The moon with a Mak

[Sunshine]

 Finally i have had some time tonight, under a clear sky, to point my new SW Mak 150 which i bought in December at the beautiful waxing crescent moon in the western sky outside my backyard porch.

i had no idea what to expect, having never even looked through a mak before, i set the scope out early and left it to equalize while i had dinner and some television, 3 hours later i realized i had put the scope out and bolted out lol.

I inserted my 24mm X cell LX reasoning that with the inherent narrow FOV of this scope i better use a 24 right off the bat, well it was just enough to squeeze the moon into the FOV entirely, and what a grand view it was, i really was blown away!.

First off i was struck by the beautiful contrast, the razor sharp limb against the inky black sky was fantastic, second was earthshine, beautiful looking and striking against the darker backdrop, craters speckled up and down the terminator with mare's and mountain ranges 

beautifully contrasted and razor sharp.

Seeing conditions were very good, with minimal atmospheric distortion,  i was able to push magnification up to 250 while maintaining image quality with minimal loss, i can honestly say that this Mak has provided me with a view of the moon i haven't seen since 

looking through a Televue Frac at a star party years ago.

I can't wait to give Jupiter a go later tonight if the clouds don't roll in as expected since rain is in the forecast for the morning, but i don't mind anyway, i have waited since December for both weather and time to finally use my new scope, i can wait for jupiter.

Tonight, i felt as though i rediscovered the moon, such was the absolutely beautiful view through this scope which is new to me, i will be looking at some eyepieces with a bit longer FL to give me a bit more FOV around the moon, maybe a 30mm would do the trick.

 

 

[Demonperformer]

Sounds like an excellent evening.

Jupiter will be great ... Saturn will completely blow your mind ...

[Stu]

Great night and excellent descriptions. Maks do give excellent views, particularly when left to cool for a good long time.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Excellent! 

We've the Dob-mob lurking somewhere on SGL ... so let's start a Mak-pack.  

[RT65CB-SWL]

...and/or the Cat-pact.  

[Sunshine]

12 hours ago, Philip R said:

so let's start a Mak-pack. 

Oh I like Mak-Pack, I think you're onto something, we shall be the Mak-Pack! there should be a Mak-Pack category on the home page.