Outrageous dawn patrol!

[Paz]

A while back I resolved to be prepared for more early morning sessions. My theory being that early mornings might be more tolerable than late nights, plus the micro climate where I live is often that there are clear skies just before and after sun up more so than at any other time in the 24 hour cycle.

I got my gear ready and went to bed early last night planning to check the sky at 5am and go out if it was clear. I promised my other half I would get up quietly, but I was sleeping like a baby at 5am and my backup plan - a wake up alarm on my phone - went off and woke my other half up. That did not go down well!

I checked out of the window and there is Jupiter as clear as can be so out I go. Aligning my finders I see clouds appearing and thickening.

The street lights are off at this time, usually they are on when I observe in the eveings, I wont often stay up late enough for them to be off. I have the SM125 out on a skytee2 with extension pillar, a Baader prism diagonal, 2.6x gpc,  binoviewers, and I start out with 40mm NPLs for a supposed 63x and 2mm exit pupil, but I think it's magnifying more than that.

The moon looks fine,  but the cloud really builds and everything else is now gone. I consider packing up but I decide to keep going on the moon until it disappears. A quarter of an hour later I'm still observing and the cloud thins again with gaps appearing. The moon is high, about 55 degrees, and the views are good.

Jupiter appears again and I swing over to that. I spend most time towards the  poles seeing how much I can make out. I'm still on the brink of packing up as cloud comes and goes.

A hole of thinner cloud appears over M42 so I try for that. Despite the cloud and the moon and the security lights it's quite a good view and a well defined fish mouth. I add an OIII filter and the views are not epic but surprisingly good for the circumstances, I thought it would be washed out. I switched to 20mm SLVs for 127x and 1mm exit pupil and the views hold up. I spend some time on M42 although it feels wrong to even be trying!

Another benefit of this time of day dawns on me (no pun intended)... no neighbours driving up the street dazzling me with headlights, which is what happens in the evenings and until the early hours of the morning if I'm out the front.

Venus is now on so I try that with the OIII filter still in, the view is moving around slightly but the brightness is very well dimmed by the filter which also eliminates atmospheric abberation,  showing a soft terminator and an albedo gradually brightening towards a sharp limb.

I go back to Jupiter still with the OIII in (why not!?). Its a bit softer as the clouds are a bit thicker but the OIII is clearly helping to make more contrast between the different colours, but displaying in blue/green. I spend more time on the thinner bands towards the poles again.

Daylight is coming and I look out of my observing hood at a brightening morning sky. I could pack it in after a good session... but no!

The moon is even higher and the clouds aren't too thick up there so I have another look still with the OIII. The views were great, very crisp, in particular looking hard at the limb and being able to see mountains and crater walls edge on right up against the blackness of space with no colour issues from the atmosphere or the scope.  There was more limb-action to be had at the south pole but also fine features on the limb near quieter spots such as near Grimaldi, once I looked long enough. Often the limb doesn't get my attention, I hypothesise that the OIII is helping by dimming what is a naturally bright and high contrast object, just like dimming the view of Venus helps? I could quit now on a high... but no!

It's not far off plain daylight and it's mostly cloudy but I can see Castor by the moon naked eye so I swing over to that still with the OIII (why not!?). I see no split which is unexpected. I look up and figure out I had seen and found Pollux. But Castor was there slightly higher and slightly dimmer. I got onto it and got under my hood.  There in the eyepiece were two emerald jewels hanging in the black, floating like plankton in the ocean (or something!). The magnitude difference being very clear this way, I think at night with no filters the magnitudes look closer to me. Only the airy discs could be seen, any diffraction rings being too dim. I sat on this view for some time as it got dimmer with more daylight and more cloud coming.

When I take off my observing hood it's 6.45 and looks like broad daylight and almost full cloud cover but thick and thin across the sky. I would never venture out under clouds like this!

I packed up very happy. Better views for sure would be had in better conditions but I feel like I took on the weather, and broke a number of my usual observing habits, and won. I'm looking forward to doing more dawn sessions, but it takes a bit more thinking ahead compared to opportunistic evening observing which is my main mode of operation.

[niallk]

Interesting use of the O-III !! 👍

[Paz]

15 hours ago, niallk said:

Interesting use of the O-III !! 👍

Yes and the funny thing is it was only left in after M42 because I was constantly on the point of packing up and I thought if I stop to take the filter out again I will end up packing up completely.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

A fun read Paz thanks. I wish I could get out with the SM125. The weather has been dire since I bought it! Are you happy with yours?

[Paz]

3 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

A fun read Paz thanks. I wish I could get out with the SM125. The weather has been dire since I bought it! Are you happy with yours?

Yes I'm happy with it, I've been getting accustomed to the size being longer than I'm used to but now I'm familiar with it it's winning.

My ST120 and MC127 I ought to sell now, but I've had a lot of good times with those scopes, plus I'm a procrastinator and a hoarder so its going to be tough

My 72mm f6 is still best for travel if I have to pack down and is better for Ha solar, and the 102mm f7 may be better sometimes on solar Ha or white light by allowing lower magnifications but other than that they may not see much action from now on, we will see.

The less certain comparison is to the C8, I will be interested to see how that goes. I'm not a fan of SCTs and I was quite dismissive of my C8 for a long time (I really wanted a 180 Mak but couldnt land one second hand, then gave up and got a C8).

But in the last year I've put more effort into using the C8 properly and to be fair it has been growing on me and I feel like I have treated it a bit unfairly in the past.

So I expect the SM125 to be my main scope over winter and the C8 will come out for a go now and again.

Having said that I never really know, the best/ultimate test is letting time pass where you have a choice of what scope to take out, and finding out what gets chosen most in reality.

[Captain Scarlet]

If I were you I’d keep the Mak 127 as it’s so portable and compact; and I’d keep the ST120 as a comparison from time to time to remind you of just how good the SM125 is.