Lunar observing report

[Dave1]

Hello everyone

I've been out for just over two hours tonight. The main purpose of tonight was to give my Vixen Orion P-80L a run through its paces, as it was out of collimation last time I used the telescope. It is now perfectly collimated. One of the other reasons for observing was also to compare my 7.7mm 365 Astronomy Abbe Orthoscopic eyepiece, 8mm Brandon eyepiece, and Baader Hyperion Zoom eyepiece. I also compare my 6mm Circle T Orthoscopic eyepiece to my 6mm Japanese Huygens eyepiece (0.965").

Well I used what I believe to be the Plato crater for my comparisons. What can I say, the Brandon won by a long way. The detail was simply amazing. I had a proper wow moment. I could not believe how sharp the image was, how good the definition was. Colour contrast was very good indeed. The Brandon put up a natural image of the moon with no tendency to appear warm or cold. It was almost as if the image was etched onto the eyepiece. The image was sharp right to the edge.

Coming in behind the Brandon was the Baader Hyperion Zoom eyepiece set to 8mm. Nothing was quite as good. It was not quite as sharp. colour definition wasn't quite as good, contrast wasn't quite as good. Overall tone of the image was natural like the Brandon. The biggest difference between this eyepiece and the Brandon was the sharpness. It didn't appear etched onto the eyepiece. 

The 7.7mm 365 Astronomy Abbe Orthoscopic, whilst compared to the Brandon appeared to put up a warm, coffee toned image. Sharpness was the weakest of the three eyepieces. definition, and contrast was on par with the Baader Hyperion Zoom eyepiece.

When I compared the Circle T Orthoscopic 6mm and Japanese 6mm Huygens, I had to spend quite sometime at the eyepieces. In the end I decided that the 6mm Circle T Orthoscopic showed more detail. The detail was also easier to see. With the Huygens I would have to spend more time at the eyepiece to tease out all of the detail the eyepiece had to offer. When comparing contrast between the two eyepieces it would be hard for me to pick between the two. I will say the Huygens put up a warmer image. Over all I preferred the Circle T Orthoscopic 6mm, the detail jumped out, and I could see more details compared to the Huygens, I also preferred the natural tones of the Circle T Orthoscopic 6mm.

I also spent a lot of time tonight viewing the moon with my Edmund Optics RKE 15mm. This eyepiece is simply superb on the moon. Revealing a lot of detail. The longer I looked at the moon the finer the detail I noticed. I would actually like to compare an 8mm RKE to the 8mm Brandon, I think that would be a very interesting comparison.  

Well considering I was able to make such detailed comparisons between eyepieces , should tell everyone, that the telescope performed very well indeed. I really can not fault it at all. It put up some very impressive views tonight. There was a little chromatic aberration.

Dave