A lucky break in the clouds

[Nik271]

It has been pretty poor this week  weatherwise and then last night there was an unexpected break in the cloulds from around 7pm.

I normally observe with Maks, this time I chose the 'neglected one' usually sitting alone in the cupboard, namely my 6 inch Newtonian.

I was going to test the new SVbony 15mm EP on a fast scope, so I made sure the scope is perfectly collimated over the weekend and it was ready to go in the shed.

Set up was very quick, took just 5 mins to put on my manual EQ5 mount, attach finder, counterweight and ready to go. The scope was already at ambient temperature so no need for cooldown.

I used the 15mm Svbony giving x50 mag and 3 mm exit pupil, good for open clusters, and the 6mm Svbony giving x125 mag for double stars and planets.

I am spoiled with Mak views of tight stars and contrasty planets.  So the beginning was a bit of a let down: Jupiter with the  15mm was small and had noticeable diffraction spikes. The 6mm improved the view, the spikes were still there but at least I could see some cloud belts. I could see immediately that there was coma in the outer 50% of the field as the further Galilean moons resembled small comets. 

Then to the  Moon which was just below Jupiter. This was much better, I guess coma is harder to see and the terminator line was sparkling sharp in the centre of the field. Very nice!

The sky was clear but not very transparent so I decided to try with some double stars next, Not a task suited for a Newtonian but I was curious.

First target was Zeta Aqr. The 15mm  showed  an yellowish irregular looking dot but x50 is too litttle for this close double. The 6mm was able to resolve it! Two very close touching dots oriented at 45 degrees from the sidereal drift, that makes it SE-NW direction I guess. Not too bad for this Newtonian and the seeing was mediocre. A Mak will produce smaller stars without spikes but the 2.3'' separation is never going to be easy. At least this shows my collimation was good.

The next few double stars were easier and fun: Gamma Arietis, Almach and Achird. All three showed very nicely even with the 15mm EP at x50 and the colours of Achird and Almach were very pleasing. 

I tried one more tough one: Nu Ceti. The companion is 8'' away and  4 magnitudes dimmer than the primary. The 15mm failed to show it, but the 6mm created enough separation from the primary and there it was directly east. I though it was slightly blue.

Since I was in the area I looked at Uranus with the 6mm. Very clean (and tiny) bluish-green disc.

Then it was open cluster time with the 15mm. I looked at M36 and M37 in Auriga, M34 in Perseus and of course my favourite, the Double Cluster. Te views were sharp only in the central 50% of the field which was ok for all of them except the DC. It was not possible to fit both of the cores of DC in the sharp central area of the field. I should have been using a wider EP of course for DC but I stayed with the 15mm because I wanted to test it. Conclusiion: fine but don't expect tack sharp views of extended objects.

I scanned through Hyades and Pleiades, they are too big to fit in the view of course, but even partial views are nice, I get to appreciate how many stars are there.

I spotted Ceres, it has moved quite a bit from Aldebaran since last week  and now is passing near the central hexagon of the Hyades.

It was 9pm and clouds were rapidly filling the sky. I had time for one more object, the blue snowball nebula, NGC7662 in Andromeda. It was almost overhead, which makes starhopping difficult and focuser position ends up in unexpected places. It was a strange experience to me, used to the convenience of mirror diagonals at the end of the scope :- )

Anyway, I found it with the help of Stellarium, it is very near the 6-th magnitude star 13 And. The blue snowball was just a fuzzy star in the 15mm but the 6mm resolved it into a obvious disc, quite bright. I didn't spot the blue colour.  

It was time to pack up. It was a lucky unexpected observing session and I was glad to say that my neglected Newtonian did quite well. Its strength is in the wide views of clusters but I found that it can show some double stars as well. 

The 15mm Svbony did so-so, I will add a short update to my review of it in another post.

Clear skies,

Nik

 

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Nik271
typos corrected

[Stardaze]

Nice report @Nik271 I'm glad the clouds played ball for someone this week, it's been horrendous here and looks to be forecast for next too. What maks do you usually observe with, out of interest? 

[Nik271]

I have the Skywatcher Skymax 127 and the Skymax 180. The Skymax 127 is my most versatile scope, easy to set up and use. I use the 180  for tough double stars and planets, its quite heavy at nearly 8kg, so a bit more effort to mount. When properly cool it really shines on close doubles.

[Stardaze]

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

I have the Skywatcher Skymax 127 and the Skymax 180. The Skymax 127 is my most versatile scope, easy to set up and use. I use the 180  for tough double stars and planets, its quite heavy at nearly 8kg, so a bit more effort to mount. When properly cool it really shines on close doubles.

I've been toying with the idea of a mak or 102 frac next year. The little one appeals for a quick grab and go but a larger one I'd like to try at some point too, have enjoyed the planets this year and even starting to get into a little lunar on occasion, which has probably been my least favourite pursuit to date. 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Great report Nik ... and well done for taking advantage of what has been a truly depressing week of weather ... i swear i will swing for Carole Kirkwood if she keeps smiling on BBC telling us of more rain and cloud ! lol . 

I was encouraged with your views through the Newt , I may be considering a 200p as a next purchase .

 

 

[Captain Scarlet]

Very nice. I've stolen Zeta Aqr and Nu Ceti and added them to the list for my next session, whenever that might be.

Magnus

[Nik271]

2 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Great report Nik ... and well done for taking advantage of what has been a truly depressing week of weather ... i swear i will swing for Carole Kirkwood if she keeps smiling on BBC telling us of more rain and cloud ! lol . 

I was encouraged with your views through the Newt , I may be considering a 200p as a next purchase .

 

 

An 8 inch F/6 dob is the best 'jack of all trades' according to many people. In my garden a dob will not work well because I have high fences and houses nearby. An EQ mount gives me crucial extra meter of height and this way I can view objects down to 15 degrees in altitude.  This covers a lot of summer targets and the gas giants  in the past 2 years which have been pretty low.