Short session but… WOW!

[Stu]

I’ve had reason to doubt my investment in the 130mm LZOS f6 for a while as, to date I had not had a session I felt delivered what it should be capable of. This evening however, even though the seeing wasn’t amazing I’ve really enjoyed using the scope for a variety of reasons.

Today I received an ADM Maxguider adjustment plate which I hoped would allow me to align two scopes side by side more accurately. My main use for this will be solar so that white light and Ha views coincide, but tonight I thought I would play around with a widefield/ high power combination; LZOS 130mm f6 with an FS60C. With the plate I was able to get a very accurate alignment for the first time with my AZ100 so was able to enjoy both views without adjustment, even at high power.

I can just about carry the assembled mount ie Planet tripod, pillar and AZ100 out from its usual home in our ‘garden room’ down to the terrace in front of the kitchen. This is becoming a favoured observing place because of the convenience and also the fact that it is shielded from bright lights from buildings down in town.

So, once setup, I got the Nexus fired up but it took a bit of messing around to get it working correctly. I think it’s because I played around with some settings whilst testing the Goto kit. Once sorted though it worked very well and stayed largely accurate although I tend to align in SkySafari on every object I view just to keep it on track.

The final piece of the kit jigsaw was the Baader MaxBright IIs and a pair of Baader 10mm BCOs to give me an easier route to higher power in the binoviewers. What actually made me go ‘wow’ (well it was a bit ruder than that!) was my first view of the Moon through them. I had a x2 AP barcon element on the front and also a x2.6 GPC, which probably was giving somewhere around x400, maybe more, and the first impression really was quite shocking. The seeing was quite variable but the view held up very well. Target of the night was Hadley Rille. This is one of my favourites and looked stunning, showing its full extent including the sweeping hook at the end. It was as good, probably better than I’ve seen in the 8” f8 which is no slouch. Plenty of other stunning sights too, Clavius, Proclus and Palus Somni, Messier/Messier A, Rupes Recta and Rima Birt to name a few.

Mars looked pretty good through the binoviewers too. The bright spot in the South was quite obvious and a dark streak through the middle, need to check out what that was.

Back with single eyepieces, mainly Pentax XWs in 7, 5 and 3.5mm I looked at the trapezium and did catch both E and F, although F came and went with the seeing.

The 37 Cluster looked great, including the tiny little double. I then did a little tour of a few doubles. 52 and 32 Orionis both split cleanly when the seeing steadied, 52 being the harder of the two at 1”. Alnitak was less of a challenge a resolved nicely. Sigma Orionis is always a favourite and the tiny fourth component was very clear, a beautiful pin point of light. Rigel was beautiful, again a very tight and lovely secondary well clear of the primary. Sirius was a no go, seeing not good enough. Finally Beta Mon looked stunning, pretty good in the FS60C though I must say, beautiful big clean airy disks whereas the 130 was a little messier due to the seeing and the smaller airy disks it gives.

All packed away by 10pm as I have to be up at 5.30. A nice little session which shows what happens when kit is sorted and working well, plus the skies cooperated with an unexpectedly clear night. As ever I was out in shorts and crocs so was chilling down a bit by the end, had to pop the arctic muckboots on for the last half hour, must be getting soft! 🤪

[mikeDnight]

That's a mouthwatering set-up Stu. It looks fantastic!💓

[Sunshine]

What an awesome setup! and I would not doubt for a second what that LZOS is capable of. When I got my TSA-102 it was producing terrible views for a couple of weeks until the seeing was right, then it really justified its cost. Sometimes we just have to wait for that special night to be won over by our scopes.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Sunshine

[Roy Challen]

Sounds like a great session. If you ever have doubts about the LZOS, I'd be happy to check it for you! 10mm BCO - so capable, yet so affordable, my absolute favourite eyepiece...ever (maybe😉).

[Stu]

9 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

Sounds like a great session. If you ever have doubts about the LZOS, I'd be happy to check it for you! 10mm BCO - so capable, yet so affordable, my absolute favourite eyepiece...ever (maybe😉).

Indeed! Should be grateful, it’s just it takes better seeing conditions to see what it is capable of, so often the FC100DC is snapping at its heels.

I’ve had one 10mm BCO for a while and not used it, but finally managed to pick up a second one recently. I had been concerned about eye relief and narrow afov in the binoviewer but they actually work really well, quite comfortable and being closer to the eyepiece makes holding head position easy and also cuts out any glare. I can see these being used for solar white light a lot, dropping the barlowing down though of course.

