Post collimation tour d'force

[Special K]

Well, having spent hours re-collimating the scope on the weekend, I was very eager to do some testing to make sure I hadn’t made the alignment worse! As if inspired by the tune up, my scope has revealed a number of pleasant surprises over the last two nights. Seemingly unachievable targets have stuck their heads over the parapet!

Wednesday, early (No Moon)

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We start with Saturn again which I wanted to compare with my results last week: the Cassini division was visible to me before collimation. The seeing on Tuesday night was worse, IMO, and the scope was not fully cooled, so I’m not too concerned about the lack of detail this time around. Images at 130x seem just as clear however, so this is an excellent sign. I took a line on Arcturus in Bootes to see how sharp this could be resolved: again, seeing not brilliant so the point itself was slightly fuzzy (like a headlight from afar through a wet windscreen) but the diffraction spikes were quite clear and think this is something that has improved. So clear in fact, (and I’m color-blind here so please forgive if I’ve got this wrong), but the spikes were decidedly red in hue; much different than my view of Vega which is much cooler in tone. Vega was not as high and think the seeing had deteriorated, though I had a good look at Eta1 and Eta2, double-doubles. These were a bit of a struggle to resolve, but can split them using the Barlow at 260x.

As the scope simply refused to fog up, I went on to have another attempt at M13 which I had seen before as merely a blob. Boy was that a hoot!!! Must be the collimation improvement here, because extended viewing yielded lots of stars in the outer layers which could be resolved. Lovely image at 130x. This prompted me to fetch the Barlow for 260x and that also was very remarkable. Clouds were degrading the view off and on, but I spent a lot of time here and feel relieved to have finally “seen” this one! Then I moved on to the Ring Nebula to test the SW UHC filter. That was a struggle, as usual, due to not very dark skies for the object. Best view was 130x unaided and think this may be an improved image from before. However, the Ring wasn’t that high in the sky at 4pm, and could see that even Vega was winking quite a bit; sure sign of poor atmospherics. I had made another mistake in setting things up on the deck where there can be a slight tremor, making everything a little more tricky.

And wouldn’t you know it: I bagged the elusive M56 globular cluster nearby in one hit! Must be my new found experience with M13. Obviously, this is much less spectacular and was a little spoiled by Hercules, but this object has been a bit of a nemesis for me over the past months. Gotta be the new collimation! Albireo was a nice split and the color contrast was very noticeable. I spent further time in Cynus just trawling, which is kind of fun!

Finally, I went straight overhead for M51, the Pinwheel Galaxy, and that was a sure hit too. Only the galactic core is discernible under my backyard skies, but I can make out the companion’s presence, to confirm what I’ve seen. Very excited and very very tired!

Wednesday, late

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I had high hopes of seeing the comet Pan-Starrs with the bins first of all at dusk but the clouds were playing up just near the Western horizon. Also this is a new one to me and not sure where it is located so was unprepared. I did take a view in the bins of that thin crescent when it appeared. In hindsight I think I was nearly there with the come!

At nightfall I gave Jupiter the first light but found the seeing, though clear, was not ideal. There were moments at 130x that it could be promising but accepted this was not a big planet night.

M42 was a natural attraction and can say that the UHC adds some value to this. The big highlight this evening was my first view of M35 which I've been meaning to snag for a good long time! This is a beaut and look forward to returning. Next time I'll take in NGC2158 nearby for a complete view. After viewing some old friends like Pleiades and having another shot at Jupiter it was time to call it a night.

Conclusion on success of collimation: definite! Can't wait to give the scope another workout and glad I took the time to double check everything.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report, thanks for sharing. M13 is just awesome through a scope like this, especially if collimation is spot on. I almost always have a peek at it when it is up