Jupiter and Moon with Morpheus

[Sunshine]

Saturday night i was at the local park where i was doing some outreach which i enjoy to no end, before curious onlookers began to gather, i had a good half hour with the moon and Jupiter.This was the first time i was able to test out my 9mm Morpheus, i understand that a Mak is forgiving at f15 and i do not need the greatest eyepieces but, having a Starmaster dob also, i buy eyepieces with it in mind first. It doesn't hurt to have decent eyepieces anyway, regardless of scope, in my Mak the 9mm gives 166x which i have done on many occasions as long as seeing is good. Seeing was pretty darn good that night, the Mak handled the morpheus very well, i was actually floored by the view through the morpheus 9mm, FOV seemed wider than 76 degrees, my eyeball was overwhelmed for a moment as though there was too much to see at once, as though the field stops disappeared and i was in space!!.

Focus was easy and revealed a sharp image from edge to edge, i watched carefully as a particular crater moved into and out of view, curious to see how it would perform edge to edge, it was great, like floating in space. Once i was pleasantly satisfied with the awesome view of the moon through this fine eyepiece, i turned towards Jupiter, WOW! the 76 degrees really helps when you're at high power and, without my tracking on. Jupiter looked a bit warmer to me through the morpheus than it does in my 14mm ES/82 or, my APM 18 UW. Could this be due to less light at higher power? regardless, Jupiter was splendid even at high power, sharp around its edges, well defined equatorial bands and, Galilean moons looked as though they were tiny globes rather than just pinpoints. What struck me even more with Jupiter than did the moon, was the sense of being in space the Morpheus gave me, Jupiter looked like a globe, the edges of the eyepiece seemed to fade away and that huge eye lens allowed for my eye to search around, as one would turn their heads frantically if floating in space. So impressed with this eyepiece i am that i will immediately start seeking out the 6.5 for just that much closer on great nights, judging by what i saw, i could easily push a bit higher without sacrificing quality. 

My eyepiece collection which is growing has changed so much recently, more refined i guess, i am greatly enjoying what higher end eyepieces offer and realize their worth like i hadn't before. This morpheus left me a bit floored really, it just worked so well, ER was perfect for me also. As i slowly moved my eye into the glass, there was a moment where it seemed like i walked through a door into space and, the eyepiece disappeared. Throughout the night i greatly enjoyed switching between the Morpheus, Televue 24mm panoptic, 18mm APM UW, and the ES14mm 82 eyepieces, all found on Astro Buy sell at great prices. Summer has just started, i have yet to spend a night under a dark sky with my Starmaster, i am planning a long road trip to one of the darkest sites in Canada, Grasslands National Park Dark Sky Preserve where i will spend 10 nights. By then i will have surely added another (maybe two) more eyepieces (31mm Nagler would be great) i shudder to think what views lie ahead.

[Ruud]

That Morpheus certainly found a warm home. Congratulations on your new eyepiece!