a chilly night on the tops

[Daniel-K]

last night me,mike,graham & baz went out for a trip to a spot we like to go to, greeted it with stunning views and falling temps. It was a long way to go to test my newly acquired EP'S but being that high and away from LP made sure I could get the best possible first light I could with them and also compare them to Mike's range of TV'S.

After setting up and Mike showing me his new collimation kit, it was time for a brew and butty.  DOH I had left my buttys in the fridge! lucky Baz was kind enough to share his sandwich's now he's  on a diet I thought id help him out  

conditions 7/10

scopes : Mikes-14" OO running the SIPS         My 14" SW no CC

The moon was low and dropping behind the mountain tops but we had a brief comparison on the 23mm LX vs 22mm Nag.

Mikes 22 nag showed a lovey image, the features of the moon where nice and crisp and when you pushed to moon to the edge of the FOV everything stay sharp.

My 23mm in Mikes scope gave the same sharp views but when pushed to the edge of the FOV a orange fringe became evident.

M13- 7mm Axiom vs 6mm Delos.

a firm favourite object and always nice to see. we had mikes 6mm in his OO and my 7mm LX in my scope.

from previous outings m13 through mikes 6mm has stuck with me because I has given me the best views of the object I have seen....until last night when I looked through the 7mm its was nice to see the glob resolved to the core but with some sky around the edges, the stars where sharp to the edge of the FOV

Mikes 6mm in his OO was nice but it was a tight squeeze to fit it in. optically they both are great and would be happy to have either in my case but the extra FOV of the 7mm Axiom LX was welcomed here.

Mikes 31mm Nag and my 31mm Axiom LX. we done a quick visual comparison in my scope. Both gave the similar darkness of background and delivered the same sharp image. the Nagler won with its off axis correction, but even Mike said theres not much in it between them.

this was only a brief comparison and by no means extensive but im happy with the new set of EP's and how they did under summer conditions.

M8 was naked eye and the M20 was one I can tick off my shrinking list. M24 through Mikes scope was a nice stunning view.

NGC 6709 on first impressions looked like the out stars where resolvable but then when I upped the mag its just became a misty patch with a glowing core.

NGC 6934 a really small glob very nice and could easy be overlooked.

both these globs are worth a look if you get a chance.

M27 was very nice last night lots of structure to be seen, and we could see stars inside the nebula.

NGC 6543 AKA the cats eye. Mike got this in his scope and it was the first time I have seen the star in the middle very nice green colour and one I would like to go back to with some mag.

very nice night with great company lots of objects and the milky way was stunning what a great night for an astro fix

Dan

[swamp thing]

Good stuff Dan sounds like a cracking night

[jetstream]

Glad you guys had a good night out and that the Axioms worked so well,my 3 Luminos also work well.It will be interesting to hear how the Axiom 23mm,31mm do on the Veil,etc with the OIII.These EP's are a bargain in my books and provide great views.

[Daniel-K]

Glad you guys had a good night out and that the Axioms worked so well,my 3 Luminos also work well.It will be interesting to hear how the Axiom 23mm,31mm do on the Veil,etc with the OIII.These EP's are a bargain in my books and provide great views.

Gerry the 23mm worked great on the veil with the baader OIII filter not as good as steves lumicon but you could follow the nebula around.

[Mike73]

Always good to see pics of people setting up ready for the night, looks like a stunning spot!

Nice report Dan glad your happy with your EP's aswell.

[Daniel-K]

Always good to see pics of people setting up ready for the night, looks like a stunning spot!

Nice report Dan glad your happy with your EP's aswell.

me n welshy are going ellan on next new moon fancy tagging along

[jetstream]

Gerry the 23mm worked great on the veil with the baader OIII filter not as good as steves lumicon but you could follow the nebula around.

That is good news Dan,I am thinking of the 31mm Axiom or Luminos for the North American neb in my 630mm fl,f7 frac,do you guys have a similar scope to try it with?The 31mm Nagler would be nice,but a bit pricey for me right now.It would give me a filter friendly 4.4mm exit pupil and a huge 4.3 deg TFOV in the 90mm.

[faulksy]

Very nice report dan, but you forgot to say about the stars you could see in the dumbell neb, that was a great sight wasn't it, imagine it when we get astro darkness, yippee

sent from my Sony Xperia

[Daniel-K]

Yes I did but you don't know what the messier numbers are cause you use push too

[estwing]

Well done guys sounds like a great spot, do us a favour, next time have a go at that M57 central star malarkey!

[Daniel-K]

We did but the conditions wouldn't let us up the mag

[faulksy]

Yes I did but you don't know what the messier numbers are cause you use push too

it tells me the m nos, ngc ,caldwell or any other catalogues but i didnt want you getting confused

[rwilkey]

Well done Danny, a great report, the Axiom LX's are not perfect but give great views, there is always compromises.  I have always been pleased with them, the 7mm is particilarly good for globs.

[cotterless45]

Lovely report.

What a unique beautiful and dark night. Milky Way through Cygnus and a cam live view of NGC 7635 , "The Bubble nebula". Very pleased as just on the edge of town. Can't wait to get out to those dark skies, which we all enjoy, hurrah !

Nick.

[swamp thing]

Gerry the 23mm worked great on the veil with the baader OIII filter not as good as steves lumicon but you could follow the nebula around.

How can you tell Dan?

I mean it was a different nigh, different conditions and a different scope. I wouldn't judge until you side by side test them next time I see you guys, to be sure.

[scarp15]

Looks like a cracking location, based on how wrapped up you all are, I can understand that butty's are a necessity to help fend off falling temperature, at least I take it that it had become cool and not a swarm of midges that were an issue. Nicely composed report and comparison on ep's, particularly for this time of year and yeah pics ought to be a required feature. 

[Daniel-K]

Looks like a cracking location, based on how wrapped up you all are, I can understand that butty's are a necessity to help fend off falling temperature, at least I take it that it had become cool and not a swarm of midges that were an issue. Nicely composed report and comparison on ep's, particularly for this time of year and yeah pics ought to be a required feature. 

no midges when your that high up just nice to be out. me and mike are going mid wales on new moon so that should be good as well weather permitting

[Chris]

Great report Dan and nicely illustrated with the couple of pics at the end, what a lovely looking place to observe!

So have you swapped all your TV's for Celestrons now Dan? I've never really looked at the axiom range before, they look like they would be easy to handle on a cold night with gloves on

Chris

[Daniel-K]

Great report Dan and nicely illustrated with the couple of pics at the end, what a lovely looking place to observe!

So have you swapped all your TV's for Celestrons now Dan? I've never really looked at the axiom range before, they look like they would be easy to handle on a cold night with gloves on

Chris

yeah chris i wanted more of a range of EP'S and funds just was not allowing me to get any more black and greens so this seemed a fair compromise and TBH the way they performed under ok conditions i was more than happy