Some Orion doubles and a silly moon experiment - 12/02/2022

[badhex]

Hello all,

First session in weeks due to constant cloud cover, but managed to get a good three hours before the clouds crept in once again. I wanted to concentrate on a few doubles around Orion with my TS 102ED F7, as well as test whether my Celestron Travelscope 70 could work as a super finder, prior to potentially purchasing a RACI.

First up, the "super finder" did work okay but for various reasons including alignment challenges, I think I'll get a 50mm RACI in the end.

First target was the trapezium. I have only ever seen A-D so wanted to see what I could do with the 102ED F7. After changing EPs around a few times to get a comfortable balance, I settled on a barlowed 10mm Pentax XW giving about 179x, and just barely managed to pick out E after about 20 mins. Very faint, and only just perceptible, but eventually unmistakably there. It is always funny to me how time at the eyepiece often seems to will objects into existence.
No chance of component F, but my skies are Bortle 7/8 and the moon was probably about 75% illuminated, so I'm pretty happy with E at least. I will try again before Orion disappears.

I followed with Sigma Ori and as expected could only make out the A/B as one object. I read initially that it is a quadruple system, and fairly sure I could only make out three total objects, but have since read that it is in fact five, with A/B being the tightest. Impressive to view nonetheless, but I will try again and confirm how many objects I did see!

Whilst here I also centred on Struve 761 - a lovely triangular triple, or as I wrote in my notes, an "arrowhead".

Next up was Zeta Ori / Altinak, which I could not split. I tried various powers but couldn't even make out an elongated shape. I did do a sense check to make sure I was definitely looking at Zeta, and moved over to Delta Ori /Mintaka which was an easy split, so I will have to go back and try again another time.

Struve 790 had been my intended next target but the clouds had now finally covered Orion to the point that only the brighter stars were visible, so I decided to call it a night.

Just before I started packing up, I thought I'd just give the still-cloudless 3/4 moon a quick look. The view was so crisp at 159x with the 4.5mm Morpheus that I decided to do something really silly, and stuck the barlow in giving just shy of 400x.

To my astonishment it was still incredibly sharp! I had expected defocused mush, and instead got detailed crater edges, mares and other spectacularly crisp lunar features. I spent a while whooshing around feeling really glad I decided to crank up the magnification to silly levels - a real Apollo flyover feeling!

Shaky phone picture below, although it does not do it justice.

[Nik271]

Nice report! Your TS102 is certainly capable of splittting Alintak, perhaps the seeing was not good this time at lower elevations. I have done it with the SVbony 102ED (on its first light night!) which is a sibling/clone of the TS. Around x200 should do it.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Nik271

[badhex]

10 hours ago, Nik271 said:

Nice report! Your TS102 is certainly capable of splittting Alintak, perhaps the seeing was not good this time at lower elevations. I have done it with the SVbony 102ED (on its first light night!) which is a sibling/clone of the TS. Around x200 should do it.

Thanks Nik! Yes, I imagine it was conditions (very thin high cloud I guess) so will certainly give it another go. I can get 179x with my 10mm Pentax XW / Barlow combo so I'll try that. If I can make out a peanut or figure 8 I will see if I can squeeze out a few more mags with a different combo. 

 

[F15Rules]

Great report!

And good performance from your scope, given your light pollution and bright moon challenges to contend with too 👍..

Alnitak is not an easy split, but as Nik says, it's definitely within reach of your 102mm F7.

Given your magnifications quoted, I'm assuming your Barlow is a 2.5x unit? Does it have a removable bottom section that you can remove and thread into your eyepiece?

If so, chances are that the nosepiece only will give you between 1.3x and 1.6x..with your Morpheus 4.5mm, this would translate to between 206x (1.3x Barlow nosepiece) and 253 (1.6x Barlow nosepiece)..

These two magnifications would be very useful for close doubles of c 2" - 3" separation, including Alnitak.

Judging by your photo, your scope has very nice optics!

Dave

[badhex]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Great report!

And good performance from your scope, given your light pollution and bright moon challenges to contend with too 👍..

Alnitak is not an easy split, but as Nik says, it's definitely within reach of your 102mm F7.

Given your magnifications quoted, I'm assuming your Barlow is a 2.5x unit? Does it have a removable bottom section that you can remove and thread into your eyepiece?

If so, chances are that the nosepiece only will give you between 1.3x and 1.6x..with your Morpheus 4.5mm, this would translate to between 206x (1.3x Barlow nosepiece) and 253 (1.6x Barlow nosepiece)..

