Widefield Views - 10 December 2007

[asteria]

Hi there - sorry this report is a bit late. I took the large f5 refractor out last Monday as it was a beautifully clear night. I have had the refractor for a couple of weeks or so and each time I have used it I am seeing more of its potential. OK - its achromatic, but for the wide field, deep sky viewing I plan with it this seems to be fine.

Observing time was around 7-9PM. Seeing excellent. Low power eyepieces included 25mm Plossl giving a TFOV of around 2 degs. By the way, this little silver eyepiece, very simple design with no eyeshield or anything, is excellent - extremely pleasing views. I got it from the For Sale listings on the site and well worth every penny.

First up, Mizar/Alcor - good star seperation on a dark field, even at low mags.

M103: after finding this little cluster difficult to track down at first, I can now locate it quite easily, nestling below Delta Cas. A pleasing wide field glimpse of the star field, with the tiny cluster showing a small triangular shape.

M45 Pleiades: astonishingly beautiful through a larger aperture, with fine colour and bright stars. The little silver eyepiece framed this cluster beautifully. After my eyes had become dark adapted the object showed its true glory.

Double Cluster: first time out for the scope on this exceptional object. In some ways this is even more impressive than M45. However, the stars are not as bright so the image does not have the same high impact effect. Many hundreds of faint stars swarming across the view. Subtle and inspiring at the same time.

Alpha Pers: the cluster that surrounds this star is a gem. The wide field view using the big refractor adds to the impact of this field. Well worth seeking out for one of the lesser known sights of the sky.

M71: I tracked this globular cluster down for the first time using this scope. It sits between delta and gamma Sagitta, just off the axis between the two. It appeared as a small, uniformly bright, circular patch of light. Subtle to say the least, but very obvious once I had tracked it down.

M13 Hercules Cluster: the great globular in Hercules. This seems much the same through any small scope. Less uniformly bright than M71.

M57 Ring Nebula: at low mags is very tricky to see. Neverthless I was able to pick it up even at 24x. Appears quite star like, but as if it was slightly out of focus.

M31 Andromeda Galaxy: the was my second look at this galaxy through the large refractor. This view was more affected by light pollution. However, I could get a sense of the spread of the arms - huge! I can't wait to see this from a very dark site. The previous view, a few nights before, was astonishing - I could appreciate the large span of the arms of the galaxy spreading across the view. Starlight seemed to hang in the dark sky as I was watching. This scope really makes taking in this galaxy as a whole a real possibility.

M32: the companion to M31 was visible, as a faint smudge of light. An almost star like image, but with averted vision it was clear that it was not a star. A beautiful sight with the main body of M31 in the same view. (Pretty sure it was M32 and not M110!)

M34: I picked up this open cluster in Perseus as a final treat.

That's all folks!

Ed

[blinky]

Good report, sounds like you had a great night. The double Cluster is one of my favourite DSO's

[lunator]

Ed

Good report

Sounds a good session

Cheers

Ian

[asteria]

Hi Ian - thanks for reading. I see you have the ST120 too. I got some nice views of the moon last night - I was quite surprised as I expected the chromatic aberration to be very bad. However, the colour was not too intrusive. I was using a 2" diagonal and 2" 26mm eyepiece. Probably the nicest views I have had of the moon.

Ed