Evening At The Observatory

[Sunshine]

Last night i was invited to volunteer my scope at the David Dunlap Observatory where the Royal Astronomical Society was hosting a family night observing session. Many families showed up for a peek through our scopes, and a tour of the observatory which boasts a 74 inch scope and 3 smaller supporting scopes including a radio telescope. This night i decided my Mak 150 on my GP mount would be easily carried and setup, so off i went,both Saturn and Jupiter where the highlights of the night and sure enough everyone lined up at our scopes, 7 in total, to have a peek. There's something so rewarding listening to children gasp at the sight through a telescope,there was no shortage of that last night, seeing was good, and with the main observatory at our backs, it was such a nice place to be.

After spectators had left the site, us amateurs remained, giving us a chance to have a look through each others scopes and converse for a while in the 25 degree night which was ideal. I really wanted to see how my Mak held up against some other scopes of varying designs, among them a roughly 110mm Astrophysics refractor, a 7 inch Questar Mak (yes i was openly jealous of that one) and several SCT's of 8" and 10" sizes. I was afraid, that i would be envious of smaller frac's, and the questar Mak, driving me to sell my scope, and spend more, as happens too often when we are blown away by another scope. Well, i am happy to say that i drove home not only with a smile on my face, but a swagger in my step lol, both i and others were surprised at just how well my little Mak held its own among some heavy hitters namely the 115mm series 6000 meade.

Jupiter was first up as we all had our scopes trained on it, i was next to the chap with the 115mm meade, i have to say that when i saw his scope i was impressed, it is built well and has a very nice and solid focuser. We both popped in eyepieces which would give us very similar magnifications, i did like that his was slightly more contrasty, but it wasn't enough in both our eyes to justify the difference in price solely based on planetary observation. The Frac provided a wider FOV which is great for AP and observing some larger objects, but the showdown was strictly planetary this night.  I must say he really enjoyed the fact that i was able to push magnification higher while maintaining quality, he really liked the view through my Mak and decided to try out his lineup of eyepieces through my scope, he was impressed, which made me feel like a rockstar for a bit lol.

To make a long story short, it was a great night and my mak came away feeling like the little scope that could, everyone seemed to want to try out their eyepieces in it, only the chap with the 7 inch Questar seems to have bested the view through my Mak, his scope was a lesson in clarity and contrast which was beautiful to see. I knew these Maks were planetary and lunar killers, but to hear it from others, as they look through your scope, is rewarding i must say. Even the guy with the 10 inch SCT seems to have stuck around and looked through my scope for quite some time, trying out his eyepieces and saying "nice view". 

A few nights ago i spent some time getting my collimation as perfect as can be, maybe it payed off, others liked the size, performance, and portability of the Mak, and a few were interested enough to say they would have a peek at the Skywatcher site. Earlier on while members of the public were going from scope to scope, before i had looked though other scopes, many said they enjoyed the view in mine for some reason they couldn't put their finger on. I was a bit surprised by some comments like this, it made me a bit excited, and a bit less eager to fork out a bunch for a frac, which personally i have not owned, save for a 60mm doorstop when i was a child. All said and done, i am happy with my Mak, i think pound for pound, dollar for dollar, inch for inch,i won't find a better performer considering these factors, well, maybe a small short tube for AP because Maks are fairly restrictive in the FOV department.

The photo below is an online pic of the David Dunlap Observatory, it was just too dark for my phone.