Snowshoes,VX and a new BCO

[jetstream]

Shovelled the house out today,but no time to do the cabin and observe too.The 60" Ojibwe snowshoes are gonna be put to use if the forecast holds....gotta try out that 18mm Baader Classic Ortho,the glass and coatings sure look good on this thing.I will check it against some very good EP's including the 18mm ES,17mm Ethos.The coatings look as dark as the Ethos in diffuse white light-a really good sign.Tonight ngc 2841 and ngc 3184 are on the list as is an extensive view of M42 and surrounding area.Looking forward to getting back on the ice and the shovelling can wait....not gonna miss a great sky!

[jetstream]

Just got back from a good night of observing.Got my targets( thanks Nick!) ngc 3184 and 2841,plus ngc2681,27764102,3690,3642,3610,M109 and M78.M42 and m43 were excellent as well as the runningman neb,that Baader 18mm BCO is a great EP.I wanted to try to see the eyes in M97,so I gave the 8mm Delos a go-no eyes,then I popped the 10mm Ethos in....and there they were,kind of "blinking" in and out!I got a real kick out of this one The 10mm goes deep on galaxies and is excellent on M57.Tonight the sky was 21.5 mag,4.5/5 transparency(great)

[Mike73]

Glad you got the Owl blinking Gerry.

How did you get on with M109? Did you see any sign of spiral arms? It was a real tough one for me and only got a hints of them in average transparency but with 21.78 skies, I'd much rather have excellent transparency and lighter skies for galaxy hunting though or like you have the best of both worlds!

Lots of galaxies there that I haven't seen before but hopefully I see some of them this spring.

[jetstream]

Hey Mike,I love that owl,now that I've seen more to it!No sign of spiral arms on M109 unfortunately-i wish I could see it like your sketch looks! Most galaxies were really faint,except ngc3184-ngc 2841 didn't seem that bright.The other ngc's were faint,the 10mm Ethos helped a lot at 2mm exit pupil-but then crippled by FOV.I'm not a real fan of larger exit pupils.I was surprised that the 8mm never delivered,must be the mag + smaller scope than yours.I can't believe the difference transparency makes-I don't have that a lot here,except in winter....but then the cold.I left when the objects started to look worse....my vision was going,not a good sign-too cold,-33c,2.5 hours sitting there.Can't wear proper head gear because of EP frosting,and the hands only have light leather gloves on(focuser),so half froze....all this promotes hypothermia.But I had fun

[Mike73]

The problem with comparing sketches with what you may actually see is that a sketch has been built up over time, almost like its done in layers if that makes sense? More often than not I'II use two EP's to view a galaxy, one medium or low power (which is what the final sketch is made at) and one high power which I'II use to drop the exit pupil and also see any stars within the galaxy. I've also learnt a few little tricks which helps picking out differences in contrast and detail. 

Completely agree with you about exit pupil.

My low power EP has a 6.4mm exit pupil which is quite large but at dark sites and for the surface brightness of objects I'm currently looking at it works ok. But a while ago I was using it to look for the Cresent nebula and it was just couldn't see it until I changed EP and used a 3.8mm exit pupil !

[scarp15]

Good account on those two galaxies NGC 2841, NGC 3184, as you mentioned, brought to our attention recently by Nick, look forward to trying for these myself. Quite an epic winter you are having at the moment. Snowshoeing is something I have not tried, I expect that you are accustomed to this from time to time.

[jetstream]

Iain,best of luck with those galaxies! I'm sure you will pick those off easily,I'm having trouble with ngc 2950,2805 for some reason-will keep trying.Snowshoeing is fun (if you get the right ones),been doing it since a child-give it a whirl if you get the chance-and then try running on them!Our winters differ from year to year a lot-cold one this year...here is my forecast for tonight...http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/graph/Fort+Frances+CAXX0144:1:CA?pagenum=2&nextbeginIndex=6 ,very windy now...-50 deg wind chill tonight.Thing is I think I will take the cold over some storms I have been following in the UK,Ireland...

[JamesF]

The 18mm BGO is one of my favourite eyepieces.  If they didn't change too much for the BCO design I'm not in the least surprised you like it.

James