What did you see tonight?

[IB20]

Had a splendid late evening / night out with the StellaMira 125mm. Spent a lot of time lunar viewing, Gassendi the pick of the bunch but took great delight in seeing two Plato craterlets too, which I’ve never been able to observe before.

Cruised around Lyra, I’ve never seen so many stars in the area before; this scope really delivers in wider views and light grasp. The double double showing two huge gaps at 140x.

Finished on Zeta Herc, despite some bubbly seeing a clear small grey secondary was hanging from the first diffraction ring, another first!

 

[Paz]

I had a look at the moon in the StellaMira 125 at 169x with binoviewers.

Initially I was focusing in Sinus Iridum, and the Laplace side, then the south wall of Schiller, and then I noticed Gassendi but not long before I had to pack up. I agree Gassendi was well lit, if I had started on that I might not have moved on to anything else.

[franticsmurf]

I'm still getting to grips with my new EQ5 Goto mount (I've had a few alignment issues) but I was out last night just after midnight and it all seemed to come together. As usual, user error was to blame. I had my Skymax 127 attached. It was a little hazy here so I started off with Algeiba as I use this to check the conditions. I was able to split it easily with the SG15mm (100x) but as the magnification increased, so the haze intervened. Algeiba was the first double I ever observed so it's always been my go to check that everything with working as it should.

The moon was next. I'm still learning my lunar geography so I tend to enjoy the bigger picture view rather than looking for specifics. I can gaze for ages at the varying landscapes and last night the best eyepieces were my SW 25mm (60x) and the SG15mm. I was trying out a Svbony 7-21mm zoom that I picked up from Amazon Warehouse but the conditions weren't good enough for the 7mm (214x).

On to the DSOs. My list included M51, M53, M13, M64 and M94. Although I barely make out M51 with my 25mm ep, I could see that it was nicely centred to I attached my Fuji XE3 camera with the T mount and took some 30 and 60 second exposures. I could just make out the spiral arms but there was a lot of light pollution. I couldn't visually spot any of the others but 30 second exposure showed all bar M13, of which there was no sign. None of the images are good enough to include here. Finally, on to M81, which turned out to be hidden by the neighbour's fir tree!

Finally I took a look at Mizar and was easily able to split it with the SW32 (47x), 25mm and with the 7-21mm zoom although by now, haze or high cloud was making conditions considerably worse than when I started, so after about 90 minutes it was time to pack away.

As with all my recent observing session, I was joined for a few minutes by a fox. She's a regular visitor and is used to me being near although she won't approach me. I'm usually aware she's there by the noise she makes coming through the hedge and, if I've put out food, by the sound of her chewing.

[John]

Another fine moon !

Aristarchus and the Schroters Valley are very well displayed tonight.

My eye was also caught by the Marius Hills volcanic dome field a little further south and closer to the terminator and the enigmatic bright lunar swirl, the Reiner Gamma. Interesting feature, this last one:

Lunar Swirl Reiner Gamma - NASA Science

 

[lunator]

The Moon did look impressive last night. With Spica North West of it. The rays from Aristarchus (I think 🤔) were very prominent. 

I had a quick scan around but the Moon glow was washing things out. My final stop was Mizar and Alcor. Always a nice view but will give you a crick in your neck at this time of year. 😁.

Cheers 

Ian 

[Paz]

I had a good look at Schickard last night, and I had made a note to have a go at 86 Virginis, a 1" double nearby, but I got fixated on the moon and ran out of time to check that out.

[Mr Spock]

Darn, just noticed it's clear outside. Trying for first light with the 6" CC but it's been in the house at 22° all day. Good test I suppose to see how it cools.

[Ags]

I was thinking of getting a CC6, but I went another path and got its photographic evil twin the RC6. I am very happy with that scope, I hope you will enjoy the CC6 as much!

[Mr Spock]

Thanks to not being cooled the image is shocking...  I have it pointed at Izar and just see a mess. This is of course where the Tak wins - that doesn't need cooling.

