Deneb, no nebula(s)

[Ships and Stars]

Hi all,

My first observing report. Despite the better half saying 'no, no, for the love of God why did I marry you, you spend more on used eyepieces which hold their value extremely well' (I made up the second part) which is a frequent event, I cranked up the old country outlaw music and took the camper and a SW 130 to my closest semi-dark sky spot in the hopes of seeing the North America nebula. Around 1:13am which is the darkest point now at 57N. No joy. I tracked Deneb, but looked all around for the nebula. I was happy with the little SW 130, super portable around the tall pines, no finderscope needed, stars were needle sharp, just aimed along the tube clamps. I swapped OIII filters, but nothing. Airy disc was perfect, so at least I know that's in order.

Having said all of this, the sun never dipped too far below the horizon, it was basically dawn the entire time. Glad I didn't drag the 20" dob out. I had a great time out in the sticks, singing to myself and the squirrels, despite the lack of nebulosity!

Dark skies return in mid-August. Welcome to NNE Scotland!

 

Cheers

 

[Stu]

Good effort, but probably do need astro darkness back, and good transparency to get the NAN. A fabulous sight when you do though.

[Ships and Stars]

Yep, it was bright. Deneb was like a coin in a water fountain. I could see everything.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Ships and Stars
removed exclamation mark. not needed.

[Stu]

Probably best to stick to the smaller DSOs with higher surface brightness until then. Globs and planetary nebulae should be ok

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, Ships and Stars said:

Hi all,

My first observing report. Despite the better half saying 'no, no, for the love of God why did I marry you, you spend more on used eyepieces which hold their value extremely well' (I made up the second part) which is a frequent event, I cranked up the old country outlaw music and took the camper and a SW 130 to my closest semi-dark sky spot in the hopes of seeing the North America nebula. Around 1:13am which is the darkest point now at 57N. No joy. I tracked Deneb, but looked all around for the nebula. I was happy with the little SW 130, super portable around the tall pines, no finderscope needed, stars were needle sharp, just aimed along the tube clamps. I swapped OIII filters, but nothing. Airy disc was perfect, so at least I know that's in order.

Having said all of this, the sun never dipped too far below the horizon, it was basically dawn the entire time. Glad I didn't drag the 20" dob out. I had a great time out in the sticks, singing to myself and the squirrels, despite the lack of nebulosity!

Dark skies return in mid-August. Welcome to NNE Scotland!

 

Cheers

 

Great report!

Keep trying with the H130, I can tell you first hand it does very well on the NAN. The supplied 25mm does a nice job on it and we use a DGM NPB with success. An OIII helps contrast espc under less than dark skies.

Wait until you see the Pleiades in the H130!

Just a heads up- your 20" will be fantastic on so much... on the huge NAN though you will look "through" the nebula and need to catch the edges... put that bad boy on the Crescent and Veil and hang on!

[Ships and Stars]

You are right, but the sky was so bright, it was futile. Mid-August I'll wheel out the big guns....

[Ships and Stars]

Stu and Gerry - just got your posts at once. It's a bit funny having a 130 and a 500, but you can guess which one gets used the most now! I'm shopping for tyres to bolt onto the 20" frame so I can wheel it into the van with the loading ramps. 90kg of GOTO, synscan, primary mirror and secondary.

[Ships and Stars]

7 minutes ago, jetstream said:

 

Just a heads up- your 20" will be fantastic on so much... on the huge NAN though you will look "through" the nebula and need to catch the edges... put that bad boy on the Crescent and Veil and hang on!

I hate when that happens! haha... no looking forward to it. I managed to pick up some very nice eyepieces this year, I think everything is in order. Fingers crossed, mid-August will get properly dark here.

[jetstream]

2 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

I hate when that happens! haha... no looking forward to it. I managed to pick up some very nice eyepieces this year, I think everything is in order. Fingers crossed, mid-August will get properly dark here.

Great!

Which EP's did you get?

[Ships and Stars]

1 minute ago, jetstream said:

Great!

Which EP's did you get?

 I'm lazy - I have a Leica zoom - http://apm-telescopes-englisch.shopgate.com/item/33383038  it is tack sharp at any length! The Ethos are nice, but I do like to see the field stop. The Leica at 18mmFOV is about the same as 9mmFOV, the FOV just gets wider as you zoom in. A proper work of art, great images at any magnification, mirrors willing.

