Pleiades structure/H130

[jetstream]

The sky cleared unexpectedly for a couple of hours with avg transparency and an SQM of 21.4mag. Out goes the venerable Heritage 130 sitting on an old Black and Decker workmate, set up and collimated in minutes. Actually it didn't need collimation after looking through the cheshire.

These telescopes offer a superlative view of the Pleiades under the right conditions and tonight was good enough for the Merope nebula to be easily seen with the 24ES68 and also the not to be discounted 25mm Super Plossl. A beautiful fan shape among a glowing array of stars. If you observe the Pleiades often you will notice something inside the object- fantastic lanes winding through the glowing stars and with an "outer faint shell" - the whole thing known as the Pleides Bubble by some.

Tonight these features were plainly visible in this high contrast, better than it should be telescope.

After studying the Pleiades for quite a while it was time for a sky cruise- M31, Pacman neb, Rosette neb, Monkeyhead neb, M42,M43, the Flame, the Flaming Star in Auriga to name a few observed.

Another object this scope excels on is Barnards Loop, just find M78 use the 24ES68 or equivalent and in my case a DGM NPB filter and it will show easily as it did tonight.  This scope does not need an Hb filter on this object but they do work well no doubt.

It sure felt good to observe and the grab and go nature of the H130 was perfect for this unexpected chance to look up.

[Stu]

Amazing what these little scopes are capable of in the right hands Gerry! Nice report, glad you got some clear skies at last!

[RobertI]

Amazing observations,  I wouldn’t have thought many of these objects were possible  with the 130p!. It’s such a shame this scope doesn’t have an R&P/Crayford focuser or a better helical focuser - it deserves better! 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

Amazing observations,  I wouldn’t have thought many of these objects were possible  with the 130p!. It’s such a shame this scope doesn’t have an R&P/Crayford focuser or a better helical focuser - it deserves better! 

They are very capable scopes, and whilst I agree about the focuser, a better one would push the price up and make it out of reach for smaller budgets. It's great that it is available at such a low price.

If you have one, try a wrap or two of PTFE plumbers tape around the threads of the focuser, it tightens it up and removes the slop, much better then.

[Rob]

Nice report there. You would indeed benefit from a helical for fine focus. They are not expensive.

I bought the following last year. Its non rotating, and comes with a adapter ring with a T (female) thread for connectivity. But also offers a T (male) on the top for camera connection!. I use it on my 127L its very smooth

Edited January 15, 2020 by Rob
typo

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

They are very capable scopes, and whilst I agree about the focuser, a better one would push the price up and make it out of reach for smaller budgets. It's great that it is available at such a low price.

If you have one, try a wrap or two of PTFE plumbers tape around the threads of the focuser, it tightens it up and removes the slop, much better then.

Thanks Stu, I have got the PTFE tape on the threads, it’s definitely better. You’re right it’s incredibly good value. It’s such an enjoyable sized scope to use I have been looking at the getting the 130 PDS for visual, just to get the nice focuser, but then you get a larger central obstruction and four spider vanes and seems overkill too. Shame they don’t still offer the bog standard 130P OTA. Sorry to divert the thread......

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Shame they don’t still offer the bog standard 130P OTA. Sorry to divert the thread......

I actually bought the OTA only from Astroboot and use it on a normal mount, much better height and easier to use. 

[Rob]

2 hours ago, Rob said:

Nice report there. You would indeed benefit from a helical for fine focus. They are not expensive.

I bought the following last year. Its non rotating, and comes with a adapter ring with a T (female) thread for connectivity. But also offers a T (male) on the top for camera connection!. I use it on my 127L its very smooth

Apologies @jetstream for wondering off topic here!. Great to hear you had a good observing session.

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, Rob said:

Apologies

I'm all for H130 discussion Rob! In our case the stock helical focuser is perfect, it snugs up nicely in -30c weather lol! which is something that can give many focusers fits. Many mod the H130, which interests me eventhough we leave ours stock.

[jetstream]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

They are very capable scopes, and whilst I agree about the focuser, a better one would push the price up and make it out of reach for smaller budgets. It's great that it is available at such a low price.

If you have one, try a wrap or two of PTFE plumbers tape around the threads of the focuser, it tightens it up and removes the slop, much better then.

