My first report - "Testing things but at the end was nice and instructional"

[Tiago Ferreira]

I don't deal very well with cold weather. I feel very comfortable on medium to extreme hot weather 🦎 but i was here before dinner looking at the scope and my mind was fighting between the cold outside and the willing to observe. Every time this happens there's always the same winner: observing. I just never resist the call.

Well, warm clothes, warm cap and here we go.🥶

Scope outside,🔭 collimation this time took longer because i was testing the concenter ray in the dark for the 1st time.

The plan was practice the zwo224 before dinner because i'm too noob with cams so waited a bit for cool down and pointed MARS with 9mm eyepiece first. Beautiful Mars but not quite sharp, more cool down needed. So let's practice also testing the new focuser with cam, this was a night of technical experiences. Was a nice test, liked the double speed performance.

PAUSE-Over and dinner🍖, good for cool down.

After dinner the plan was observing and test the filter wheel before the moon gets to high.

Started as always, saying hello to Orion Nebula, it' like a magnet, i always have to go there and like hypnotise me for a while👀. Also good chance to test the wheel with 4 filters.

OMG the damn wheel is super heavy.🧱 Beside, even with the new low profile focuser i only can get focus with it if i add a barlow. And my barlow is, of course, like a rock, an ES 2x!!

Struggling 😣to keep the COG and balance i've managed to keep all quiet and again, hypnotised👀. God, i love that nebula.❤️

Testing filters with it. ok, i prefer without filter, what can i say?

Wheel out. The moon rising. My plan was if too cold for me, go straight to perseus and stick there. And so it was.

Cassiopeia, up, double clusters. Stop. That was what i was looking for. Only with my 32mm and the scope perfectly balanced, everything was perfect, so perfect that i almost forgot how freezing it was for me. Wow, what a nice bunch of stars filling all my eyepiece, my eye like crazy glued and pressing the eyepiece like i wanted to be there🌌. Eye round and round and round as i like with wide fields of view. Love these nice and perfect clusters feeling the real power of the dobsonian. Those perfect pin point stars blowing my view.

I have to share this beauty, i though. Put the red glasses 😎, got inside and shouted: "Alexa! 🤖Announce! "Come and see some beautiful clusters i got. Come on, it's only a minute!"

Return to the eyepiece to enjoy those clusters. I didn't even care about trying to see heart & soul, useless with such a moon now like a candle on my back.

And my wife arrived.👩

-"Too cold", she said.

-"I know, only a minute, come!" - i said, while seeing the kids looking outside thinking "no way i will go outside with my crazy dad"👩‍👧‍👦

And my wife got it too. "It's a double cluster, they are beautiful"

Then we talked about them and then she asked "do you have more?"

"Sure! Hold on." i said while she run to the warm inside. "Too cold. I wait here"👩‍👧‍👦

SO, i start lifting the tube looking through telrad until i reach my last target, MIRFAK.✨

"Come!" i said. And then we saw, changed positions and comments about and then i said "that's it, go that i put everything inside"

I stayed alone with all those stars around Mirfak taking a nice walk there and thinking that next time i will extend to the rest of Perseus, worth it.

Time to go, well, not before wishing good night to M42. Just a few more minutes....that's it. Over for today.👍Cold but funny moments.

 

[Sunshine]

Nice report, I too always loose the battle with staying in or heading out into the cold.

 

[John]

What a great report - good to share your enjoyment

You know what ? - I think I prefer observing M42 without a filter as well !

 

[Tiago Ferreira]

19 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Nice report, I too always loose the battle with staying in or heading out into the cold.

 

Always. Incredible. My brain search for justification not to go but i always fall.

[Jiggy 67]

Great report, looks like you might have got your wife hooked as well, always good to share experiences......and it might help loosen the purse strings when you need to 😀🤞

[Tiago Ferreira]

2 hours ago, Jiggy 67 said:

Great report, looks like you might have got your wife hooked as well, always good to share experiences......and it might help loosen the purse strings when you need to 😀🤞

lol yes we are all engaged here but the only crazy one that goes when he should not, is me.

[Tiago Ferreira]

This is my "Menú" for tonight. Much left to explore...

 

[DanWri]

That was a great report. Thanks for sharing. It's been great getting the other half out in the garden to look through the eyepiece, so I can relate a little!

[faulksy]

lovely report, thanks for sharing