Nebula gazing

[Stu]

I’ve been pretty full on with other things over the last few months; job, house and my play car, so haven’t found the time or energy to do too much Astronomy recently aside from a bit of solar. I had even been questioning the darkness of my skies as I haven’t seen the Milky Way for ages (not just because of summer brightness).

For a few nights recently, we’ve had some lovely clear skies later on, and I’ve enjoyed lying in my hammock watching the MW high overhead, with Cygnus and the Cygnus rift visible. Not in your face, but certainly visible.

Last night I popped out with my Canon 15x50is binos with Lumicon filters fitted, one UHC and one OIII. I had a general scout around, but then found Deneb and went hunting for the North America Nebula. I found it quite easily, although it was indistinct to start with because my eyes weren’t dark adapted. Over the next half hour or so, the views got better and I could clearly see the shape, with the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ area quite obvious and it seemed to extend for quite a long way to the North.

Panning around and down to Sadr there was a fair amount of nebulosity visible though I didn’t identify it, wanting to keep my night vision.

Next up, I went for the Veil. Finding 52 Cygni I couldn’t see much to start, but panned across to find the Eastern Veil, which again become clearer with time. By positioning the Eastern Veil to one side, with 52 Cygni on the other (these binos have a 4.5 degree fov), and looking in the centre, I started picking up the Witch’s Broom. Ultimately it showed the spike at the top and the spreading broom part below. Faint but clearly visible. I also felt that I was seeing some of Pickering’s Wisp running through the middle.

I then had a little pan around and found M57; tiny but clearly there as a fuzzy ‘star’. M27 was nice, much larger and with some texture visible. Lastly Brocchi’s cluster fitted well in the field of view, very distinct shape at this mag.

So, a very pleasant session under some nice skies. Amazing to be able to clearly see these objects from my garden, and the comfort of my hammock 😊. The Canon binos are excellent; great quality and sharpness, the stabilisation works well and being able to fit the filters is a real bonus.

[JeremyS]

Interesting report @Stu 👍🏻

So you had different filters on each lens? Did it give any strange effects?

[John]

Great report @Stu 🙂

I'd like to try that approach with my 11x70's. I can fit 1.25 inch filters over the eyepieces so it will be interesting to see what impact an O-III on one side and a UHC on the other has with those.

 

 

[Stu]

22 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Interesting report @Stu 👍🏻

So you had different filters on each lens? Did it give any strange effects?

 

10 minutes ago, John said:

Great report @Stu 🙂

I'd like to try that approach with my 11x70's. I can fit 1.25 inch filters over the eyepieces so it will be interesting to see what impact an O-III on one side and a UHC on the other has with those.

 

 

I’ve done this quite a few times and never see any strange effects, it feels quite a natural view. I’m not going to buy another OIII (couldn’t get a matching Lumicon anyway) so this is a good compromise.

John, I’m sure the 11x70s will be excellent, nice big exit pupils so you should get a bright image. I guess they have a narrower field of view but should still be well worthwhile. I think I did this with some 22x85s but can’t remember actually having the chance to use them in good conditions, heavy too! 70s will be much easier.

[DirkSteele]

Makes me want to purchase a pair even more now and I was pretty tempted already.  Keep them coming!

 

[The60mmKid]

Really cool! How do the filters attach to the objectives?

[Stu]

2 hours ago, The60mmKid said:

Really cool! How do the filters attach to the objectives?

The binos have 58mm threads on the objectives so I bought some 58 to 48mm step down rings and my 2” filters screw into those.

[bosun21]

The pair of new Apollo 15x70’s I bought have threads on both objectives which I will need to measure accurately if I decide to go down the route @Stu did. I thought that it would be the eyepieces that would accommodate the filters. Do you have a link please Stu where you sourced the reducers? Sorry to be a pain.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

The pair of new Apollo 15x70’s I bought have threads on both objectives which I will need to measure accurately if I decide to go down the route @Stu did. I thought that it would be the eyepieces that would accommodate the filters. Do you have a link please Stu where you sourced the reducers? Sorry to be a pain.

No problem at all!

I got mine from here:

https://www.srb-photographic.co.uk/srb-58-48mm-step-down-ring-2619-p.asp?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1IXwqq_sgAMV4T0GAB3WpA9vEAQYASABEgLA_fD_BwE

[Victor Boesen]

6 hours ago, bosun21 said:

The pair of new Apollo 15x70’s I bought have threads on both objectives which I will need to measure accurately if I decide to go down the route @Stu did. I thought that it would be the eyepieces that would accommodate the filters. Do you have a link please Stu where you sourced the reducers? Sorry to be a pain.

Don't they have 1.25" treads on the eyepiece side anymore? Mine from 2017 do at least. It's very useful!

Victor

Edited August 21, 2023 by Victor Boesen

[bosun21]

3 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

Don't they have 1.25" treads on the eyepiece side anymore? Mine from 2017 do at least. It's very useful!

Victor

Not anymore unfortunately. I've read that the design was changed but unfortunately it looks like the retailers didn't get the memo. This was one of the points that swayed me into making the purchase.