Fabulous skies last night!

[Stu]

Well the forecast was exactly right last night (thank you Clear Outside!). Despite rain in the morning, I kept the faith and was well rewarded.

Had the Vixen out for a session again, pleased to be getting good use out of this now on the AltAz setup. I posted elsewhere about the success of my counter balance mod, this now allows perfect balance even with heavy/long eyepieces when looking at the zenith. The motion is very smooth, and I am able to use my 80mm finder without problems. I just need to add an RDF now to get me in the right area more easily rather than sighting up the OTA!

This setup is not without vibration, the rig is probably 17kg or so fully loaded and it's an f9 scope so challenging at high powers. That said, to me it is satisfactory and the convenience well worth having. Vibrations after focusing settle down within a second or two so not too bad. A motorised focuser is certainly something I'm considering though.

From 9pm through until midnight skies were clear, but still had a glow to them from the LP, seeing was ok ish, but transparency only so so.

After midnight, it got better and better. The streetlights dimmed and the transparency improved. M31 and the DC were nice and high by then, and both had gone from invisible to naked eye visible, about the best my skies ever get from home. All major stars in Ursa Minor were there, if very faint, putting me at around Mag 5 skies.

I found a spot in my garden, previously unidentified, that is shielded from all street lights and the normal bathroom lights which are left on. Actually surprisingly good.

Last night was just a 'grand tour' of usual suspects, but very nice too. I showed some great objects to a couple from my local club for an hour or so which was very satisfying. First sight of any DSO's for them, the DC impressed in particular.

Other items of note, I managed three small stars in between the double double, 2 more than normal. Sky Safari only shows 1.....

Lambda Cygni was challenging but I managed a 'snowman' type effect as John would describe it :-), clearly a second star there in the right direction but no clear sky between them. Need better seeing for that.

Pi Aquila was nicely split despite the seeing, clear black most of the time except during very poor seeing. Polaris, 52 Cygni and Vega all looked great with their tiny secondaries.

Thought I would try my luck at the Veil, just to see if I could get it. Even with a 31nag in the focuser, I can only get either the East or West Veil in the FOV at once, a bit of a change from the Genesis! The Lumicon OIII did the job however, and I could see the Witch's broom sweeping through 52 Cygni. Averted vision helped of course, but I could not clearly pick up the more diffuse section below 52 Cyg.

The Eastern section was clearly brighter and nicely framed. With a towel over my head (!), I could pick out some detail, though quite muted. Still, my best views from home in this scope I would say, can't imagine how it would look from a decent sky.

By the time I packed up, which was far too late for a school night, the Pleiades had risen into clear view, aswell as Taurus and Auriga. The Vixen doesn't frame the Pleiades very well, I prefer clear sky around it, but M36, 37 and 38 were very nice indeed, and will only get better as they climb further out of the gloom.

The one negative of the night? My rather expensive new Leica zoom broke! The adjustable eye guard went all wobbly and then just fell off! Fortunately it has a lifetime warranty so back it will go, but it is a pain!!

Stu

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[John]

Good report Stu

Sorry to hear about the Leica zoom - is it the same problem that this owner has had ?:

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/474716-i-broke-my-leica-zoom-asph/#entry6191895

[Daniel-K]

Nice report stu im hoping to get some viewing in this weekend at dobfest.

[Stu]

Good report Stu

Sorry to hear about the Leica zoom - is it the same problem that this owner has had ?:

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/474716-i-broke-my-leica-zoom-asph/#entry6191895

Thanks John, yes it seems to be the same problem, although I don't feel I did anything heavy handed with mine.

I'm also not convinced that a replacement will do the job, but will have to see.

I assume I should go back to the retailer in the first instance rather than direct to Leica? Any thoughts?

Stu

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[John]

I'd definitely go to the retailer in the 1st instance.

[jetstream]

Great report Stu, the Vixen performs very well, nice acquisition. I broke my Leica eyecup a few weeks ago and so have many others- your not alone! I bought mine from APM, but I called Leica USA in NJ and they sent out a new one no questions asked. It should be at my USA mailbox right now actually. Leica seems very good about replacement which is a good thing.

[Stu]

Great report Stu, the Vixen performs very well, nice acquisition. I broke my Leica eyecup a few weeks ago and so have many others- your not alone! I bought mine from APM, but I called Leica USA in NJ and they sent out a new one no questions asked. It should be at my USA mailbox right now actually. Leica seems very good about replacement which is a good thing.

Thanks Gerry. Yes, I'm really chuffed with it. For a 6" apo it is relatively manageable and the performance is definitely there. Most of the time the sky is the limiting factor, but isn't that always the case?!

