-31c UMa

[jetstream]

I must be getting soft (old)- only managed 2 hrs out there tonight under some nice but crisp skies @ -31c/-38c wind chill. Transparency is avg.

The 24" AZ encoder froze up so searching was done the old fashioned way with pretty good luck. UMa was targeted and a favorite set of galaxies explored. The 15' shows 5- NGC3977,3972,3982,3990 and 3998. I'm rather pleased to pick up a 6th with the 24"/10mm Delos- PGC 37532 at 15.4 mag or so- I got hints of something in my 20mm HDC, not sure but the 10 Delos made short work of this galaxy in direct vision but faint.

Another favorite is M108, showing nice structure- thing is I saw 2 "odd" sections near the end, faint round and small. There are 2 faint galaxies listed as "in" M108- PGC 4096870 and PGC 4550815- has anyone seen these? or is it possible @mdstuart?

M97 was really nice showing its central star very easy, love this object. Much more observed including a blue/green mix in M42 core and the Running Man showed photographically.

There are sure lots of galaxies out there.....

[mdstuart]

Well done on braving the cold.

I don't think everyone realises how rich UMa is in galaxies.

I certainly have not seen those PGC objects near M108 but I will give it ago if the cloud and rain stops!

Mark

[Ships and Stars]

Just a bit cold there! I was looking at M108 last night with the 300p, haven't been able to get out with the 500p lately, lots of storms here and family things going on, been using the bins a fair bit from home when possible.

I've seen the two almost 'embedded' PGCs in M108 on Stellarium, but haven't had a crack at it with the 500p under really good conditions lately. Sounds like a challenge because they will be competing with the surface brightness of M108 but who knows? For things like that I'll try the Leica zoom (basically 8.9-17.8mm) with 2x powermate and see how much mag I can reasonably use before everything gets too dark, but a 10mm EP sounds about right. I'm sure you know a bit more about that than I do! I'm limited on my shorter focal length EPs as well at the moment, so the Leica sees a fair bit of use in that department. 

Stay warm (ish)!

 

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, Ships and Stars said:

I'm sure you know a bit more about that than I do! I'm limited on my shorter focal length EPs as well at the moment, so the Leica sees a fair bit of use in that department. 

Not really, just lots of trial and error - and there is a reason I bought Delos again... well, IME the zooms even top one like the Leica or Zeiss have a downfall and that is transmission, at least to my eyes. On the brighter objects it doesn't matter but when doing the "Marty Feldman" I need all the help I can get lol!

My copy of the 10 BCO is top notch on faint galaxies with and without the VIP barlow and the Delos come close to it with a much wider field and so much comfort. The 10 Delos with Paracorr gives 8.7mm for 287x at a bright 2mm eye illumination. This scope easily goes down to 1mm exit pupil for 600x but I prefer 1.2mm as a max at 500x on galaxy cores and PN.

To recap and in my humblest of opinions, eyepieces do matter on very faint galaxies.

Edited February 13, 2020 by jetstream

[jetstream]

5 hours ago, mdstuart said:

I don't think everyone realises how rich UMa is in galaxies.

Yes, what a rich place to observe. After reaching a couple of goals last night the scope decided to take me on a galaxy safari- shed loads of galaxies were observed in UMa however I just enjoyed the views and didn't note their identifiers, no need really, just lots of fun observing.

I did observe more PGCs near the mentioned 5 galaxy area- they were part of my safari though lol!

[Ships and Stars]

4 hours ago, jetstream said:

Not really, just lots of trial and error - and there is a reason I bought Delos again... well, IME the zooms even top one like the Leica or Zeiss have a downfall and that is transmission, at least to my eyes. On the brighter objects it doesn't matter but when doing the "Marty Feldman" I need all the help I can get lol!

My copy of the 10 BCO is top notch on faint galaxies with and without the VIP barlow and the Delos come close to it with a much wider field and so much comfort. The 10 Delos with Paracorr gives 8.7mm for 287x at a bright 2mm eye illumination. This scope easily goes down to 1mm exit pupil for 600x but I prefer 1.2mm as a max at 500x on galaxy cores and PN.

To recap and in my humblest of opinions, eyepieces do matter on very faint galaxies.

I will have to try a Delos eyepiece sometime, a lot of people clearly like them and I guess the fact they are rarely seen on the second-hand market (like the Paracorr, especially a P2) says a lot. I had a 9mm Delite and a 13mm Ethos. Wish I'd kept the Ethos, the Delite was nice but a little limited on FOV. No real complaints with the Delite though, easy to handle, affordable and didn't weight a ton.

