Small scope, low effort, great views.

[Size9Hex]

A lovely session with the ED72 last night as the evening blue faded into black, and I waited for the Perseids, with bats swooping overhead against a faint suburban Milky Way. No specific plans other than just making something of the night.

It's such a untaxing scope to use. One handed carry from the house and round the garden. With such low power, and a simple red dot finder, just point it and start viewing. Rarely even a need to star hop.

Latching onto Vega before the sky was particularly dark, a beautiful split on the Double Double confirmed great seeing. I don't think I've ever had anything other than great seeing in this scope!

First view of Jupiter of the season and a real treat as always. Beautifully precise view in the ED72, although less detail than in the Dob of course. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but a light blue filter coaxed out the structure more readily and helped with the atmospheric refraction I felt; Subtle though.

Saturn naked eye, with some gymnastics to see around a nearby house which blocked the view. Jupiter sure has put the distance into Saturn since the conjunction.

Double Cluster enjoyed, but quickly onwards to Stock 2 as a nice target suited to this scope.

M13 nicely speckled. The Dob blows it wide open, but the outer structure caught my eye in the ED72 in a way I haven't noticed before.

With the summer triangle high and the sky now dark, the 24mm ES82 and deep sky filters come out, although I wonder if a 30mm-ish might suit this scope better.

East and West Veil showing their macro structure. Look for the Nimbus 2000! There's a large ragged hook that catches my eye too. Not the same as the dark site fine detail seen in the Dob, but beautiful in a different way.

The North America Nebula popped out fairly nicely. The Dob shows this well at a dark site, but I feel the ED72 is a better bet from home.

Heart and Soul searched for with various filters, but not conclusively seen.

The Pacman nebula jumped out though; I don't recall it being so bright! Seen more as a half disk than the full Pacman with the dark site Dob, but pleasing in a different way among the star fields of Cas.

M31 obligatory, and M33 always nice to catch, if only as an unstructured bright spot in the suburban sky. ED72 again beating the Dob on M33 under home skies.

Higher power again, for M34 in Perseus which I haven't seen for a while.

The Ring Nebula small but delightful and elegant.

A quick tick of star like Neptune out there on the edge.

The binos revealed RS Oph. My first view of it, and fainter now than when first reported I felt. I judged RS Oph beyond mag 6, but noted the comparison star next to it was fainter than expected (confirmed as variable too), muddying the water a bit. Thanks to those on SGL that wrote about this nova for everyone's awareness.

The Perseids weren't as good as I recall on other years, but nice to saw a few, including one absolute belter through the square of Pegasus.

 

[Photonic Nights]

Am I correct in saying you have the Skywatcher Evostar 72mm scope? If so, I have something around the same size (ES 'Essentials' 80mm triplet) and I'm constantly surprised just how good this little scope is. Also it's easily small enough to go as flight baggage, which was the main purchasing point. Then came Covid, which in my case meant saying adios to a first-time flight down to the Canary Islands. . . dammit

[Size9Hex]

On 18/08/2021 at 18:20, Photonic Nights said:

Am I correct in saying you have the Skywatcher Evostar 72mm scope? If so, I have something around the same size (ES 'Essentials' 80mm triplet) and I'm constantly surprised just how good this little scope is. Also it's easily small enough to go as flight baggage, which was the main purchasing point. Then came Covid, which in my case meant saying adios to a first-time flight down to the Canary Islands. . . dammit

Hi, yup that’s the one. It’s a great size for a scope, with fantastic views, although for me it sits alongside a larger one for when more horsepower is needed - I think something with a bit more ooomph would be preferred if it was my only scope.

Hope the trip to darker skies works out - the light at the end of the tunnel seems to getting near.

[RT65CB-SWL]

I never get fed up using my 20+ year-old TeleVue Ranger.

Small, compact, light, aircraft carry-on friendly and with the bonus of mounting on a camera/photo tripod with a lightweight alt/az head.