlow.

Its mighty cold out there, but rewarded with my best view of Jupiter ever and I am just loving the zoom feature. My closest view to date was with a Celestron 6mm possel, which I was able to just about view through but found almost impossible to use with a 2x barlow. With the 2.25 barlow I managed to go all the way to x281 and the detail and clarity were superb. Not 100% parfocal, but very close. My only problem is that at that magnification the whole scope/mount are very twitchy, even with the lightest touch on the focuser it is difficult to achieve perfect focus, specially with fingers going numb.

The view however is superb and well worth the combined £ 249 and the long wait for a clear sky.

Will try and get a view of the plaiades to get a feel for focus across the FOV, but also have my new ptgrey firefly mv to try tonight so might have to stick with Jupiter for the time being.

[SnakeyJ]

Unfortunately didn't make the Pleiades, but did achieve some very overexposed images with the Firefly MV - another sorry tale for the imaging forum.

However, the Baader Zoom & Barlow are fantastic - proper report to follow after my next session.

[Dunkster]

Nice one Jake! I found I had to dial the focus inwards on my little frac when adding the Barlow, but otherwise it didn't seem to interfere other than magnify

[mikeyrea]

Hi Jake - the Baader Hyperion Clickstop Zoom & Hyperion Zoom Barlow sound pretty impressive.

Was it a particularly dark sky you were viewing? The highest practical magnification I've managed is x156 with my rather basic (but cherished) Meade plossl 6.4mm. I have an equally basic and not so well loved (yet) Celestron 4mm, but it's just too blurry from a normal site. I do have a plan to take it up a mountain on a nice clear night but such a thing does seem a long way away (and I don't mean the mountain). I've read that x400 should be achievable in really good seeing conditions but that could well be on top of a mountain range in Chile with a good set of Naglers.

I'm guessing it was the top quality EP setup that made the difference in your case?

[SnakeyJ]

Hi Jake - the Baader Hyperion Clickstop Zoom & Hyperion Zoom Barlow sound pretty impressive.

Was it a particularly dark sky you were viewing? The highest practical magnification I've managed is x156 with my rather basic (but cherished) Meade plossl 6.4mm. I have an equally basic and not so well loved (yet) Celestron 4mm, but it's just too blurry from a normal site. I do have a plan to take it up a mountain on a nice clear night but such a thing does seem a long way away (and I don't mean the mountain). I've read that x400 should be achievable in really good seeing conditions but that could well be on top of a mountain range in Chile with a good set of Naglers.

I'm guessing it was the top quality EP setup that made the difference in your case?

Hi Mikeyrea - I'm quite lucky here with regards to LP and can usually make out the MW - Though I do suffer a little LP when my other half goes to bed or bathroom!

It was a very clear night and the seeing was good until around 11:00 when some high cloud started to roll in - the view was lost totally by midnight. The best viewing was around 9pm.

The image at x281 was the best I've seen, with very clear banding and the seeing was very stable - however at this mag the whole scope was very twitchy, to touch and focus - I had to adjust a little, then wait for the view to settle, though the improved eye relief over my old possels definitely helped.

I'm pretty sure the optics could have delivered a little more, but the twitchy focuser and mount/tube rings were probably the limiting factor (I have a little bit of play in the DEC axis and need to adjust the worm gears - just trying to pluck up the courage to follow Astrobabes excellent guide!). Maybe I also need to tighten up the tube rings and the bolts that hold this to the dovetail. And also I was observing from a decked area which does move a little as I shift around.

I do want to try and get a good view of Saturn one morning - so might invest in BST Explorer or similar 6mm ep, though the chances of barlowing this up to x374 or so would probably be few/far between!

[Dunkster]

In another couple of months it'll be a (late) evening object and down there on the IoW you're prolly better placed than many of us if you have a clear southern horizon Saturn's going to be low for the next few years

[mikeyrea]

I'm pretty sure the optics could have delivered a little more, but the twitchy focuser and mount/tube rings were probably the limiting factor (I have a little bit of play in the DEC axis and need to adjust the worm gears - just trying to pluck up the courage to follow Astrobabes excellent guide!).

I know some of the Astro Photography guys swear by the Skywatcher Auto-Focuser. I haven't really got one of these on my 'wish' list but I could see how it might help to reduce that 'focusing wobble'. When viewing the planets at high mag even sneezing on the OTA would probably set this off - although if this happened you'd probably be more worried about the fallout on he EP!