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At last - some stars!

F15Rules

By F15Rules
in Observing - Reports

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F15Rules

F15Rules

Posted
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Well, at last, like many of us I suspect, I was delighted to see clear, calm skies last night. Unfortunately my wife is in hospital at the moment and I'd come home, feeling pretty down, and got out of the car about 10.30pm and looked up. It was almost surreal seeing clear, moonless, dark skies and....NO WIND!

To be honest I was dog tired, but just thought "I have to get an hour out with the scope tonight, who knows when the chance will come around again, and it may pick me up a bit".

So I went inside, changed into warm clothing and had a cuppa. No star charts, just got the Vixen ED103s (I must think of a name for her..) on my new (to me) Great Polaris mount and put them on the drive to cool for a few minutes while I got some eyepieces out.

I spent most of the session onjust two objects, M42 and Jupiter. M42 first, and the Trap was mesmerising. I can't believe how quickly Orion is starting to sink to the west now - I feel cheated by this winter! I caught E easily, and strongly suspected F a couple of times, but could not hand on heart say definitely - this is one area, aperture, where my late, lamented D&G 5" F15, "Andromeda" had a clear advantage: that extra 25mm really counts in pulling in faint objects. But I was happy, as the contrast and sharpness of the Vixen matched Andromeda very well - and that is a real compliment to the Vixen, as I felt that Andromeda delivered the best contrast of any scope I have owned.

I used a variety of eps, but mainly the Antares 7,9 and 12.5mm HD orthos (look and perform exactly like BGOs) and one of the CJZ 10mm ortho pair I have. I also used a TV x2.5 vintage barlow with each. The 9mm Antares and 10mm CJZ gave lovely views, with the edge on sharpness slightly, but definitely to the CJZ, which is amazing for an 0.965" vintage eyepiece (in a modern APM 1.25" sleeve of course. They also have winged eyecups, which do make a real difference in controlling stray light). With the barlow the 9mm gave c x220 and the Zeiss c x199. I felt that the 7mm barlowed to 2.8mm (x284) was too much - by now Orion was setting in the west very fast, and not very high above neighbouring houses, so I'm sure their heat made a difference.

Jupiter was a sight to behold, and quite large. The four main moons were tiny, but real disks, each with a very faint single diffraction ring. Again, the best view seemed to be somewhere under x200, but a lovely level of detail was visible, with 4 main bands, two others seen intermittently, and definite signs of festoons and whirls in the main bands. And no CA, in this respect even slightly ahead of Andromeda perhaps - which you might expect, this being a high end ED doublet objective :-).

I also took a quick view of Alnitak, a close sub 3" double, and an easy split at x 200, much harder at x80, but definitely double.

Finally, as it was well placed low in the north west, I grabbed a quick view of the double cluster in Perseus with both the ES 34 68 "hand grenade" and the ES 24 68. The latter actually gave the best view, which is the reverse of the case with Andromeda, all due to her focal length being almost double that of the Vixen. In the Vixen the 34mm gave a brighter background, and very low magnification (x23), versus the x56 it delivered in Andromeda. So, in the Vixen, the 24mm view was the best, (x33), and the little semi circlet asterism was very sharp - though one of the faint stars in this semi circle was very faint, whereas in Andromeda it's plain as a Pikestaff!

I dabbled with the binoviewer for a few minutes, and concluded, with reluctance, that they are too much hassle with the Vixen, as they need more in focus than the scope can deliver without shortening the tube. I've got various adapters to address this, but haven't yet hit the sweet spot, and at the moment what I need is a quick set up..- by comparison it was SO simple to binoview with Andromeda, whose tube I had shortened to allow BVs to be used without an OCS/Barlow.

I have today sold the binoviewers - and pressed the button on a Pentax SMC 8-24mm zoom!! But that's another story, for another evening....and the almost 2 hours I spent under old friends tonight really did pick my mood up. Let's have more cold crisp nights please:happy10:

Clear skies,

Dave

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John

John

Posted
Posted

I really enjoyed reading that report Dave :icon_biggrin:

I think a lot of us were out last night having fun, having earned it through the dismal weather of December and January.

The Vixen ED103 sure sounds like a really nice scope !

 

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philj

philj

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Posted

Hi Dave

Sorry to hear about your wife hope she gets well soon and all is sorted. Getting out under the stars, no matter how short a session, certainly helps though.

I had a bash at the Trap last night with the ED127 and managed E & F. I found I had to limit the mag to get them both though. The 5mm Vixen was just too much and both were swimming in and out but the 7mm TV delite nailed them to the background nicely. I have never had much problem with splitting E&F until this last year with the dreadful weather conditions, last night was the first time this season.

I was out early so I didn't get a look at Jupiter though, glad you did.

Ive retired my binoviewers for the same reason, too much hassle on a refractor for me and I just never get round to it with my Mak. Whenever the Mak comes out its on lunar and Im invariably imaging or wandering over the surface with my TV delites.

As for a name for the Vixen, come on its got to be "Foxy" :icon_biggrin:

 

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cotterless45

cotterless45

Posted
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lovely report, hope that your wife is returned in the very best of health. It's been so exciting to get some observing done. I was out with the Vixen 90 and 102 last night comparing views of familiar sights. nothing beats the contrast and clean views of proper scopes. It ended up Frost versus Vixen !

Just waiting for baby sitting to end before venturing out, may be gone for some time,

clear skies ! nick.

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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Thanks guys for your good wishes for my wife. Am with her in hospital now and she is in good hands and getting the treatment she needs:).

John, yes the Vixen (and let's call her Foxy then Phil!) Is a lovely scope, I imagine similar in performance to yours. I plan to do a proper first light review in the scopes forum soon.

Looking clear tonight I think, anyone going to be out?

 

Dave

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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41 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Hi Dave,

Andromeda is out and cooling, and I plan a long night, having missed last night.:happy11:

Yes Steve, should be great! Maybe a summary for us of your thoughts?

Have a great session with the "old girl":-)

Dave

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Piero

Piero

Posted
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29 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Thanks Piero, like the Hendrix comparison! One of my other loves is Fender Strats..I have a nice 1995 Japanese '57 reissue:-)

Dave

Cool! In Italy I have an American Fender Strat 68' reverse made in 2001 instead :)

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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Thanks Laudropb for your kind wishes:)

Piero, it sounds like a great instrument!

Dave

PS just got home and its pretty cloudy here..to be honest I'm almost glad as I need a full 8 hours sleep! If you are out under the stars tonight, enjoy, and tell us about your highlights?

Dave

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chiltonstar

chiltonstar

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Great report! At last some decent conditions.

Better here on Thursday night than in some places, clearly! I included the Trap as well (E & F easily seen at x70), plus a few easier DSOs including the Leo Trio (trying out my new scope on fuzzies for the first time). I was surprised how easy the third member of the Trio was, despite the ice crystal haze. As the front corrector plate started to ice up, I switched to high magnification views of some doubles - Algieba, Castor and 52 Ori to see what the diffraction patterns looked like at x300.

Chris

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