Open Clusters and Horses!

[Daf]

An observation report from last week. A new site for me and some new friends made that night....

Thurs 27th Jan. 23:30-01:00.
Mountains above Deri (51.70, -3.28).
Bortel4. No moon visible, clear sky above and to the south, low cloudbank to the north and east (never seemed to move). ~1.5degC.

-StellaLyra 8"dob. 2" Superview 30mm EP.
-10x50 Pentax SP WP binos on pistol grip tripod.

An impromptu trip to my mates place up in the mountains, away from towns. Fortunate break in the weather and I'd promised to take a scope up for him to try out.

Got to the site about 23.30... spent 5 mins zeroing the bloody finder scope because I'd knocked it all out getting out of the car. Despite the bumpy trip collimation was still good so was straight in to it. 30mm on M42 showed some beautiful detail. Put the 2x Barlow in to try and tease some more detail out of it.... If I was by myself I would have made a sketch of it, was some of the best seeing I've had. From there back up to 30mm and observered M31. Pretty low on the horizon at this point so just the standard fuzzy disk. When told how far away Andromeda was, my mate was genuinely in awe he could see something 2.5mil Ly away, and that enthusiasm alone made the trip worth it. At this point we became aware of movement around us ( it was pitch black and up the common and we didn't want to be mistook for doggers). My mate turned a torch on and all of a sudden, we were surround by about a dozen or so wild horses, less than 10meters away!... not bothered by us at all they went about their business and slightly freaked out, we went back about ours. Back to M45, hyades and the double cluster. My mate seem really interested by the view of the open clusters and various star colours, so I got the 10x50 binos out on a tripod as well and went through them all comparing views between binos and scope adding M41, M35 and M44 to our viewing list as well.

Spent about 1.5hrs viewing in total until the cold moved us on. Ran in to our old equine friends on the drive home as well half way down the mountain... straddling the road just like sheep, eating grass and still completely unbothered by us, even in the car 🤣 A good experience for both of us before we embarked on a lads long weekend.

[Kon]

Sounds like an amazing night! You may have converted your mate into astronomy from the sound of the excitement.

[cajen2]

Nice report, Daf.

I'm hoping to take delivery of my new scope this month: a StellaLyra 8" dob. How are you finding it? Any tips?

[Stu]

Great stuff @Daf. It can be a bit spooky when things creep up on you at night. I’ve had ponies do it in the New Forest, but more scary are the hedgehogs which sound like hideous beasts coming to get you 🤣🤣.

Nice report, and really good to share the stats with your mate.

[Daf]

11 hours ago, cajen2 said:

 

Thanks. I'm getting on really well with it and can only highly recommend it. There's nothing on it that I've felt the need to replace, which again just adds to the value. Only thing you might want to add is a good 2x Barlow to give you some different power options.

Only slightest of niggles with it is that there is not enough out travel on the focuser, to focus with the 30mm EP and the extension tube adds too much the other way. So when putting the 30mm in, you need to lift the EP out about a cm before locking it. I don't think that's just me, I've seen it mentioned somewhere else also.

Edited February 4, 2022 by Daf
Posted without putting text in.

[cajen2]

Cheers, Daf. I already have a case full of EPs from my previous scope, so I'm hoping not to have to buy many more! I asked Flo if they would exchange the 30mil for a 20, as I already have a Vixen 30mm. It'd be in their interest to agree, as the 20 is cheaper! 😄