24" on Pickerings Wisp

[jetstream]

The 24" is together (pictures soon) and the weather has not been co operating for quite a while. Last night gave a few minutes of variable transparency before the moon came up. The sky was no where near as good as the best nights here but I did catch one fleeting glimpse of HIP 74818 in Ursa Minor at 6.6 NELM. Light high cloud was rolling through in patches which can be confusingly frustrating. The MW was weak with some moments of brightness, but no structure visible really.

Scope: 24" Astrosystems dob (19% CO), Ostahowski primary (very smooth, great specs)

Eyepieces: 20mm Lunt HDC, Nikon 17mm/14mm HW

Filter: Lumicon UHC -a tight spec example

Pickerings Wisp is a favorite and some twisted detail showed in the main triangle body- the extra eye luminosity and image scale here offers an advantage over the 15" for sure. One feature of note was the widening of the Wisp past the main triangle,following the "neck"  in an offset roundish shape with detail trying to come through. I'm sure under better conditions this feature will really open up...

The Western Veil showed its "tube" easily and at the other end the 3rd split in the broom was direct vision and distinct. The Veil did show nicely with no filter but not near as good as better nights.

One last thing- M51 showed its spirals well and there is no question of features in them, even in this area of the sky with less transparency than others last night and M13 was absolutely stunning...

Edited June 21, 2019 by jetstream

[Littleguy80]

Congratulations on the 24", Gerry. Great report. I've been looking forward to hearing how the 24" performs. Sorry to hear the weather hasn't been cooperating. 

[Stu]

Sounds well worth the wait Gerry, I can't imagine what it will show when you get your best skies back again!!

[FenlandPaul]

So pleased for you Gerry. Sounds like a promising first light even in less than ideal conditions. Can’t wait to read about you pushing this beast to the limit!!

Paul

[scarp15]

Exciting introduction to this scope Gerry, very interesting observational detail in features concerning the varied subjects explored, particularly considering the light nights presently. As with other comments, look forward to further reports and pictures.  

[John]

Great initial report Gerry - keep them coming

Pickerings Wisp should be called Flemings Wisp really you know !

[Piero]

Great report, Gerry. I'm sure this is just the beginning of many fabulous sessions with this new telescope. Hope to read more and more in the near future.

Best, Piero

[estwing]

I hope you've got lots of notes, going to be revisiting a lot of targets now!!!

Congratulations Gerry. What a wonderful tool to open up the treasures above.

Clear skies.

[jetstream]

7 hours ago, estwing said:

I hope you've got lots of notes, going to be revisiting a lot of targets now!!!

Congratulations Gerry. What a wonderful tool to open up the treasures above.

Clear skies.

Thanks Calvin!

I can already see what you mean about revisiting- I observed IC1318, which shows well in the 15" as 2 separated "tracks" and a bit of surrounding nebulosity, with the 24" and did not recognize it lol! The whole "track" area was buried in nebulosity, so much so that I had to confirm the object location a few times as I couldn't believe it was IC1318...

This scope is heavy, stable and well made- no problem tracking near the zenith from the (inadequate) ladder.

Calvin, you and your crew inspired me to try a large scope and it is well worth it- thanks guys!

[estwing]

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

Calvin, you and your crew inspired me to try a large scope and it is well worth it- thanks guys

I'm still mulling the move to 24" tbh Gerry but unfortunately a cruel twist to my funds has put that on hold....

Lambrettas,the cruel twist is called!.

I did a similar thing with my 12.5" Dob..the 18" put me back to square one with my observation tally!....

Your dedication in all weathers and reports using basic observing skills doesn't go unnoticed, I wish you many long enjoyable sessions that will live long in your memories. Calv.

[alan potts]

Great to see you have the 24 inch up and running, weather is absolutely awful here too.

Alan

[Demonperformer]

That sounds like a very nice scope. Hope you continue to get views that are worthy of it.

[jetstream]

9 hours ago, alan potts said:

Great to see you have the 24 inch up and running, weather is absolutely awful here too.

Alan

Thanks Alan, the extra aperture really opens up the objects. The space between Jupiters bands was full of heavily colored ,fine detail the other night under avg to below avg conditions- my 15" never showed it like this. Mags were 200x-250x and the scope wasn't cooled (didn't plan on obs Jupiter).

Its raining pretty hard this morning and our weather has been poor for astronomy for over 6 months now. How is the weather typically in Bulgaria Alan?

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, jetstream said:

Thanks Alan, the extra aperture really opens up the objects. The space between Jupiters bands was full of heavily colored ,fine detail the other night under avg to below avg conditions- my 15" never showed it like this. Mags were 200x-250x and the scope wasn't cooled (didn't plan on obs Jupiter).

Its raining pretty hard this morning and our weather has been poor for astronomy for over 6 months now. How is the weather typically in Bulgaria Alan?

As I type it's coming down like stair rods, thats what my mum use to say, an old expression I guess. May was horrible and June so far even worse, I did have one really good night at the telescope with a camera but haven't had the dob out all year. In June we have had 22 inches of rain up to today and at the moment the 4th storm for the day is passing near by. We are only sort of getting the edges of these storms though the other night almost 3 inches fell in a hour, I thought the house was under fire. We often have 20 plus clear nights in both months

Alan

 

[jetstream]

4 minutes ago, alan potts said:

As I type it's coming down like stair rods, thats what my mum use to say, an old expression I guess. May was horrible and June so far even worse, I did have one really good night at the telescope with a camera but haven't had the dob out all year. In June we have had 22 inches of rain up to today and at the moment the 4th storm for the day is passing near by. We are only sort of getting the edges of these storms though the other night almost 3 inches fell in a hour, I thought the house was under fire. We often have 20 plus clear nights in both months

Alan

 

Holy cow Alan!

Thats a lot of rain. We are dry, cloudy and cold- with local hvy rain in places? 20 miles from here got deluged, us very little. I did not know Bulgaria got so much rain.

[alan potts]

1 minute ago, jetstream said:

Holy cow Alan!

Thats a lot of rain. We are dry, cloudy and cold- with local hvy rain in places? 20 miles from here got deluged, us very little. I did not know Bulgaria got so much rain.

Gerry, normally it doesn't, often the end of May is with a few days of stormy weather then it's clear a dry until September or even October. Most strange.

[jetstream]

7 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Gerry, normally it doesn't, often the end of May is with a few days of stormy weather then it's clear a dry until September or even October. Most strange.

We have had years like the one were having now but who knows where the weather is going, forest fires can be a concern so this rain is welcome. Yes, I kind of thought that your place was drier normally than this...

An interesting read is about the polar vortex breaking up, reforming and moving etc.

[mapstar]

Nice report Gerry and good to see the 24 is living up to expectations.

A nice smooth mirror under those skies must be a joy to use and as you say M51 has masses of detail in larger aperture when the transparency is there.

Jupiter seems like a football in the eye piece instead of a golf ball! So bright.