Binocular, mount and results from the night

[bomberbaz]

Bit of everything to report upon here, doesn't really fit anywhere on it's own so plopped it in here. Please move if not appropriate.

Tonight was a clear night, first truly good one (albeit very cold) in a good while.  Up for first time or meaningful first time use were my TS Optics 82 Duplet Binocular and my recently acquired Parallelogram 3S Pro binocular mount.

Other things on first meaningful outing were the 365 metal finder and all of the glass in use which were pairs of astro essential 32mm plossl, APM 24 and 18 UFF eyepieces.  My astro software of preferred choice is the ever versatile sky safari 6 (SS6), this is used as an astro map only.

I won't witter on about the APM eyepieces because their pedigree is well regarded although the only thing I will say is the UFF (ultra flat field) stamp is not at all overstated, they behaved superb in the F5.75 bins.

So onto the mount, first class, absolutely love it. Wish I had got my self one of these and big bins years ago. I had to do a little bit of tinkering when I received the mount at the AZ as it was quite stiff. There appears to be an issue with the bearing being sticky, I reported this issue back to the vendor and he is sending me out two new bearing to replace the ones I have. Don't get me wrong, they are useable but maybe need running in. 

Putting that to one side as tonight as it caused no problems at all, I put the mount through it paces first. Aiming at lower down objects first, namely M42 then up to Capella, Hyades, Plieades and finally Mirfak which was at Zenith, no problems at all. Dropping onto each of these was simplicity itself and the added range of movement in this mount made it all the more easy.

I realise these are easy objects to find but this wasn't my point, the aim was to test the manoeuvrability and stability of the mount when loaded up with circa 4kg of bins and glass (need to weigh this) at one end and 6kg on the counterweight arm. Suffice to say it came out with flying colours and this part of the night passed with me feeling very pleased with results thus far.

Now the bins did not come with a mount/bracket/shoe for a finder, just a very basic iron type gun sight on the carry handle, nope not good enough so mounted a vixen style shoe onto the handle. There are already two pre drilled and threaded holes, why can't they simply put a shoe on for you is my thought but hey, cost me nothing as I had a spare shoe so leave that small gripe there. 

I have bought a 365 Astronomy metal finder, it is in my opinion far superior to every other vixen mounted finder in the same price range. Solid, multi reticule, doesn't lose collimation, worked perfect on the bins tonight. A telrad would have been impractical for bins.

Ok so I can easily find DSO's, the finder combined with SS6 and the nice FOV of the bins made finding things easy.  Some of you will know I often use pushto or goto but tonight I was cruising out there without these technological aids. Never more than a few minutes finding DSO with many things instant. I put some of this down to the image at the eyepiece being the same as the image seen on SS6.

I will not witter through everything as it was more of a try and see what the bins are capable of rather that spend time on the things I was aiming to see.

Notable objects that I hit which were surprising were North American Neb. This wasn't a stand out view but a haze over the darkness behind it and the central dark nebula between the NA and pelican really stood out. Nevertheless, I count this as a good start. TV UHC filter used with a 4.2mm exit pupil. I did try again later with the 32mm plossl with larger Expupil (5,4nn) but results were inconclusive. 

Next the Veil, mixed results here which actually turned into good news and a look at the map back at home told me why. I had mistaken 49 cyg for 52 cyg so what I thought was an extremely weak witches broom was in fact the central part of the veil and the eastern veil stood out quite strongly. (Hey first real mistake with new bins, ain't that bad) Again used the TV UHC and same EP set as above.

A quick look at M31 and then thought, well lets have a little try at M33 but I won't see anything. Blow me down how wrong was I, not only did I see it but I saw it easily, my gast was flabbered. It popped straight into view at the first attempt at finding it and by using averted vision I was even able to tease out some of the beautiful structure that is a trademark of this DSO. 18mm Ep with 3.1mm Expupil (FOV for these EP is 2.5 degree but it still framed M31 nicely)

I also popped up to have a quick gander at M81/82 and these were yet again easy to find and I think when I receive my 10mm UFF EP's, they will be well worth a 2nd visit using more power. 18mm

Now round to Orion and Taurus, I wanted to have a go at M78 (casper) and the crab. Again both were found, the latter was the easiest but casper didn't take that long and stood out surprisingly well against the sky. Neither needed filters and again both responded better to more power/smaller exit pupil. First 24mm (4.2mm Expupil) then 18mm

Finally whilst in the area I had a look around alnitak. I wasn't expecting anything but tapping the mount and blinking gave a glimpse of hint of the flame but not enough to convince me I had seen it.

All in I had a fabulous but shortish session, I found lots of DSO and I haven't mention a clusters I landed on, more for finding purposes than viewing. I left cos it was blooming freezing on my feet despite thermal socks and artic boots that concrete was bad news.

