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The Joys Of Widefield!


cloudsweeper

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When you don't need aperture for tight doubles or fuzzies, extra widefield viewing is a real pleasure and great aid for getting around the sky.  And really sharp stars in a good frac is also a pleasure.

4.30pm Tuesday - put the ED80 Apo to use, very nice now that I've sorted out vibration issues with using it on the AZ4.  (L-bracket and minor mods.)

Started with Jupiter and Saturn - low, west of south - only just viewable as they approached trees.  They were about 3/4deg apart, so looked good in a 2.08deg field (x24) - Jupiter with belts and three moons, Saturn casting a shadow onto its open rings.  More detail at x55.  After 15 minutes they were lost to trees.  I won't see them much closer, I fear.

Quick look at Mars, high south-east.

I then went for a few doubles, getting targets straight out of CDSA.  Capella was in the north-east.  From that it was an easy hop to 4 Aur (mismatched, 4.7").  Using 4.1deg of field (x20) makes hopping so much easier!  Up to x80, and the faint companion was seen very close at 1 o'clock - clear in moments of better seeing.

From Capella again to Sigma 718 Aur (matched 7th mag pair, 7.7").  At x60 I got a clear split - very close in the EP, perfectly matched, with the secondary at 4 o'clock.  Beautiful!

Clouds stopped further viewing in that region, so I went for the target I nearly always take a look at, the Double Cluster.  With the 4+deg of field, I just aimed where I expected it, and was bang on immediately.  Then another favourite - Vega and the bright Double Double (same FOV), but before I could split the two pairs, cloud rolled in, and it was mealtime anyway!  

A great hour-and-a-quarter!

Doug.

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