500x on the Moon :-D

[Size9Hex]

Magical seeing conditions last night! It was pretty hazy in general with thicker patches of cloud wallowing across the sky. I caught a few doubles following the gaps and holes around wherever they went. As ever, Zeta Hercules just wouldn't cooperate :-/

The unexpected highlight though...

While packing up I saw the cloud around the moon had thinned, and the moon itself had risen high enough to be worth a go. The view at 500x was up there with my first ever sighting of the rings of Saturn or the Great Red Spot in terms of the impact it had. Just astonishing.

Spectacular views around the shores of Mare Crisium, particularly in a landscape reminiscent of canyons and mesas to the south. Looked close enough to explore on foot.

Further along the terminator, the area around the huge canyon Vallis Rheita was breathtaking too. The lunar surface had a detailed roughness I've never seen before. No doubt this was not the case, but the impression was like being able to see individual boulders scattered on the surface between the craters. I've never seen such detail previously. In the cold light of day I know any alleged "boulders" would be measured in kilometres, but still, what a stunning impression! Nu Piscium, just emerged from occultation, sparkled alongside. I didn't see it appear but it definitely wasn't there a moment ago!

In many places around the lunar rim, which at such a high magnification was starting to look more like the local flat horizon than the curved edge of a distant world, there was a sawtooth of sunken valleys and tall mountains rising up into the blackness of space. I've never really experienced the spacewalk or floating above the lunar surface sensation, but last night that's exactly how it seemed. 

The seeing wasn't perfect but the turbulence came in long slow rollers that took nothing from the detail. Quite different from the high frequency noise that often limits the view.

Most of my doubts before buying a Barlow proved unfounded. Scope control at 500x was doable but needed regular nudging. Floaters in the eyeball were present at the 0.5mm exit pupil, but didn't limit the view or the enjoyment. Focusing (with 250px stock focuser) was unforgiving but still quite doable - took a few passes, and about a minute to get it dialled in. Not good if you're switching eyepieces often, but no problem at all if you're not.

Earlier I the session, I was seeing rings and disks around the stars, so it seems unavoidable that I was running into the resolution limit of the 10" scope and yet it really didn't look that way on the moon. The impression was simply of spectacularly detailed landscapes everywhere.

I'm still grinning now. A session to remember! :-)

[Stu]

Sounds like a cracker Paul. Lovely descriptions as always.

Zeta Herc is my nemesis too!

[cotterless45]

Send some clear skies here ! Always worth trying to bump up the magnification on those rare nights,

Nick.

[Size9Hex]

Thanks Stu. Glad I'm not the only one struggling with Zeta Herc. It's a tricky customer for sure! If I didn't get it last night in great seeing at 500x, I'm not sure what else I can throw at it! Let us all know if you have better success!

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

Thanks Stu. Glad I'm not the only one struggling with Zeta Herc. It's a tricky customer for sure! If I didn't get it last night in great seeing at 500x, I'm not sure what else I can throw at it! Let us all know if you have better success!

I've never seen any hint of it, beginning to think I'm looking at the wrong star but that would be impossible! (I hope!)

Perhaps the VX12L might work?

[Size9Hex]

4 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

Send some clear skies here ! Always worth trying to bump up the magnification on those rare nights,

Nick.

Yup I can't see 500x getting much action based on how often (i.e. rarely) i use my 250x vs. my 180x eyepiece, but for those rare nights... wow!

Hope the skies do clear for you. If it's any consolation, the clouds seem to be in a pact with the full moon here. We've had either one or the other!

[Size9Hex]

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

I've never seen any hint of it, beginning to think I'm looking at the wrong star but that would be impossible! (I hope!)

Perhaps the VX12L might work?

Worth a go for sure. Interested to hear how you get on, and it looks a stunner of a scope! I think I saw John got Zeta Herc in a top notch apo at half the aperture though, so there's more to it throwing a big scope at it. The 250px can definitely split some very tight doubles, but I feel it (or the eyepiece) struggles a little with scattered light when one or other star is very bright. I'm loathe to blame the kit though, and I think part of boils down to probably not knowing what I'm looking for. It was a chaos of wobbly rings last night, and I'm just not that practiced at viewing doubles at that magnification yet.

[niallk]

Sounds magical! Nice one 

[John]

Great report and really good to read as I've not observed much over the past month !

Luna does look fabulous when the seeing steadies and very high magnifications can be used.

I've managed Zeta Herc with my ED120 and 130mm triplet fracs. The 12" dob will also split it but the star images are nowhere near as neat as the fracs produce. It's a very tight double and an uneven brightness one as well, just to make things trickier.

 

 

[Knighty2112]

500x mag? Sure you weren't  just smoking some whacky Baccy from Amsterdam? Just joshing! Well done. Must have been a great sight indeed. I'd be happy with 300x!  

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

Worth a go for sure. Interested to hear how you get on, and it looks a stunner of a scope! I think I saw John got Zeta Herc in a top notch apo at half the aperture though, so there's more to it throwing a big scope at it. The 250px can definitely split some very tight doubles, but I feel it (or the eyepiece) struggles a little with scattered light when one or other star is very bright. I'm loathe to blame the kit though, and I think part of boils down to probably not knowing what I'm looking for. It was a chaos of wobbly rings last night, and I'm just not that practiced at viewing doubles at that magnification yet.

I suspect the Tak might do it under excellent conditions but I rarely get them around here.

I've never seen anything amongst the mess of diffraction rings which could be it, well that's not true, but the trouble is it is never consistently in the same place!!