I just looked up BCO and it clicked. That's definitely more my budget at the moment. I like the Baader line in general regarding price vs performance, just picked up a 31mm Aspheric second-hand, a handy, light-weight finder EP with larger exit pupil which apparently is desired sometimes for using filters (heard that's helpful, but not entirely sure). Had the 36mm but the edges were really struggling in the f4 dob (no CC however, something I've started to use more).

Ah yes, doing the Marty Feldman... a good term for viewing many DSOs! 

Good luck chasing the galaxies, it's mind-blowing how many there are just looking at the S&T pocket atlas, never mind Uranometria or Deep Sky Atlas. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Ships and Stars

[jetstream]

11 hours ago, Ships and Stars said:

I just looked up BCO and it clicked

The 10BCO is a must for serious galaxy observing IMHO, forget the 6mm .... and you don't need the18mm. You most likely won't best the10BCO ( FOV excepted) unless you but a ZAOII or Pentax XO.

[mdstuart]

That 10bco better be good for galaxy hunting as I have just bought one given your glowing reports. 👍

Mark

[jetstream]

Just now, mdstuart said:

That 10bco better be good for galaxy hunting as I have just bought one given your glowing reports. 👍

Mark

Oh no! I'm under the gun lol!

If it does not handily beat your widefields on galaxies I will be shocked. My copy of the 10 BCO is deeper than my Docter 12.5mm UWA and also the Delos by a bit. It also gives "brighter", deeper views than my other orthos, including Taks and Circle T's. I have one excellent copy of a KK Fuji 7mm that offers similar performance.

My 10 BCO is the eyepiece I compare others to in terms of faint galaxy performance and using the Baader VIP results in no detriment at all and extends this eyepieces range.

BTW, last night I had another good look at M108- I think those "knots" I saw in it were just that, knots but I did get an averted flick off the end and over a squeak of a faint, possibly lenticular looking glow. More time needed here though.

[mdstuart]

I will give it a run against my Williams optics eyepieces. Nice to try something new from time to time.

Mark

[mdstuart]

Had a good look at NGC 2903 and the comet in Perseus with my 130p tonight.

The 10bco is noticeably sharp with a dark background. This helps with contrast allowing lots of detail to come through. Certainly a lovely eyepiece.

Mark

[John]

Great thread folks !

The 10mm BCO is a superb DSO eyepiece.

I'm also glad that I'm not the only person not to be bowled over 100% by the Leica zoom. It's a great eyepiece, no doubt particularly for a zoom but didn't make me feel that I wanted to part with my XW and Ethos collection.

Too many clouds about here to have a long enjoyable session unfortunately. Just a few doubles plus Venus with my 100mm refractor in short bursts between the cloud cover for me. better than nothing though

I guess the comet is Panstarrs Mark - how was it tonight ?

 

[mdstuart]

Yes c2017 T2 Panstarrs. Still pretty faint in my 130p. That 10bco is a great little eyepiece. The rubber eyeguard is a bit of a pain with the 130p rotating focuser though!

Had a look at m65/m66 and could just see NGC 3628 as well which was enjoyable.

Just lovely to get outside.

I also had a go with a second hand set of 15 X 70 Helios binoculars. Pleiades was stunning in them.

I thought about getting the big dob out but those shower clouds kept passing by earlier in the evening.

Mark

Edited February 17, 2020 by mdstuart

[mdstuart]

I had a look at a selection of galaxies in Hydra and Leo last night. I gave the 10BCO a good run against my Willams optics eyepieces.

I can see as deep with the 10BCO as my 7mm WO which is saying something. The 10BCO has a noticeably darker background sky than the WO which offset the gain the WO gets from the higher power.

I am now wondering about getting another 7mm eyepiece which gives better contrast than the 7mm WO! This hobby keeps you wanting more.

Mark

[jetstream]

10 hours ago, mdstuart said:

I am now wondering about getting another 7mm eyepiece which gives better contrast than the 7mm WO!

While not for everyone, the Baader VIP barlow does not add anything to Suiters "wobbly stack" so to speak- it does not detract anything from the 10BCO or any other eyepiece I've used it with. I use this combo with VG results in my dobs.

I sorted through a bunch of orthos and came up with a top notch 7mm KK ortho on par with the 10BCO but with a cooler tone on the planets. It is a very deep eyepiece. My 5mm KK is not on the same level but a few of the Circle T's are really deep.

On a side note the 10 BCO gave more contrast on the Leo super cluster than the 10 Delos- and had more galaxies in and out of averted.More mag would have pulled those out in direct vision.

Using 93 Leo as a guide I studied IC 732 and NGC 3884 with the 2 eyepieces, what a great area to explore.

Edited February 22, 2020 by jetstream