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5hr Starmaster Adventure


Sunshine

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Last night was a clear one, dark, it finally was the first night for a proper session since I found this “little” darling of a dob since Imonths ago. Since then I had only managed one or two hurried peeks at the Orion Nebula over the winter and, I mean hurried, needless to say I was excited for this night. Unfortunately I was not able to drive out to a dark site as my wife was watching over her little nephews for the night and, I wanted to be close just in case (you never know with toddlers).  

So there I stood, waiting at dusk, eyes strained looking up for the first sign of Polaris so I could do a collimation check which was a breeze, perfect, uniform disc as it collapsed and, with a refractor like “snap” to a point. Jupiter was my first target, using the APM 18mm UW gave a wondrous view of the giant. I realized that I would need more power so I swapped for the Morpheus 9mm. The Morpheus was the highest power eyepiece I had, sadly, after looking at Jupiter with it at 169x, I realized how short I would be on power. Jupiter was just jaw dropping! detail oozed and Galilean moons looked wonderful, 250x would be a breeze had I had the eyepiece, I was left hungry for more power, if the scope could talk, it would have laughed, insulted with my feeble challenge of 9mm.

Once the sky darkened a bit further, I quickly turned to M13 which I knew was almost directly at Zenith, aiming my Telrad, starting with the APM 18mm again, I was again just overwhelmed with the contrast and beauty of this famous target, king of clusters. Contrast, though I was not in a dark site, the Milky Way not visible from my home, I was still blown away by the contrast and fine detail I was able to see. M13 was awash with stars, to the centre (not actual core) let’s just say middle,  more stars than I had ever seen, each diamond like and, I could discern color differences with the 9mm. It took willpower to leave M13 behind, I could have watched it all night. Moving on to the next target, I found myself feeling as though my mind had drawn a blank, I was a bit overwhelmed by Jupiter and M13, a bit euphoric.

No matter how many times I had seen them before, this may have well been the first, imagining the possibilities under a dark sky site made my heart skip a beat. Vega was bright and bluish white above me, I had M57 in mind but, Vega was competing for my attention. By now, I had basically left the Morpheus in the tube, 169x was not a lot to ask of any target in this scope, this mirror was showing its mettle and, taking no prisoners. Vega was hard to describe, it’s bluish white light was strikingly beautiful, diffraction spikes like spires shining out into a black background, beautiful to say the least. A short hop away was M57, for the first time I was able to discern two parts to M57, it’s outer most denser ring and, innermost less dense nebulosity, I struggled to see its central star but was not able to, not sure what it takes to see it but, I did try. Following closely behind Jupiter was Saturn, having had an eyeful of Jupiter i was eager for Saturn, it was no surprise to see Saturn was beautiful, though, not appearing as large as Jupiter, was still striking. Cassini' division was seemingly cut out with a laser, detail was faint but, could still be seen.

Many targets soon followed, the double in Cassiopeiae, several fuzzies, even a wild duck. By 330am I was thoroughly broken, how so? I don’t have a proper observing chair, i was contorted in so many positions for so long, holding myself in a prolonged crouch for some objects, I was beaten proper. Needless to say I will be looking for an adjustable chair, I went to bed feeling like I had been in a wrestling match. A dark site I must make a priority, seeing what this scope can do under less than ideal conditions I can’t wait to give it a better sky to work with. One thing I did notice, the one eyepiece which I thought would be fantastic, the 24mm panoptic, sadly, for some reason I can’t explain was underwhelming, seemed like it had a bit too much EOFB and, I could not bring the stars to a point as i was able with other eyepieces. Stars seemed to seagull as the reached the edge, maybe others can weigh in on that, maybe i have overlooked a technical aspect with regards to the 24mm panoptic which makes it less desirable with this scope. Having had a good long session, i also realized i would like to elevate the tetrad a bit more, i found that looking through it involved having my jaw just touching the scope which made it a bit tight for space, i am not sure howto elevate it, maybe a 3D printed spacer.

 

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Edited by Sunshine
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Brilliant. Thanks for posting. You hit some of my favourite targets. 

You can buy a spacer to raise the telrad - you probably already know but just in case you don’t it’s xalled a telrad rise base.

Steve

 

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On 23/06/2019 at 17:53, Trikeflyer said:

You can buy a spacer to raise the telrad

i did find that telrad spacer last year but, was horrified at the price, would have been over $65 for a piece of plastic, can't justify that, i will find a work around for much cheaper.

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