These two magnifications would be very useful for close doubles of c 2" - 3" separation, including Alnitak.

Judging by your photo, your scope has very nice optics!

Dave

Thanks Dave, it does indeed have nice optics - I'm very impressed! It's essentially the same scope as the Starfield 102 F7 (and Altair, SVbony etc.) but TS branded. I'm still somewhat in awe that it took 397x so well. 

You're correct, the Barlow is a 2.5x GSO I've had for years and is pretty good, albeit not often used until recently. I have looked into the nose piece trick before but it is a lens assembly which screws *into*, rather than a nose piece which screws *onto*, the barrel, so I'm reticent to unscrew it (would require a lens spanner also) so I don't think it's an option. I do have a BST 3.2mm which would give me 223x - I didn't enjoy it so much with my F5.9 ZS73 but perhaps I'll dig it out and give it a go in this scope. 

Edited February 18, 2022 by badhex

[wookie1965]

Brilliant glad someone could get out. Great report thanks for posting.

[badhex]

1 minute ago, wookie1965 said:

Brilliant glad someone could get out. Great report thanks for posting.

Thanks @wookie1965 it was a nice night. Hopefully you can get out soon as well!

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, badhex said:

I have looked into the nose piece trick before but it is a lens assembly which screws *into*, rather than a nose piece which screws *onto*, the barrel, so I'm reticent to unscrew it (would require a lens spanner also) so I don't think it's an option. I do have a BST 3.2mm which would give me 223x - I didn't enjoy it so much with my F5.9 ZS73 but perhaps I'll dig it out and give it a go in this scope. 

I understand what you mean, that barlow wouldn't work with my suggestion..but this one would....😁😁

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/baader-planetarium-2.25x-q-barlow-lens-1.25.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiApL2QBhC8ARIsAGMm-KFHJj1n2hEH9fCMNTBWid7QwMnv4d2TGCQxl3IuBEooEG86fdF5nWgaArHBEALw_wcB

Dave

[badhex]

4 hours ago, F15Rules said:

I understand what you mean, that barlow wouldn't work with my suggestion..but this one would....😁😁

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/baader-planetarium-2.25x-q-barlow-lens-1.25.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiApL2QBhC8ARIsAGMm-KFHJj1n2hEH9fCMNTBWid7QwMnv4d2TGCQxl3IuBEooEG86fdF5nWgaArHBEALw_wcB

Dave

I have just realised that I have a cheap 2x Bresser barlow - it has a detachable nosepiece which I believe gives about 1.5x. This would be 238x on the 4.5mm Morpheus, so I'll give that a go. Depending how it performs, I could look at upgrading to the Baader later. Thanks!

[F15Rules]

That's almost certainly a GSO made Barlow (Guang Sheng Optical), so it should be decent quality👍😉.

Good luck!

Dave

[Sunshine]

Nice report, I wish the skies would clear so maybe I too can split some doubles 😥

[Stu]

On 15/02/2022 at 18:49, badhex said:

I followed with Sigma Ori and as expected could only make out the A/B as one object. I read initially that it is a quadruple system, and fairly sure I could only make out three total objects, but have since read that it is in fact five, with A/B being the tightest. Impressive to view nonetheless, but I will try again and confirm how many objects I did see!

Great report, these scopes certainly sound like they deliver excellent views and take magnification well.

Sigma Ori is a really nice target which I enjoy viewing. You should be able to see four components in a wiggly line, plus the three in a triangle nearby. The fourth component in the main group is faint, but certainly doable in your scope.

This is a smartphone shot I took of it some time back.

[badhex]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

That's almost certainly a GSO made Barlow (Guang Sheng Optical), so it should be decent quality👍😉.

Good luck!

Dave

I had an inkling it could be GSO as I've seen others like it (TS amongst others) , and the coatings do look reasonable so that fits. Good news! 

[badhex]

5 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Nice report, I wish the skies would clear so maybe I too can split some doubles 😥

Thanks @SunshineFingers crossed for clear skies for you soon! 

[badhex]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

Great report, these scopes certainly sound like they deliver excellent views and take magnification well.

Sigma Ori is a really nice target which I enjoy viewing. You should be able to see four components in a wiggly line, plus the three in a triangle nearby. The fourth component in the main group is faint, but certainly doable in your scope.

This is a smartphone shot I took of it some time back.

Thanks Stu, it's a very pleasing scope so far. Definitely going to try for Sigma Ori again as soon as I can, and some of the many other doubles in Orion!