[bosun21]

9 hours ago, Stu said:

I’ve had reason to doubt my investment in the 130mm LZOS f6 for a while as, to date I had not had a session I felt delivered what it should be capable of. This evening however, even though the seeing wasn’t amazing I’ve really enjoyed using the scope for a variety of reasons.

Today I received an ADM Maxguider adjustment plate which I hoped would allow me to align two scopes side by side more accurately. My main use for this will be solar so that white light and Ha views coincide, but tonight I thought I would play around with a widefield/ high power combination; LZOS 130mm f6 with an FS60C. With the plate I was able to get a very accurate alignment for the first time with my AZ100 so was able to enjoy both views without adjustment, even at high power.

I can just about carry the assembled mount ie Planet tripod, pillar and AZ100 out from its usual home in our ‘garden room’ down to the terrace in front of the kitchen. This is becoming a favoured observing place because of the convenience and also the fact that it is shielded from bright lights from buildings down in town.

So, once setup, I got the Nexus fired up but it took a bit of messing around to get it working correctly. I think it’s because I played around with some settings whilst testing the Goto kit. Once sorted though it worked very well and stayed largely accurate although I tend to align in SkySafari on every object I view just to keep it on track.

The final piece of the kit jigsaw was the Baader MaxBright IIs and a pair of Baader 10mm BCOs to give me an easier route to higher power in the binoviewers. What actually made me go ‘wow’ (well it was a bit ruder than that!) was my first view of the Moon through them. I had a x2 AP barcon element on the front and also a x2.6 GPC, which probably was giving somewhere around x400, maybe more, and the first impression really was quite shocking. The seeing was quite variable but the view held up very well. Target of the night was Hadley Rille. This is one of my favourites and looked stunning, showing its full extent including the sweeping hook at the end. It was as good, probably better than I’ve seen in the 8” f8 which is no slouch. Plenty of other stunning sights too, Clavius, Proclus and Palus Somni, Messier/Messier A, Rupes Recta and Rima Birt to name a few.

Mars looked pretty good through the binoviewers too. The bright spot in the South was quite obvious and a dark streak through the middle, need to check out what that was.

Back with single eyepieces, mainly Pentax XWs in 7, 5 and 3.5mm I looked at the trapezium and didi catch both E and F, although F came and went with the seeing.

The 37 Cluster looked great, including the tiny little double. I then did a little tour of a few doubles. 52 and 32 Orionis both split cleanly when the seeing steadied, 52 being the harder of the two at 1”. Alnitak was less of a challenge a resolved nicely. Sigma Orionis is always a favourite and the tiny fourth component was very clear, a beautiful pin point of light. Finally Beta Mon looked stunning, pretty good in the FS60C though I must say, beautiful big clean airy disks whereas the 130 was a little messier due to the seeing and the smaller airy disks it gives.

All packed away by 10pm as I have to be up at 5.30. A nice little session which shows what happens when kit is sorted and working well, plus the skies cooperated with an unexpectedly clear night. As ever I was out in shorts and crocs so was chilling down a bit by the end, had to pop the arctic muckboots on for the last half hour, must be getting soft! 🤪

VERY NICE SETUP STU!

[Saganite]

Superb set up and an excellent session Stu.  The seeing here was not as good as I have had recently but still acceptably good for Lunar.  I too spent some time on Hadley Rille and strangely I thought of you , wondering if you were observing it....

I could not get anything like the powers you were using though, and I could get neither E nor F in the Trapezium.

[Stu]

58 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Superb set up and an excellent session Stu.  The seeing here was not as good as I have had recently but still acceptably good for Lunar.  I too spent some time on Hadley Rille and strangely I thought of you , wondering if you were observing it....

I could not get anything like the powers you were using though, and I could get neither E nor F in the Trapezium.

Thanks Steve. Yes, seeing was ok here but the Moon seemed to cope with it. Had it been excellent, Hadley Rille would have been spectacular.

On E & F I switched back to single eyepieces and I think I used a 5mm XW which would be x156. E was very clear, F less so but I always struggle more with F.

I probably should have dropped the mag back a bit to see if certain features looked better but I was enjoying the huge image scale!

[Saganite]

A good point Stu, and  I should have said that I was binoviewing the Moon when I switched briefly to Orion , and never having captured E&F in this mode, I couldn't really expect it.  I am confident however that I will get them eventually, with the bino...

I did try my little zoom on them but the seeing simply wasn't good enough.

[Deadlake]

With an LZOS 130 and Baader BV’s I find the 10 mm UFF very sharp especially when used with a BARVDV.

What would it be like using the AZ100 with the motors fitted, no need to wait for any wobble to settle compared with the slow mo’s?