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OK, I'm goin' in!

The Warthog

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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OK, here's what happened. I hauled the scope out of the shed, and decided to try and split Castor, just for fun. Trouble was, Castor was almost directly overhead, and I couldn't force my neck into the position I needed to get the finderscope on it. I might have had a chance with the red-dot, but the battery's dead. So I gave up.

Swung over to Sirius, and dribbled down to M41, which I had discovered last night, and looked at it awhile. Then I got serious, and went after M46 and 47. And bagged them! Next I went after M48, and found it, too, after a few tries. That's three new M's for me, tonight.

Spent the rest of the time watching Saturn at various magnifications. I ran into some interesting adn annoying problems with my gear tonight. I've put the older of my two 2x Barlows back into service. I have the short Barlow from the Celestron ep kit, and a short Barlow numbered 93507. I paid $77 Canadian for it, so I think it's probably of a higher quality than the one from the kit. The Ultima Barlow is numbered 93506. Anyway, when I used it with my 8mm X-Cel, I had a heck of a time seeing anything through it. This was compounded by the fact that I had an odd wobble in my new mount. Fortunately, I'm not the panicky type, so I just tightened things until I thought I had it fixed, but the wobble came back. More on that later. The Barlow seemed to be OK with the Plossls, but I may try the other Barlow again, as it worked OK with the X-Cel before.

Watched Saturn through my 6mm Plossl, and also through my 15mm Plossl, as well as the X-Cel. I could see at least two moons, and possibly three - there was one I thought might be a star.

Decided to pack it in, and put my flashlight on the mount. Discovered that the problem was that one of the bolts holding the tripod legs on had loosened. Tightened it up, and solved the problem. Have to watch for that in future.

Another good night. Much more comfortable than last night. Still, I'd like a little better temps, like +10 will be fine anytime...

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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A successful night then WH, you have to watch out for loose nuts. :lol:

nabban

We loose nuts watch out for each other. :(

I always enjoy reading your reports WH, keep them coming :p

The 8mm barlowed will be giving you something like 250x. With a 4.5", everything would have to be in your favour to use that magnification.

It's actually 225x. It's usually a bit fuzzy, but I keep trying. My collimation is spot on at the moment, but the transparency is never good here. The 6mm is OK with the scope.

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MartinB

MartinB

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Thanks for the report WH. Always a good read and great to get some ideas for targets. You didn't say what you saw when you got there! Were they were chasing?

The problem of too much kit and too much choice seems to cause all sorts of problems WH, not that I would know :laugh:

Martin

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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Thanks for the report WH. Always a good read and great to get some ideas for targets. You didn't say what you saw when you got there! Were they were chasing?

The problem of too much kit and too much choice seems to cause all sorts of problems WH, not that I would know :laugh:

Martin

With my skies, scope, and eyesight, what I usually see is a few bright stars with a haziness behind them. I then go to a messier site and confirm the sighting by the configuration of the brighter stars. M41 was much better than average, giving me a lot of brighter stars, and a nice speckled background. I can't say it's not worth going after them, but I do wish I had a larger scope. M13 is a grey blob in my scope, but it's a softball full of stars in some of the bigger ones. When it comes to the Andromeda galaxy, all I get is the centre of it. Anyway, I am never disappointed to find one. Still can't nail down M37, though...

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Astroman

Astroman

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M46 is a great one. I show it all the time to the public. Mostly, because it has a planetary nebula right in front of it-namely Ngc 2438.

You should be able to see it in your scope, WH. Find M46 again and crank up the power as high as is practical. On the north side of the cluster, you'll see a small, round, faint balloon. If you have a UHC filter, that will help.

I like to show the whole cluster, then zoom in with the filter, then back out again so folks can see it all the time. It's kind of like the propeller in M13-once you see it, you always do. :laugh:

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Ant

Ant

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It's kind of like the propeller in M13-once you see it, you always do. :laugh:

Whats this then Astroman - never heard of it?

WH, Sounds like you had a hoot! is your mount an EQ5? Look at the legs, at the top on the sides there are little screws - make sure they are tight. That helps no end with stability!

Ant

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Astroman

Astroman

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It's kind of like the propeller in M13-once you see it, you always do. :laugh:

Whats this then Astroman - never heard of it?

Ant

Check out this picture Celescope took of M13. See? Below the center, off to the right is a "shadow" of a perfect 3 blade propeller. It's an observing trick you have to crank up the power when observing M13 and look for the lack of stars.

http://stargazerslounge.co.uk/index.php?topic=2793.msg29186#msg29186

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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WH, Sounds like you had a hoot! is your mount an EQ5? Look at the legs, at the top on the sides there are little screws - make sure they are tight. That helps no end with stability!

Ant

I'll tell ya, I had more fun than I've ever had with my clothes on! :laugh: My mount is an EQ3, but it is built the same as the EQ5, and I did find the bolts and thumbscrews, and tightened them. Lesson learned. :laugh: :laugh:

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Ant

Ant

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Cheers AM.

You are right once you see it - you can't miss it!!!!

I can't count the number of times I've looked at pic's of M13 and have never spotted it! Just goes to proves that you miss loads of stuff even when you think you're taking everything in!

Ant

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