[John]

Here is the sketch I made of Zeta Herc with my ED120 back in 2013:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/154266-zeta-herculis-have-you-ever-managed-a-split/?do=findComment&comment=1958580

 

[Piero]

When I saw the Moon at mag higher than 450x last spring, my jaw almost broke the floor..! 

It's a great experience! 

[Size9Hex]

2 hours ago, John said:

Here is the sketch I made of Zeta Herc with my ED120 back in 2013:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/154266-zeta-herculis-have-you-ever-managed-a-split/?do=findComment&comment=1958580

 

Thanks, that's a great sketch. Shows just how varied some of these doubles can be - quite an abstract pattern in this case. I was definitely not looking for right sort of thing!

 

1 hour ago, Piero said:

When I saw the Moon at mag higher than 450x last spring, my jaw almost broke the floor..! 

It's a great experience! 

I know what you mean. I was gibbering at the view! It has been interesting reading your reports of the conditions from Venice. Would love the chance to see what could be achieved with the planets when the seeing is reliably good.

 

[Size9Hex]

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

500x mag? Sure you weren't  just smoking some whacky Baccy from Amsterdam? Just joshing! Well done. Must have been a great sight indeed. I'd be happy with 300x!  

 ... This was not me!

Just looking at your signature, there's definitely an unfilled niche for a massive scope capable of ludicrous magnifications. 

 

[Astro Imp]

That's a great report, the moon is becoming more and more of  favourite with me. 

I really wanted to get out last night as there were some great lunar targets on the terminator but alas was clouded out and it's been raining most of today.

[Piero]

That time I saw the Moon at those high powers I also saw Saturn and Mars, but I didn't push as much, only up to 300x. The division of Cassini was spectacular. A proper black line. On the planet, apart from the "usual" belt, additional horizontal features were detectable: kind of faint belts slightly darker slightly brighter. Never seen Saturn like that. All this from 150x to 300x. Mars was nice too, but unfortunately it was showing the face without seas.

That time I pushed the Moon up to 600x (Vixen SLV 5mm plus Powermate 2.5x). It was almost full moon, but thankfully some "mounts" and shadow were visible on the external border. My dob is an 8" so the exit pupil was smaller than yours (only 0.2 mm). Still the only "side effect" was a slightly softer image, but there was no "bubble effect" on the Moon surface as generally noticeable when too high magnifications for certain seeing conditions are used. 

Effect? A complete fly-by over the moon as if I were member of the Apollo team! After stepping back from the eyepiece and then looking at the moon in the sky straight with naked eye, honestly, I felt dizzy! 

[Knighty2112]

38 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

 ... This was not me!

Just looking at your signature, there's definitely an unfilled niche for a massive scope capable of ludicrous magnifications. 

 

No plans for anything larger on the horizon as yet. Whether this changes in the future time will tell.  

[ollypenrice]

Very early in the morning I once ran 500X on the moon, too. The seeing was supernatural and it was very exciting. It's the only time I've done it.

Olly

[Size9Hex]

21 hours ago, Astro Imp said:

That's a great report, the moon is becoming more and more of  favourite with me. 

I really wanted to get out last night as there were some great lunar targets on the terminator but alas was clouded out and it's been raining most of today.

It is a lovely sight to see. I haven't spent any time with it at all over the summer while it has been so low in the sky. I'd forgotten how stunning it is. Keep up the good work with your lunar reports by the way; I really enjoy reading them. Hope the rain clears for you soon.

[Size9Hex]

21 hours ago, Piero said:

That time I saw the Moon at those high powers I also saw Saturn and Mars, but I didn't push as much, only up to 300x. The division of Cassini was spectacular. A proper black line. On the planet, apart from the "usual" belt, additional horizontal features were detectable: kind of faint belts slightly darker slightly brighter. Never seen Saturn like that. All this from 150x to 300x. Mars was nice too, but unfortunately it was showing the face without seas.

That time I pushed the Moon up to 600x (Vixen SLV 5mm plus Powermate 2.5x). It was almost full moon, but thankfully some "mounts" and shadow were visible on the external border. My dob is an 8" so the exit pupil was smaller than yours (only 0.2 mm). Still the only "side effect" was a slightly softer image, but there was no "bubble effect" on the Moon surface as generally noticeable when too high magnifications for certain seeing conditions are used. 

Effect? A complete fly-by over the moon as if I were member of the Apollo team! After stepping back from the eyepiece and then looking at the moon in the sky straight with naked eye, honestly, I felt dizzy! 

That sounds amazing on Saturn. I guess we might be waiting a few years for it to come round again to get views like that from the UK. I did get a good view at 250x of Mars this summer, but it really was a game of patience waiting for those brief moments when it popped through the wobble!

[John]

It's worth using very high magnifications on Neptune and Uranus. I've found that 300x - 400x allows the faint moons of these worlds to be picked out with scopes in moderate apertures.

You do need to use averted vision to some extent as we are talking about magnitude 13-ish points of light but it can be done.

 

[todd8137]

What. Ep did you use,to get x500 ?,on a clear night in the winter with 1,710mm of my,sixteen inch would never let me go much above 300 does the 250p have 1200mm fl ?

pat 

[Grotemobile]

I have managed 470x with my C8. I used a 8.5 EP with

a 2x Barlow on the moon. 

[Size9Hex]

1 hour ago, todd8137 said:

What. Ep did you use,to get x500 ?,on a clear night in the winter with 1,710mm of my,sixteen inch would never let me go much above 300 does the 250p have 1200mm fl ?

pat 

4.7mm ES82 with 2x Barlow in a 1200mm focal length 250px. Definitely a rare night though. Prior to buying the Barlow, my 180x eyepiece got a fair amount of use compared to my 250x, so to get the chance to crank it up to 500x was a nice treat! Not sure there wil be many chances!