70mm frac, M42 and Castor

[mikeDnight]

I had chance to play with my grandsons 70mm bresser refractor this evening, and have to say i was pleasantly surprised at how well it performed. I made a quick sketch of M45 and Castor, playing around with various eyepieces to help me get a feel for the optical quality. The scope was initially used with a 32mm Omni plossl giving X22 and the Orion nebula looked good. I made a sketch, then increased the mag to X35 by changing the eyepiece to a 20mm Ultrascopic. This increased the contrast and the dark nebula became very evident as the contrast improved.

Castor revealed a perfect split with textbook diffraction pattern. The brilliant white primary and mild pink secondary were beautiful to look at in the 70mm while using a 5mm Ultrascopic, giving X140. At this power the scopes cheap diagonal began to show its flaws, with plenty of light scatter.

 

[Mr niall]

Great report, fab drawings. Miss my 70mm frac!

[NGC 1502]

Nice report Mike. It’s surprising what a 70mm scope can reveal, even from a light polluted back yard like mine. My 70mm Pronto shows many double and multiple stars nicely, even tight triples like iota Cassiopeia. You’ve also sketched the Castor ‘C’ component, easily missed when observing the bright AB. I like the way small refractors show pinpoint stars, and diffraction rings add to the charm of the view. The ‘C’ star is the fainter one closest to the AB, not the brighter field star near to the edge of the field of view, shows you were observing properly ?

Ed.

[mariosi]

Wonderful work Mike! 

Marios