I've put one of my finders on but it's tilted too far back. For now I've loosened the adjustment screws right off and put a bit of cardboard under the back. Not good!

[Ags]

I had some issues collimating the RC6, I found a Cheshire about as useful as a chocolate rocket, and only made progress when I switched to collimating with my camera. The results from the Cheshire were highly deceptive. Hope the issues you face are "only" cooling!

Edited May 24 by Ags

[Knighty2112]

6 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Thanks to not being cooled the image is shocking...  I have it pointed at Izar and just see a mess. This is of course where the Tak wins - that doesn't need cooling.

I've put one of my finders on but it's tilted too far back. For now I've loosened the adjustment screws right off and put a bit of cardboard under the back. Not good!

One of the reasons I never got on with my 6” CC was the cool down time required on it to get a nice stable image. Sold it on a couple of years back because of this.  

[Mr Spock]

Normally it would be in a cold shed but it just arrived today so has been in the house.

It's improving. I can see Izar's secondary now, It's a lovely blue colour.

[Ags]

Glad to hear this. I had a quick look at some doubles with the RC6 once and star colors and brilliance were very, very good.

[Mr Spock]

We're almost there. I've just been looking at Izar at x525...  Lovely clean airy discs. Diffraction ring slightly to one side so collimation needs a small tweak. 

I can't see any diffraction spikes though which is a pleasant surprise.

[Mr Spock]

Just brought the scope in after a good night - now 3:15 am!

Tweaked the collimation - all is spot on now. As usual I turned it the wrong way to start 🤣

[JeremyS]

9 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

As usual I turned it the wrong way to start 🤣

Easily done on first outing 

[Mr Spock]

On 25/05/2024 at 13:00, JeremyS said:

Easily done on first outing 

That's a Newtonian not a Cassegrain - easy for a beginner to get confused though.

Stored correctly, pointing down, so as not to get dust on the primary mirror 

[Mr Spock]

The 6" is out. Straight from the shed it's showing airy discs - no cooldown required 👍 Pointing at Izar - it just happens to be there in a convenient place.

[Mr Spock]

Only managed a few doubles before cloud came over. New scope is good though.

[F15Rules]

On 25/05/2024 at 13:00, JeremyS said:

Easily done on first outing 

She clearly got confused looking in vain for the handle, Jeremy!🙄🤭

Dave

[F15Rules]

This is the first time for many weeks that I've had any session to report, due to a mix of weeks and weeks of awful weather, family related needs involving multiple trips around England, pre-planned short breaks, and flu like illness (not Covid) for nearly 3 weeks..🤦‍♂️🤨😅

But last night I got out for a short 45 minute session!🍾🥳.

It was not "remarkable" or "amazing" in itself, but just so great to be out with my new Vixen SD115s scope..only the 3rd time I have had her out since February l, when I bought her.

I went outside at 10.40pm and it was still not properly dark..there was about 50% cloud cover, but the eastern aspect was pretty clear, so I turned to Albireo in Cygnus which was low down at the end of the "Northern Cross" asterism which was "on it's side", still very low down in the east..I just wanted to look at a couple of "celestial lollipops"!

I used just 3 eyepieces, LVW 22mm, 13mm and 3.5mm, giving respectively x40, x68 and x254 in the Vixen. Even though Albireo was still quite low down, the views were lovely. The colours actually stood out best last night at the high power, perhaps the low power, which showed such bright, smaller images, was suppressing the colours..

The second target was Regulus in Leo..a hot, blue/white Spectral Class B8 star which is actually a 4 component system. I wanted to check out the purity of the colours in the 115s and I wasn't disappointed..a white,tight, hard point, a single diffraction ring, and no visible CA at all...the images were very like my late departed Tak FS128..just a tad less bright due to the 1/2" aperture difference. I can live with that!😊

Finally, I turned the scope vertically upwards to the Mizar system in the Plough..again, textbook, pure white components of Mizar itself, with Alcor and the fainter star between them, Mag 8.5 "Sidus Ludovicanum" sitting between Mizar and Alcor..all against a very dark background.