I must admit I do struggle with diffraction spikes on my 12". Being a refractor nut, they are up there with CA as something which I struggle with. I definitely need to look into curved vane spiders at some point I think. Protostar is favourite at the moment.

The Leica is proving very effective in the Vixen. 75 to 150 times mag is great. Actually the double performance isn't so bad, not as crisp as a BGO but good enough to split most that I try for. I noticed some brightening at the edge of the field last night but nothing which spoiled the view.

Thanks for the tip re Leica. I'll try the retailer first but will go to Leica if needed.

Cheers

Stu

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[YKSE]

Nice review Stu.

Sorry to hear the broken eye-cup, Hope a replacement comes quickly.

As mentioned in the link John posted, pressing the tabs before taking off the eye lence dust cup should be good way to  prevent futrue incidents. I've always done that, never need to force off the dust cup.

[Pingster]

BigMak. Great to hear you where enjoying the sky as much as i was. I misplaced my alen key i used every time i collominate my dob, but last night was so good i kept on sayin to myself, "OMG the stars are so round and tight". Love it when i dob performs this well on stars! It blew my poor 80mm APO out of the water, but tbh the views both complimented each other amazingly.

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[Stu]

BigMak. Great to hear you where enjoying the sky as much as i was. I misplaced my alen key i used every time i collominate my dob, but last night was so good i kept on sayin to myself, "OMG the stars are so round and tight". Love it when i dob performs this well on stars! It blew my poor 80mm APO out of the water, but tbh the views both complimented each other amazingly.

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It was a good night, definitely.

I certainly agree that different scope types can complement each other and provide very different views, each of which has merits.

Even last night, the view of the Pleiades was in some ways more pleasing in my 80mm finder because it was framed by clear sky rather than being crammed into the view in the vixen.

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[spaceboy]

Sounds like you had a productive nights observing but bummer about your zoom. At least you know you should have a replacement sent with no troubles.

I managed to get a couple hr's in last night also yet for some reason missed that M45 was up in the sky until I had jumped in to bed   Always a favourite of mine I dragged myself from my lovely warm bed (rather than missing clear skies for weeks of cloud) and went back out for another hr under the stars

[Special K]

Nice report Stu, and you had a lot of company out there last night      As you mention, the seeing wasn't fantastic, which affected some views, but the transparency improved around our parts too.  Pleiades is so large, you just want some border around the whole thing for contrast and to get that chain of stars that breaks away into the view too.  I've been downshifting to EP's that give the widest angle for this one, at least 2 degrees TFOV to get the wow factor.  If the stars frame the edge, I think it makes it less satisfactory for me because it looks like there might be more beyond the FOV that is being missed.

Sounds like you've got similar LP to my locale as I'm just able to make out 7 stars in Ursa Minor of an average night. 

+1 for a RDF!  FRAC-BACK injuries are reduced significantly by this simple device! 

[Stu]

Sounds like you had a productive nights observing but bummer about your zoom. At least you know you should have a replacement sent with no troubles.

I managed to get a couple hr's in last night also yet for some reason missed that M45 was up in the sky until I had jumped in to bed   Always a favourite of mine I dragged myself from my lovely warm bed (rather than missing clear skies for weeks of cloud) and went back out for another hr under the stars

Nick, that is true commitment! I don't think I could get back out of a warm bed!!!

If it hadn't been a school night, I would have stayed up all night and caught Orion too!

[Stu]

Have now sorted an RDF out to fit alongside the RACI, that should be much easier :-)

APM have said they will contact Leica and advise about returning the eyepiece. Hope it's not too long.

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[Pig]

Excellent night by the sounds of it Stu, what AZ mount are you using ? I am thinking of getting a dual giro mount but I am still deciding which one is better for me

Its a shame about the Leica I hope mine will not suffer the same.

[Stu]

Hi Shaun,

I use an Ercole mount like this:

http://www.tele-optic.co.uk/tele-optic-ercole.html

I need the capacity for the Vixen but I think it would be overkill for you.

The Giro III is very good too, takes two scopes and should have the capacity to take your scopes. Shane has one and is pleased with it I think.

http://www.tele-optic-tecnica.de/giro-3.html

These mounts are all about balance. Get them properly balanced and the motion is very smooth.

Once the quark comes (next week hopefully), I will be back to bring able to have side by side Ha and White light views, but at apertures up to 120mm now :-)

Stu

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[Pig]

Cheers Stu I will go and have a butchers .

I wonder if they would screw straight onto the AZ4 tripod / mount bolt, I will have to find out the thread sizes.

[Stu]

Cheers Stu I will go and have a butchers .

I wonder if they would screw straight onto the AZ4 tripod / mount bolt, I will have to find out the thread sizes.

I'm not totally sure, but they do fit on my EQ6 tripod

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