APM 24mm UFF first light

[badhex]

Hello all,

Took advantage of "one-night-only" break in the clouds last week whilst I was temporarily in Bortle 5 skies to try out my new APM UFF 24mm in combination with the trusty Celestron Travelscope 70 and AZT6 giving me 17x and max FOV for a 1.25" EP. I also brought a Celestron 25mm Plössl with for comparison, but after using it once I switched back to the far superior APM and didn't bother again 🙂

I still don't get on that well with the AZT6 but it was workable, and some of the issues are certainly due to the inability to balance the travelscope. The travelscope itself is optically very capable and pairs well with the APM 24mm, with surprisingly good contrast between the background and stars. Mechanically the scope leaves a lot to be desired (mainly the focuser) when compared with premium scopes but it works well once focus locked. 

First up, M13 was placed such that I was facing away from any local LP. After a few mins of searching, which was fun in and of itself with this EP, I found the target and was surprised how visible it still was even at only 17x. I have spent many an hour observing M13 over the years however, and it could just be a practiced eye (for this target at least).

In the mood for another faint fuzzy I decided to search out M3, which I have never observed before. On the way I stopped at Izar, but magnification was too low to split it, as it only looked like a barely out of shape star.

After some eyeballing, long distance star hopping and panning around I found M3, and within seconds caught a very bright satellite racing through  the FOV and almost through M3 itself. Very similar view to M13 in size and structure, with two bright stars forming a triangle with the object, a bit like M13 but a different configuration.

After lingering a while to tease out a bit more detail, I saw that Lyra had now risen above the hedges and trees, and thought I might try for M57 as a bit of a challenge. I was somewhat astounded by the starfield in and around Lyra itself. Perhaps I have not used a low power EP in that area much, but for whatever reason the whole area really sparkled, so I ended up spending quite a while around there taking in the starfield and splitting some doubles.

I split Epsilon Lyrae's first pair, but no joy on the others at this low power. I then moved onto Zeta Lyrae which was an easy split, then Delta Lyrae and friends who looked magnificent and numerous. Sheliak was also an easy split, and I also found another interesting bright double which I looked up called HD 175635.

Finally I came to look for the Ring. At 17x I was not holding out hope that it would be visible but to my surprise after a few minutes it caught it out of the corner of my eye, and realised I could just make out the tiny blob with averted vision only. It seemed quite soft with a light green hue, and I'm not sure whether the coatings on the new EP were causing that but usually if I've picked up any colour at all with the Ring it has not been green.

Happy with an hour's decent observing and now tired, I took another quick peek at M13 before calling it a night. All in all a lovely session and a good test of the new 24mm UFF. I did at points pick up some reflections/glare when a bright star was just outside the field of view, but I'm not sure if that is the EP, the diagonal or the Travelscope which has numerous shiny surfaces inside, or a combination of the three.
I can't wait to try it in a better scope!

Edited May 10, 2022 by badhex

[Ags]

Nice report! When I have picked up any color in M57, it's definitely been of the green variety.

[badhex]

6 minutes ago, Ags said:

Nice report! When I have picked up any color in M57, it's definitely been of the green variety.

Thanks! I have picked up hints of color before, I'll have to look back at my previous reports to see if I mentioned green! 

[Victor Boesen]

Sounds like the APM 24 have received a nice spot in your collection  I too have heard very good things about the UFF eyepieces and the 30mm is on my wish list as an alternative to the quite expensive 30mm 82 degree ES eyepiece!

[badhex]

It's certainly a cut above the MaxVision that it replaced. There's something about the large eye lens EPs that has attracted me over the last few years and all of my A-team (except the orthos) now fit into that category.