So yes, I consider my bins and associated bits to be one of my better purchases but they are definitely a dark site piece of kit. I was under bortle 4/SQM 20.5 skies tonight and would love to try these under really dark skies (B3/21.5+)

Thanks for reading.

cheers

steve

Edited January 5, 2022 by bomberbaz

[Roy Challen]

Nice report, Steve. I really need to start using my bins more.

[PeterW]

Sounds a great start. I get finding stuff by rearing a laser in the handle groove. Then I just move about using skysafari fields of view with the field of view circle. Need to keep the pointed warm as it hates the cold. The great thing with binoculars is the comprarively large field of view and the non-inverted field of view so you can look around with smaller binoculars and have the same star fields in the larger binoculars without mental gymnastics.

 

Peter

[bomberbaz]

5 hours ago, PeterW said:

Sounds a great start. I get finding stuff by rearing a laser in the handle groove. Then I just move about using skysafari fields of view with the field of view circle. Need to keep the pointed warm as it hates the cold. The great thing with binoculars is the comprarively large field of view and the non-inverted field of view so you can look around with smaller binoculars and have the same star fields in the larger binoculars without mental gymnastics.

Peter

I already have a mounted laser, now I have replaced the batteries it came with with decent lithium ones it gives me a great (and legal)  beam.

I will try it next time with the laser, think it may be useful to use given there is no need to get lined up like you do with a RDF.  

[PeterW]

I only need to use the laser occasionally and even with lithium, mine complains if it gets cold.

Peter

[bomberbaz]

20 hours ago, PeterW said:

I only need to use the laser occasionally and even with lithium, mine complains if it gets cold.

Peter

worth knowing that peter, I will wrap a hand warmer round mine if find I like it. I know what you mean about occasional use though, it's not like your trying to contact the aliens is it ! 👽 or is it ? 😂

[Guest]

On 08/01/2022 at 16:56, PeterW said:

I only need to use the laser occasionally and even with lithium, mine complains if it gets cold.

Peter

I am right there with you.  I have bought a warmer for the laser that runs off my dew heater control and it is great for keeping the batteries warm, but the laser itself is not a fan of the cold.  May have to look into the  Zbolt lasers that are rated down to 14 degrees

 

[bomberbaz]

16 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

I am right there with you.  I have bought a warmer for the laser that runs off my dew heater control and it is great for keeping the batteries warm, but the laser itself is not a fan of the cold.  May have to look into the  Zbolt lasers that are rated down to 14 degrees

 

what make is your warmer, I am looking for one myself. 

[Guest]

Mine came from Scope stuff.  It is 30 bucks if I remember correctly.  It does ok, but I also wrap it in a piece of cloth to help trap the heat against the laser.

[PeterW]

Last week I popped the pointer down my leafy glove, slightly in the way, but kept it toasty. A warm pocket is also good. I’ve got the scope stuff one too, but rarely mount the laser. Maybe someone needs to make a self heating laser with a USB power input, so it doesn’t get cold.

Peter

[Guest]

10 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

what make is your warmer, I am looking for one myself. 

http://scopestuff.com/ss_lash.htm

[Guest]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

Last week I popped the pointer down my leafy glove, slightly in the way, but kept it toasty. A warm pocket is also good. I’ve got the scope stuff one too, but rarely mount the laser. Maybe someone needs to make a self heating laser with a USB power input, so it doesn’t get cold.

Peter

I wish someone would make a powered/heated laser as well.  Have about a cord long enough to reach down the dob to the power supply with a momentary switch to turn it on.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Guest

[bomberbaz]

4 hours ago, PeterW said:

Last week I popped the pointer down my leafy glove, slightly in the way, but kept it toasty. A warm pocket is also good. I’ve got the scope stuff one too, but rarely mount the laser. Maybe someone needs to make a self heating laser with a USB power input, so it doesn’t get cold.

Peter

I am trying to find a cheap USB one myself. One I can simply strap a small power bank to a truss or balance arm etc and run the cable to the strap. I have found one but it's £40, be closer to £50 with import costs.

I shall keep on looking

[bomberbaz]

Rother Valley Optics do a 8 inch USB variable dew strap, should be effective.

RVO USB Heater Bands With Integrated Controller - Rother Valley Optics Ltd

[PeterW]

Get reputable lasers, I once bought a cheap one and got 10x the light I paid for…. Should be happy, but I value my sight and made a filter holder for the front so I am always operating safely. A heater is probably the best option.

Peter

[Guest]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

Get reputable lasers, I once bought a cheap one and got 10x the light I paid for…. Should be happy, but I value my sight and made a filter holder for the front so I am always operating safely. A heater is probably the best option.

Peter

My laser pointer is from Orion and it does a good job down to about 40 degrees....then it decides it doesn't like the cold.  I happen to really like the beam it puts out, enough to see and doesn't look like a phaser blast and obscure the target.  If I have to we have options over here that I can pursue.