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Equinox 120 opens up the sky !


cotterless45

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When a good friend arrives bearing a 120 Equinox tooled up with a Maxbright diagonal on a Moonlite focuser , something says you're going to have an enjoyable session. No way were we going down the "same old " targets road !

Despite the Moon , we kicked off heading away from the glare. Andromeda gave the initial test for good seeing and we managed to consistently crack 1.1 arc second gaps.

The Lacerta clusters wowed with their dusty cores. What stood out for me was the ease of spotting really faint close companions , especially to monsters such as Propus, Bogardus and Rukh. The diffraction discs were just astounding .

Tegmine provided my highlight , it was great to catch the E and F stars of the Trapezium with ease. Lovely to catch the gems of Monoceros and Gemini.

Packed up at 4.30 , really astounded by what we had caught from the edge of town. Probably missed out loads !

clear skies ! Nick.IMG_6413.thumb.JPG.3afe97ccbe49eb6d2d047c212701b40f.JPGIMG_6414.thumb.JPG.39df0d187369d8d5d061ae260c251c0a.JPG

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Great report Nick :)

I was using my ED120 last night at our society obsevatory for an outreach session. Best views of Mars this season and many other targets as well.

These 4.7 inch fracs certainly pack a punch for their aperture. The other scopes there were an 8 inch SCT and an 18 inch newtonian but many remarked how well the ED120 showed the various targets.

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I've just woken up after landing back home at 06:30... Great night as always Nick! I'm always amazed at what we see from your place and even more amazed that you remember to write it all up in a report after...

I'm trying to think what were my highlights from the whole evening - As usual the amount of shared humour is something that should be an essential part of any Astro evening ? The early evening mortar bomb from the neighbour, your little local 'vampire' bat circling at dusk! (it's no fruit bat for sure) The visit from an old mate with his homemade 1950's scope.... great to see him again, although disappointed he never came in his boat.

As far as what we saw over the session - the binaries are amazing and I really love the challenge of those splits... The joy in first saying I've got it, then you get you turn and compare the directions and colours both giving yourselves a mutual pat on the back if you 'concur' (private joke there) However, our old friend shouting 10 o'clock as soon as he got it kind of ruined the game for a bit.

For me seeing Orion again and studying the wonders it holds was incredible, I've never seen the nebula as detailed as that before... and Sigma Orionis was crystal clear and tak sharp... delightful! 

The set up is amazing though... The 120 complimented by that diagonal and various EP's is quite something and I'm lucky to have it. Your mount with that belt drive mod is sooooooooo quiet and smooth! That little 10mm Vixen EP showed just how good it was compared to the fine array of EP's in our collections... a real gem and keeper!! The dew protection worked perfectly and even the use of the right angle finder on alignment proved the £40 well invested... 

Arghhhhhh that flipping Comet?? The records show it's there but we have to admit an epic fail on finding it! 

Nah a great night was had and I'll certainly re visit those targets throughout my future observing sessions... you know it's been a long productive night when on the way home you order something from the 'drive through' only to be told we are actually serving breakfast now Sir... and after that wonderful night that's just what I needed ? 

She's dried out... after working hard all night!!

 

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Lovely report Nick, some really good splits there. You must have had some decent seeing, great to get E & F so easily. I assume you caught the 4th star in Sigma Orionis given the other tough ones you got?

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Yep, really shocked at times to see what 120 caught. Pat kept adding  extra companions, including to sigma Orionis. Tempting to go down from 150 mm, but some tight squeezes ,the 150 view could put a car through the separations! Really great to showcase a few targets, 

 Nick.

 

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1 hour ago, Stu said:

Lovely report Nick, some really good splits there. You must have had some decent seeing, great to get E & F so easily. I assume you caught the 4th star in Sigma Orionis given the other tough ones you got?

I think Sigma Orionis was definitely a Wow moment Stu... I've seen it before countless times... but the clarity and brightness caught me out and I found it hard to stop viewing it ? almost worth another EP case plaque!!

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5 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

I am about to buy a vixen 10mm on this reports review.

Wait......................... 

The Vixen 10mm is this little Plossl... It's got some special name but it's not what you would expect!!!

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