And that was it. A short, but very refreshing session, most enjoyable...oh, and I really noticed the weight difference between the new "Svelte" Vixen ota and the "Yard Cannon" FS128 when lugging the rig back under cover to it's storage building!

The weather may settle a bit this weekend, and no further trips away planned for weeks.. so I hope to get out again for a "proper" session very soon!👍

Dave

[Stu1smartcookie]

4 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

This is the first time for many weeks that I've had any session to report, due to a mix of weeks and weeks of awful weather, family related needs involving multiple trips around England, pre-planned short breaks, and flu like illness (not Covid) for nearly 3 weeks..🤦‍♂️🤨😅

But last night I got out for a short 45 minute session!🍾🥳.

It was not "remarkable" or "amazing" in itself, but just so great to be out with my new Vixen SD115s scope..only the 3rd time I have had her out since February l, when I bought her.

I went outside at 10.40pm and it was still not properly dark..there was about 50% cloud cover, but the eastern aspect was pretty clear, so I turned to Albireo in Cygnus which was low down at the end of the "Northern Cross" asterism which was "on it's side", still very low down in the east..I just wanted to look at a couple of "celestial lollipops"!

I used just 3 eyepieces, LVW 22mm, 13mm and 3.5mm, giving respectively x40, x68 and x254 in the Vixen. Even though Albireo was still quite low down, the views were lovely. The colours actually stood out best last night at the high power, perhaps the low power, which showed such bright, smaller images, was suppressing the colours..

The second target was Regulus in Leo..a hot, blue/white Spectral Class B8 star which is actually a 4 component system. I wanted to check out the purity of the colours in the 115s and I wasn't disappointed..a white,tight, hard point, a single diffraction ring, and no visible CA at all...the images were very like my late departed Tak FS128..just a tad less bright due to the 1/2" aperture difference. I can live with that!😊

Finally, I turned the scope vertically upwards to the Mizar system in the Plough..again, textbook, pure white components of Mizar itself, with Alcor and the fainter star between them, Mag 8.5 "Sidus Ludovicanum" sitting between Mizar and Alcor..all against a very dark background.

And that was it. A short, but very refreshing session, most enjoyable...oh, and I really noticed the weight difference between the new "Svelte" Vixen ota and the "Yard Cannon" FS128 when lugging the rig back under cover to it's storage building!

The weather may settle a bit this weekend, and no further trips away planned for weeks.. so I hope to get out again for a "proper" session very soon!👍

Dave

Nice write up , Dave . I really like these impromptu sessions as they rarely disapoint . 

[JeremyS]

16 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

That's a Newtonian not a Cassegrain - easy for a beginner to get confused though.

Too true. I’m sure you will get the hang of it soon enough, though. 👍🏻

[lunator]

It is always good when an opportunity presents itself. Sounds like the vixen is a good balance of aperture and weight 😀

Cheers

Ian

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, lunator said:

It is always good when an opportunity presents itself. Sounds like the vixen is a good balance of aperture and weight 😀

Cheers

Ian

Hi Ian,

Thanks, yes, the balance is pretty much perfect..the Vixen tube weighs c 2 kg less than the Tak and is c 150mm shorter. Add to that it is less "bulky" than the Tak (Tube diameter Tak is 145mm vs 125mm for the Vixen). So, all in all a very noticeably easier setup to carry with the Vixen than it was with the Tak.

I would emphasise, though, that I am now in my late 60s and it's only been in the past few years that I have found the Tak setup a bit cumbersome to move about.

And I have found, in the past 2 years or so, that the periods of clear skies we get where I live are noticeably shorter than they were, so a lighter setup should encourage me to take those quick session opportunities more often.

Dave