An evening of great seeing with Skymax 180

[Nik271]

Last night I was planning widefield observing initially but at the last moment I changed my mind and set up my Skymax 180 instead. And I'm so glad I did! The seeing was excellent. I could tell from how Vega looked at 9pm: perfect diffraction rings even with the BST 8mm EP giving x340. Straight away I knew I had to try some tough doubles which have eluded me until now. All my observations were with this 8mm BST.

Just to double check whiile it was twilight I looked at Delta Cyg and could see the secondary easy and clear, somewhat south-west of the primary. So far, so good.

Another double I use to test seeing is Pi Aquilae because it's easy to find even in twilight near Altair and Tarazed. This is a pair of almost equal 6 mag stars separated by 1.5'' and alighgned roughtly east-west. They were showing clear and steady like a pair of  diamonds gliding in the FoW.

A bigger challenge is Zeta Herculis. Normally I barely see a hint of the secondary as a bulge east of the primary. Not this time: It was resolved to a yellowish pinprick of light just outside the first diffraction ring. One of the best views I've had of this tough double.

  I had prepared a very short list from the 'Anthology of Visual Double stars'.

The list included Lambda Cygni and Pi Cephei and I'm pleased to say I resolved them both! For some reason I found Lambda Cyg easier than the other, even though the separation is smaller. After only a minute or so of looking I could see a pimple on the first diffraction ring north of the primary. For Pi Cep I had to spend 10 munutes staring at it and manually tracking. In moments of clarity I saw the secondary, faint hump again on the north side of the first diffraction ring of the primary. It was fainter than Lambda Cyg. With magnitude difference 1.5 and 2.2 repectively these are among the most challenging doubles I've seen.

The other difficult double I tried was Kruger 60, a pair of red dwarfs only 11 ly away. I had great trouble locating it in the first place (it is  very close to Delta Cephei in a busy star field) but I could not resolve the pair. The separation is  a 'generous' 2'' but at 9-th and 11-th magnitude, at x340 they were too dim. I should have tried lower magnification, something for next time.

 Fog was rising so after a quick look at the Ring nebula which at x340 looked amazing ( no sign of the central star though) and Saturn over the rooftops, I packed up.

It was truly a night to remember of perfect seeing conditions.

Thanks for reading!

Nik

Edited August 26, 2022 by Nik271
typo corrected

[Zermelo]

Sounds like a great session, Nik.  I've only managed ζ Her once so far, and λ Cyg at 0.9" is a great catch. I've added that to my list for next time.

It's also good to hear that the 8mm Starguider is still earning its keep. Mine hasn't seen any light since I got a 9mm Morpheus, but I really should give it a go again. 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Brilliant write up Nik , i was very surpised to see such clear skies last night after the deluge of welcome rain during the day , alas a bit late for me to set up ,but always great to read positive reports . Enthuses me for the weekend   

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by Stu1smartcookie

[Nik271]

21 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Sounds like a great session, Nik.  I've only managed ζ Her once so far, and λ Cyg at 0.9" is a great catch. I've added that to my list for next time.

It's also good to hear that the 8mm Starguider is still earning its keep. Mine hasn't seen any light since I got a 9mm Morpheus, but I really should give it a go again. 

Thanks!

Yes the BST eyepieces are excellent, I also like their generous eye relief, the eye cup rises a lot and can block practically all outside light when the target is dim.