Trapezium 2

[alan potts]

FOLLOW UP TO THE MAIN REPORT. THIS WAS DONE PURELY BECAUSE ONE SITE MEMBER COULD ONLY SEE 3 STARS AND I WANTED TO EXPLORE HOW HARD THIS TARGET IS.

I have just had a go with the 70mm ED which is not the best piece of glass ever made but it is not bad either.

The night started with, I won't bother, to my word look at the sky, and finishing with was it worth it for 50 minutes, of course it was. Now I just grabed this scope as I know it cools very fast being carbon fiber and I was really wanting to check out what the scope was like and how well it shows the Trapezium. This was largely on the back of a thread I was reading about two weeks back when one member thought there were only 3 stars in this group. Well I am as bad as I thought there were 4 stars and now I know otherwise.

As one or two of the members that have posted in the first report have said in agreement with me, conditions are a big factor, part of the conditions are also where I live in relation to many that will read this.

I have to say the 70mm showed the four stars very easily indeed even with a magnification as low as X16, I know I could have gone lower and still seen all four stars. I must point out without trying to be cleaver I am using only Televue eyepieces, 24mm Panoptic, 16mm Nagler 10mm delos and 6mm Delos. This could be important when looking in anything but best conditions as I find these eyepieces just seem to control everything that bit better than others. For me the trapezium was very easy in a 70mm scope that is not the best on the market.

I did have a good look for the 'E' star as I thought the 'F' was beyond this scope. I saw nothing that I could get excited by, but I was see something happenning on the 'C' star where the 'F' star is, it was an elongation of the main star. This could have just been down to air turbulence as 'F' is of the 11th magnitude and at the very limit of the scope being used. It would be nice to hear from anyone who has done this with something smaller than 4 inches.

I have a 60mm Vario finder which you can swap eyepieces in so I am going to try that if the sky lets me tonight. It may be interesting to see how small we between us can go and still see all 4 stars. Below this I only have a Meade 50x8 finder but sadly it is not much better than a toy, a disgrace on a 4,000 pound scope, but that's another story.

I can only conclude that the member who had a problem with only seeing three stars was either a victim of the constellation being lower than I have it, poor seeing or he may have been using a smaller scope with a stock eyepiece.

clear skies

Alan.

[chiltonstar]

A good description Alan, what I saw. The little blob formed as an elongation and broke away as the scope cooled to give a little point alongside.

Chris

[alan potts]

Chris,

Was it you that I am talking about because I am not meaning to be offensive I am only trying to help in bull in a china shop way. Looking at your scopes list I would have thought it was possible in all of them with ease.

Alan.

[chiltonstar]

Chris,

Was it you that I am talking about because I am not meaning to be offensive I am only trying to help in bull in a china shop way. Looking at your scopes list I would have thought it was possible in all of them with ease.

Alan.

Not me, I think. I've never had a problem seeing 4 stars in the Trapezium, even with my smallest scope.

However, recently I added the fifth, and last night the sixth (F component).

Chris

[alan potts]

Chris,

Good for you, what scope were you using and power, I'm interested?

Alan

[chiltonstar]

Chris,

Good for you, what scope were you using and power, I'm interested?

Alan

5" Mak (Vixen SP mount), best view with 10mm EP (ie x150). Going higher produced no benefit.

Chris

[alan potts]

Chris,

Interesting, I found that going to X150 didn't do me any favours at all, I lost the 'F' star in the 12 inch, I did say though it could be different from scope to scope. I imagine the 127 Mac is preety good at tight doubles? I keep looking at the 180mm SW version to go with the 190mm M/N. Black looks mean.

Alan.

[chiltonstar]

Chris,

Interesting, I found that going to X150 didn't do me any favours at all, I lost the 'F' star in the 12 inch, I did say though it could be different from scope to scope. I imagine the 127 Mac is preety good at tight doubles? I keep looking at the 180mm SW version to go with the 190mm M/N. Black looks mean.

Alan.

It may be that with less light with a 5", going higher wrt mag doesn't work as the companion may be too dim. The Mak is a stunner with doubles, but does take a time to cool compared with my fracs. I'd love to get my hands on the 180 Mak though as well!

Chris