Heritage 130/many DSO

[jetstream]

I waited all day to see if the forecast held and surprisingly it did Very transparent tonight with a strongly structured Milky Way showing and with above average seeing.

The Heritage 130mm started off the night on Saturn and supported 200x or a bit better. Cassini was sharp as was the C ring,B ring and lightly shaded A ring just past Cassini, a very good presentation. I'm dialing in the grand daughters scope and found that the 3-6 Nagler zoom is perfect for lunar/planetary with this scope. A good start...

So here we go lol!

The Super 25/NPB is a VG combo actually and loads of nebula were seen-M8 (lagoon) was nicely cut up by some lanes or whatever, the tiny Triffid (M20) shone brightly and up to the Swan (M17) -what a cool shape! who would think this scope would show this object so well,filtered and unfiltered. M16 (Eagle) was a piece of cake so it was time to see some Ducks... M11 is a personal favorite of mine and the 6.7mm ES 82 did a fine job. But Cygnus was waiting...

This scope is excellent on large nebula and the NAN was fantastic- not more to say- the detached patch off the tip of the Gulf,Pelican nebs off the sides were a piece of cake. Over to Sadr the IC1318 complex was readily visible- the "track" feature just off Sadr easy and get this-I followed nebulosity all the way to the tiny Crescent! This one was tough, an image scale thing for me, but the NPB pulled it out.

Now a bit of an issue- the Veil. It showed OK but at this exit pupil vs image scale I think a good OIII is needed-don't get me wrong it was good but there is more on the table. I think a shroud will keep the starlight out nicely too. BTW Pickering Wisp and the patch past the split in the Broom was showing..

However we did get a first for me! Up in Aquila I hunt dark nebs- and B142,B143 were showing well so I wanted to try B330 and got it right away! Again though on the objects a shroud would be an asset, for sure. Many other objects were seen- the Double Cluster,ET,Pacman Neb, M81/M82 and NGC 3077. M31 showed some dust lanes and its companion galaxies were easy- no looking for them they were just there. M13 came alive the the 6.7mm ES- M57 -great,M27 great and more.

So not a bad haul for 45min obs on the DSO!

                                                                                         and the best part? I had fun

[Stu]

Great stuff Gerry! I love it, most of us would need a shroud to keep out glare from light pollution, but your skies are so great that you need it to cut out the starlight!

Amazing what can be seen with such a small, entry level instrument. It's all about the skies, and the observer too!!  

[estwing]

lovely read and report Gerry. A great sweep across the skies proving what a wonderful sky tool this is.....I think I've found my Freddies first real scope....P.S. make a nice finderscope for the 24"..

[FenlandPaul]

Another inspiring report, Gerry. As Stu says, it's all about the skies and skill of the observer!! I long for the day when I am trying shield myself from stray starlight!!

Paul

[Piero]

Great report Gerry! 

We all should invest less in equipment and more in petrol!

Last night it was clear here too. Cygnus was very beautiful!

[Pondus]

'a shroud to keep the starlight out' 

[scarp15]

Brilliant again Gerry, wonderful descriptive report.

[Paul73]

Nice writeup. 

Small and wide is an absolute riot! I sometimes tuck littlest son's 100mm baby Dob under my arm and enjoy half an hour of wide field grinning. It's surprisingly stable at low mags.

Paul

[jetstream]

8 hours ago, estwing said:

lovely read and report Gerry. A great sweep across the skies proving what a wonderful sky tool this is.....I think I've found my Freddies first real scope....P.S. make a nice finderscope for the 24"..

Thanks Calvin!

I love this Heritage 130mm-vg optics, small, easy to collimate, lightweight,fast cooling and with enough aperture to make some fractors cry loll!Actually my fractors do cry

I checked the secondary once (vg) and only collimate the primary- it holds really well. I use one of these- it works perfectly and cheap! Last night I used it on my alt az mount for something different, what a flexible scope.