[jetstream]

Awesome!

I have one too and it really responds to the Baader VIP I find. Wait until you see the core of M42 with it...

[Ships and Stars]

I've tried the Leica against Ethos and the Delite series, can't tell any difference. Both terrestrial and astronomical. Besides the field stops, the Leica just wins over an over.

[jetstream]

It is excellent!

I do like hyperwides for large neb viewing or for star fields but this is a very much personal thing, many don't like them.

[Ships and Stars]

1 minute ago, jetstream said:

It is excellent!

I do like hyperwides for large neb viewing or for star fields but this is a very much personal thing, many don't like them.

I do like a large FOV at first, then I dive in... I use the 55mm plossl in an f4 scope to locate things, but damn it's good. It has an exit pupil around the size of a high school trampoline, but honestly, from what I have seen, it is so so sharp. Just amazing.

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, Ships and Stars said:

I've tried the Leica against Ethos and the Delite series, can't tell any difference. Both terrestrial and astronomical. Besides the field stops, the Leica just wins over an over.

To my eyes the Leica zoom is sharper than Delos a bit and quite a bit more than Ethos. It really does like the VIP barlow..The color tone of the LZ is superb for Jupiter etc IMHO and also excels on planetary's.

Delos does deeper than either the LZ or Ethos to my eyes but the first and most important requirement is dark and transparent skies. Another excellent addition for you might be a 10mm BCO, ortho purists scoff at its enlarged FOV but this eyepiece really does work, at least my example does.

You will also see the HH with the 20" and the Super 25mm from the H130 will work, TV plossls are nice here too.

 

[Paul73]

Sharper than a Delos!!! High Praise indeed. They are the sharpest eyepieces i’ve every used (narrowly beating Ethos and the aforementioned BCO’s). I’m going to have to try a Leica now......

 

[Ships and Stars]

I also have the 21mm and 13mm Ethos, I'll definitely be keeping the 21 but might 'possibly' be letting go of the 13mm, I'll use them some more when things get a bit darker and see how I get on with it. I never thought I'd sell an Ethos!

I've been wanting to try the Delos - I have a 9mm Delite but a little more FOV would be nice. Then again, the Leica zoomed in to 9mm offers this!

I really enjoy the zoom, must admit. Money well spent.

[John]

Great report and I can't wait to start hearing about how the 500 does when the skies are darker.

I did manage to get some of the N A Neb last night with my 12 inch and an O-II filter but I'm a long way further south than you and it does actually get dark for a short while here. The Veil Nebula is nearby and was pretty spectacular as well.

I find the Ethos eyepieces superb with my 12inch dob. I did have the Leica zoom and Baader VIP barlow for a while and thought I'd be soon letting my Ethos / Delos and Pentax XW eyepieces go but it didn't happen that way for me and the zoom went instead. It was optically excellent though, just not quite my "cup of tea". I prefer not to see field stops if possible, especially with the dob - I've fallen for the "endless pool of stars" effect when I can get it !

Keep the reports coming from up north !

 

[Whistlin Bob]

Great report- always nice to share in others enthusiasm.

The NAN is a funny one- it actually looks better in my finder than in my 14".

[jetstream]

On 03/07/2019 at 12:08, Paul73 said:

Sharper than a Delos!!! High Praise indeed. They are the sharpest eyepieces i’ve every used (narrowly beating Ethos and the aforementioned BCO’s). I’m going to have to try a Leica now......

 

The Leica/VIP is very sharp but not as sharp as the Zeiss 25.1-6.7mm ( in the center of FOV). You might not like the edge distortion in a fast scope with the Zeiss. The Zeiss falls off sa bit at its very highest mag ranges, but this is sat 545x in the 15" on the moon, the Vixen Hr 2.4mm go the limit... 761x very sharp. They are sharp in any good telescope.

The Zeiss zoom has almost no scatter.The Leica can display edge of field brightening and my f4 24" seems to prefer the Leica. The Delos go deeper than either zooms.

Just my 2 cents.

[John]

When considering making the most of really large aperture scopes, I've found these folks reports very interesting:

http://www.faintfuzzies.com/

When you see photos like this, you realise the size of some of the instruments being used by this group, and under very dark skies:

 

[jetstream]

I want one lol!

Now this is collimation- with binoculars

 

[Paz]

Nice report and there's lots of helpful contributions to this thread that have been good to read.