Waiting for Dark.

[Geoff Barnes]

Just sitting indoors waiting patiently for the approaching darkness (and for the patchy low cloud to disperse).

I'm hoping to have another play with the new 6.5mm Morpheus and have a side by side comparison with the 8-24mm zoom, should be interesting. 

I've also dug out my older Baader Classic Ortho 6mm which I  haven't used at all in the 12 inch Dob yet. A totally different EP from the other two, but will be very interesting to compare the views.

Starting to get dark now, come on clouds please go away!

[John]

Is Antares or Sirius on show for you Geoff ?

Good test of 6mm eyepieces splitting those two with a 12" dob

Alternatively, spotting faint planetary moons such as Enceladus at Saturn or Triton at Neptune can push the optics quite hard.

Hope you have fun ! - had a good night here last night with the ED120. Very bright moon in the sky so I didn't bother with the 12" dob.

[Geoff Barnes]

Hi John 

Just come in for dinner after a slightly frustrating session waiting for gaps in the clouds to pass over, but got some reasonable views of Jupiter and Saturn. Did see the double of Rigil Kentaurus but that's an easy split.

I think I saw Enceladus a couple of nights ago, but there were so many moons and faint stars in view around Saturn I couldn't pinpoint it.

Sirius alas is still up in daytime, but I will venture back out shortly for a go at Antares which is fairly close to Saturn, thanks for the suggestion!

 Haven't seen Neptune yet as it's obscured by trees to our east.

Righto,  going out again now.

[Geoff Barnes]

Mission accomplished!

Finally the clouds departed and I managed my longest session yet with the 12 inch Dob, before my targets sank behind the trees to our west (200 feet tall monstrous eucalyptus regnans).

I compared the Baader 8-24mm Mark 4 zoom, the new 6.5mm Morpheus and my Baader Classic Ortho 6mm.

All three provided wonderful views of Jupiter and Saturn, sharp and contrasty, with notable increases in brightness from the 6mm up to the 8mm zoom, but the BCO 6mm still gave plenty of brightness, the joys of a big 12 inch light bucket!

I was impressed with the overall quality of the Ortho, and the smaller FOV was hardly noticeable in comparison with the 76mm of the Morpheus. It did lack the overall clarity and definition though of the Morpheus I feel, maybe the latest Baader Phantom coatings are responsible? The Mark 4 zoom too was more impressive in this department, bright and sharp. No GRS tonight alas, and no shadow transits either.

With Saturn all three performed admirably, Cassini clearly visible, and the equatorial banding subtle but clearly there. But If I had to pin down one attribute that the Morpheus stood out with it was its ability to create a wonderfully 3D image, almost holographic you could say of the planet and its rings. It felt as if you could delve inside the rings and round the back of the planet and emerge on the other side, the shadows were so stark and black, cast behind the disc onto the rings behind. I just didn't get that sensation with the ortho, it was clear and sharp but somehow more 2D than 3D.

I decided to stick with the 6.5mm Morpheus and, as suggested by John, I had a go at spotting Enceladus. Well, Dione and Tethys  were easy to spot closely grouped just to the right of the planet (inverted Dob image) and Rhea just above, Enceladus should have been midway between the first two. Was it there? Not really, I couldn't see it, or could I? The seeing had been a bit wobbly at times, a bit like looking down into a pool of water and dropping pebbles in causing ripples. But for a few seconds it cleared, and there it was, the faintest spec of light right where it should be, barely discernible it faded in and out of view for a couple of minutes, but I saw it Yay!

On to John's second suggested challenge, splitting red supergiant Antares. I didn't even know it was a double! I centred it in the viewfinder with the 24mm zoom and then put in the Morpheus. Hmm, it's red and it's bright, but it's only one star. Or is it? There's something odd about it, it's not really a pinpoint, it's a bit ovalish in shape with a bit of a bulge on its left side, at least I think so, geez it's hard to tell! I can't say I split it really, but it wasn't a pinpoint at all.

Decided to finish off with a look at rapidly receding Mars, still not a lot of detail, the south polar cap is bright still, but the darker patches are still very vague.

I noticed on StarWalk2 that Neptune was fairly close by. I've never seen Neptune before, so with the aid of my wonderful Go-To system I sent it off to find the blue planet, and so it did in 5 seconds flat. Not quite what I was expecting, just a tiny bluish dot really, but hey, another first for me!

As the nearly full moon was nearby I couldn't resist having a look. Ouch! Too bright! I'm still half blind an hour later, lol!

What a night! Such fun!!!

(Did I say I love my new Morpheus?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John]

Sounds a great session Geoff - lots of challenges and successes !

Neptune is just 2.5 arc seconds in apparent diameter currently. That would fit between stars of the wider of the 2 pairs of Epsilon Lyrae, the "double, double".

Antares is really challenging from here because of it've very low altitude as well as being a close, uneven brightness double. I managed it with my 130mm triplet refractor a couple of times. The secondary star looked greenish to me. Splitting Sirus is a little easier (but still not a "walk in the park" by any means !).

Your description of Enceladus seems right - these fainter planetary moons are rather like that - just a pinpoint of light and sometimes thats intermittant due to seeing.

I must try a Morpheus eyepiece sometime