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A somewhat more relaxed session with the 20"

Astroman

By Astroman
in Observing - Reports

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Astroman

Astroman

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I got home a little early last night, and with all the discussion about the Horsehead Nebula decided to set up the new 20" F/4.3. After collimation, (and discovering one of the "quirks" of this scope), I did a quick tour. M42 and 43 were full of details and the trapezium very clear with the "E" and "F" stars easy, even at low powers. I'm trying out some new EP's as well, including a 56mm Meade SWA, a 40mm same and a Meade 19mm Plossl, all 2" barrel. They give 32x, 44x and 94x, respectively. I also tried a 4.8 Teleview with a 1.25" barrel that yields 370x, along with my usual assortment giving magnifications in between. This was not an in depth report, just a cursory look through the big scope, triggered by you guys. 8) I'll have to write up something more in depth after the Marathon next week. I'm still learnign how to set up this monster and a bit intimidated by the aperture. (I never thought of myself as getting aperture fever. It just kind of fell on me. It was an accident, I swear!)

Anyway, I poked around M42 for a bit, as there's so much to see there, pulling out wisps in the clouds and clumps and such. I switched to M45 with the 56mm and was surprised to see almost the entire cluster! Very bright and crisp, but there was some coma around the edges. It may be the EP. So, I went over to M1. With the 19mm, M1 was actually bright, with details in the cloud. I could see some of the tendrils through the middle, and some of the background stars through it. Incredible.

Time to see a galaxy. I moved over to M65, M66 and Ngc 3628. All I can say is, "Holy Moley!" with the 40mm, all three were in the FOV and astoundingly bright for galaxies. M65 easily showed the dark lane to one side, while the odd shape of M66 was clear, along with the spiral structure. The warping of Ngc 3628 was suspected at low power and confirmed with the 4.8mm. Gobs of, well globules were seen in all 3 at the higher power, and the seeing was clean. Three hundred seventy power, and the scope wasn't even trying! I tried for Ngc 4565, but failed for some reason. I did manage to find 7 or 8 neighboring galaxies, though. Looking back, I guess I didn't go far enough to the east. I'll have to try that again, maybe tonight. These other galaxies were barely discernable in the C8, or even the 10" F/7, but popped right out in the 20". Amazing.

So, having dark adapted for nearly an hour, I swung over to Alnitak in Orion. I nearly skipped right over Ngc 2024, the Flame, thinking it glare from Alnitak. As soon as I figured that one out, I put a lower power EP in and boom! The entire nebula showed unprecedented detail. Little nooks and crannies along the dark lane in the center, and brighter globs around the edges. Taking the view to the west, I identified the triangle of stars that frame the horsey. Placing Alnitak just off the edge of the field, and using averted imagination, I could just decide I saw the brighter nebula behind the horsey, but could bring myself to say I saw it. I put in a 2" deep sky filter, but that didn't help. Switching to the 18mm 1.25" Celestron Ultima and a Lumicon UHC filter changed the nature of the cloud, but failed to reveal the horsey.

Put it this way, I continued to hammer at the horsey until I'd brought most of the observatory out into the yard, but no use. Filters and ep's and combinations, and nothing. Got some great views of the stars around it, but not the horsey. I packed it up around 11:30, having to go to work today, but I'm getting more motivated, and somewhat less intimidated. :rolleyes:

Give up? Who? Me? Not on yer life! I'll keep trying until I figure it out. It may need some darker skies and more patience and better charts, but I'll find it. And when I do, you guys will be among the first to know. :) 8)

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barkis

barkis

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What the hell are you talking about, give up.? That would be sacrilege. It's 11:43 pm here in clouded out Cumbria, and there's you with a 20" f4.2,

and talking of giving up. I'm rigid with jealousy here, and not only that, my Laptop is soaking from me missing my mouth while reading about your journey around Orions clouds. A scope that size, and probably the best sub. 100 metre sea level skies on the planet.

Lord Almighty AM, You must feel like you are walking through the Elysian Fields and drinking Nectar.

Can you not stick a webcam on that monster and relay to us what delights you are seeing.

Maybe not, but you can still fire our minds eyes with more of your viewing reports, a sort

of View from Arizona.

Ron. :rolleyes:

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thing

thing

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'Using averted imagination'........ :rolleyes::):lol: :lol: :laugh: red wine through nose moment.......

Great report, I think the best thing you can do is to move here for 3 months (I'm sure that we could all arrange a bed for a couple of nights in various places) and then see just how lucky you are with your viewing. I've had my scope out twice in the last 28 days. Not through other more pressing engagements, purely because the weather is pants.

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