Dark sky NV viewing with a few school boy errors

[Trentend]

Many years ago I took a trip about an hour away from home to a darker sky site (bortle 3) with an old 8" skywatcher reflector. It was around the same time of year with Orion up in the sky. I remember thinking it was a great spot but didn't have the technology (or knowledge) to know what to look at or where other than M42, which was still pretty cool.

Roll forward a number of years, I returned last night with a C11, reducers, filters, 55/67 combo and two NV goggles (my trusty 2100 FOM OVNI-B and a PVS14 with Carson lens / 2600 FOM spec tube formally belonging to Gavster).

Before setting out I had a go with both in the back garden x1 handheld. I could clearly make out a number of nebula with the B - not crystal clear and some scintillation with the 3.5nm filter but definitely there. I then popped in the PVS14. A pretty big difference. There was understandably more brightness but the ability to turn down the scintillation with gain control was a new experience to me and helped a lot.

An hour or so later it was just me and a few sheep standing in a field but surrounded by beautiful clear skies. What a difference without light pollution. The half moon was still up so not uber dark but I could clearly make out the milky way using my mark 1 eyeballs. Think I spent about half an hour just looking up before getting out the kit.

I set up the scope, fired up the Nexus and turned on my phone to pick some targets. First problem - no phone reception so couldn't cheat using sky safari. Then turned on the rigel viewer to do the two star alignment (I don't bother with a finder scope) but the battery was flat! I persevered with alignment using the B plugged in to the 55/66 combo afocal - but there were so many stars it was difficult to know what I was looking at! Finally managed to get that sorted and set straight to M42. Wow. Some difference between now and the old 8" back in the day. I put in the filter wheel trying numerous settings (685, 642, 12, 7 and 3.5nm) but actually found filterless was the best. Absolutely spectacular. I quickly slotted in the PVS14 to do a comparison - the view was a little brighter and I could definitely make out more contrast with the filters. Again the ability to turn down the gain control was brilliant. However, I've only ever viewed targets using both eyes (binoviewers and the B ) so although the image was arguably clearer/brighter I personally didn't find it as comfortable. I then tried to pick a few targets from memory on the Nexus but something must have been array as I couldn't get anything to come in to view (M81, M32 etc).

At this point my fingers were starting to freeze so I put the scope away and had a go hand held. Looking through the B I could see nebula all over the place; much brighter and with less scintillation than back home. When I changed to the PVS14 and pointed at Orion though (with the 3.5nm) there was a notable improvement and I could clearly see Barnard's loop - that was a first for me. Just like the photo's on this site. Amazing.

Overall a really enjoyable evening. Lots of learning points for next time (the priority being some heated gloves) and I'm very happy with both NV goggles. I suspect ultimately I'll have to scratch the B itch and get a better spec one with gain control but am looking forward to using both over the winter months.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Trentend

[Stu]

Nice report @Trentend, as you say, lots of learnings and you be better sorted next time.

I was a bit confused about the SkySafari comment about not being able to use it without a signal. Although it does update every now and then, you can useful perfectly well without a connection.

[Trentend]

Thanks Stu. Might have been frostbite setting in on my brain but pretty sure when I clicked on the sky safari app I had a “cannot connect” message nand couldn’t see anything. Perhaps I need to check the setting?

[Second Time Around]

What an excellent report!

My own brain has frostbite and I may not be reading it correctly.  Does your OVNI-B not have gain control?

[Stu]

40 minutes ago, Trentend said:

Thanks Stu. Might have been frostbite setting in on my brain but pretty sure when I clicked on the sky safari app I had a “cannot connect” message nand couldn’t see anything. Perhaps I need to check the setting?

Strange. I just put my phone to airplane mode and tried it and it worked with not problems. Give it another go, the only connection it needs is if it is updating the minor object database or connecting to a Nexus etc but that’s over WiFi.

[Highburymark]

Nice report. Glad to hear the PVS-14 is delivering. A C11 under dark skies must be incredible.
Gain control is great to have - I find I rarely turn it above half way to avoid scintillation. 

[Trentend]

3 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

What an excellent report!

My own brain has frostbite and I may not be reading it correctly.  Does your OVNI-B not have gain control?

No I think mine was the last one before they were added (so a collectors item!). Still very happy with it though and the views last night at the site were a big improvement with significantly less scintillation compared to when I use it in the light polluted back garden (the higher spec PVS though seems MUCH better able to cut through the city gloom). I can see why Gavster ended up with two of them in one of those fancy Pegasus binocular beasts!

[joko]

6 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

What an excellent report!

My own brain has frostbite and I may not be reading it correctly.  Does your OVNI-B not have gain control?

Trentend has one of the 2 "prototypes" i made, only this 1st unit was without manual gain control. Of course this was discussed before he ordered.

Trentend got his OVNI-B in August 2020 while OVNI-B has been official 4 months later, in November 2020.

So yes he has a collector's eyepiece 🙂

Edited December 11, 2021 by joko

[joko]

7 hours ago, Trentend said:

However, I've only ever viewed targets using both eyes (binoviewers and the B ) so although the image was arguably clearer/brighter I personally didn't find it as comfortable.

For sure NV binoviewer (with 2 eyes) is more comfortable than NV monocular. Also for sure FOM2600 have better specs than FOM2100.

With 2 eyes every target look bigger, with a kind of 3d effect and with more brightness and details (when equivalent FOM are compared).

Edited December 11, 2021 by joko

[PeterW]

… no gain control, I feel your pain, though you get to see things “turned up to 11”! (I find I need to use averted vision and mental averaging/moving the scope to help tease out the faint stuff. Gain knobs rule though!

Peter