Thanks Stu, I agree about the focuser- I wouldn't want a price point to take anything away from the optics- this scope takes all the vixen HR 2.4mm has-270x on the moon !! no image breakdown. And the fact that we never had to touch the secondary EVER for collimation lol!

[scarp15]

Great, nice account Gerry. I look forward to hopefully sampling some of that this weekend as high pressure is forecast. 

[PeterW]

Interesting view with such a mini-dob, what are the best eyepieces for this sort of 130mm (heritage or PDS) scope?

PEter

[jetstream]

5 hours ago, PeterW said:

Interesting view with such a mini-dob, what are the best eyepieces for this sort of 130mm (heritage or PDS) scope?

PEter

Lighter is better, but the 24ES 82 works extremely well, as does the 13T6 Nagler, 6.7ES82 etc and the 3-6 Nagler zoom is a mainstay. I use a 12.5mm Tak ortho for higher power neb views.

Have you viewed the mentioned objects without NV Peter?

[PeterW]

With my skies??!! I have seen the merope nebula through a friends refractor in an especially breezy dark location. Most of my dark sky trips have been NV, though I still like the widefield tiny stars of a raw glass view.

Peter

 

 

[jetstream]

3 hours ago, PeterW said:

With my skies??!! I have seen the merope nebula through a friends refractor in an especially breezy dark location. Most of my dark sky trips have been NV, though I still like the widefield tiny stars of a raw glass view.

Peter

 

 

The H130 is a great asset to have, nice price, light, its own mount and easily mounted on a tripod.  If you get a chance to view the Pleiades at a dark site for a good view, I mean studying the object a bit the rewards will come- the Merope is only one feature of it. The H130 excels on this object- the 24ES68 is an excellent, lowish scatter eyepiece for this scope- it seems to have lower scatter than the 82 deg ES I've used.

I'll not be without one of these now, just too handy with too good of views. At 650mm and f5 the H130 likes a bit more mag on some of these nebs and can handle a 2.5mm exit pupil with the UHC or NPB. Many say the 13T6 Nagler is just perfect in this scope.

Maybe you should consider one to take to your occasional dark site trips?

[jetstream]

@Buzzard75 I hope its ok to use your excellent image for illustration... this image begins to show the "dark" lanes" and patches that can be seen in the EP, espc next to the Merope near the chain of stars and also off the bottom end of it. The nebulosity is toned down visually, espc the Merope "streaks". This is one of the best images to describe what I see in the Pleiades- but again the nebulosity is more subdued in the eyepiece.

This is a superb image.

Edited January 17, 2020 by jetstream

[RobertI]

4 hours ago, PeterW said:

raw glass view

A new phrase has been coined! 👍 😁

[PeterW]

for a really rich view you want to use f3 and 7mm exit pupil and dark skies, mel bartels has seen a lot more besides, all sorts of galactic integrated flux nebulae, which don’t seem to get mentioned much. F5 would seem a little slow for this.

 

Peter

[jetstream]

23 minutes ago, PeterW said:

F5 would seem a little slow for this.

"would seem"- the only way to know if you can see something is to look, regardless of theories or ideas-my 200mm f3.8 is VG at many of the objects you mention regarding Bartels. The TSA120 shows the Pleiades inner features as does the 90mm f7 Raptor. I have caught a portion of IFN near Vega with the SW120ED.

Mel is an excellent mirror maker and enjoys his craft making many dobs which suits his needs- this is not to say other telescopes won't show some of the things he see's.

 

[Buzzard75]

15 hours ago, jetstream said:

@Buzzard75 I hope its ok to use your excellent image for illustration... this image begins to show the "dark" lanes" and patches that can be seen in the EP, espc next to the Merope near the chain of stars and also off the bottom end of it. The nebulosity is toned down visually, espc the Merope "streaks". This is one of the best images to describe what I see in the Pleiades- but again the nebulosity is more subdued in the eyepiece.

This is a superb image.

 

Thanks for the compliment! It's one of my favorites that I've done so far too.

[scarp15]

Thanks for posting that image of the Pleiades Gerry and thanks @Buzzard75 for allowing this image as illustration, which h is excellent. Bright cold clear day here, loading the car and now I have this impression on my mind cheers. 

[jetstream]

12 hours ago, Buzzard75 said:

Thanks for the compliment! It's one of my favorites that I've done so far too.

Thank you again, and keep up the great imaging work!