Unexpected session 3rd March 2024

[Stu]

I had no expectation of heading out last night as the forecast looked quite dodgy. However, Mrs Stu had a work call at nine so I thought I would have a look see. Amazingly enough, clear skies! Some light cloud headed through then completely clear until I came in at around 10.30.

Scope of choice was Phyllis, the FS-128 on the AZ75/Uni-28 for speed of setup. I then remembered my StarSense, so thought I would give that a go to see if it was quicker than aligning the mount. The answer is probably not, but still it worked well and got me onto quite a few targets as you will see!

First up I tried for Tegmine, that was actually my initial reason for heading out after Wookie65 mentioned it in his post about his new Vixen.

Well, it looked beautiful in the Tak, three lovely airy disks with separation between the tight pair. Hints of a first diffraction ring around them but not much. The seeing was a bit variable (when isn’t it? 😩) but mostly it was consistently split. I tried a few different eyepieces including the SvBony 3 to 8 zoom, some BGOs and Vixen HR Planetarys (2.4 and 3.4). The SvBony held its own against these, splitting it just as cleanly. The HRs may (and I emphasis may) have been slightly cleaner but really nothing substantial. It does make you question the value of all these hyper expensive eyepieces!

Next up I popped a 31mm Nag in and headed to M44. What to say, absolutely beautiful, pin point stars and lovely contrast. A quick pan to M67 and a switch up through a few eyepieces; 22mm and 17mm Nag, then Docter 12.5mm which really brought it to life. M35 was another cracker, can’t recall which eyepiece framed it best, likely the 31.

I diverted over to Orion for the 37 Cluster NGC2169, an old favourite. It looked best in the Docter, and I love splitting the tiny double in the top corner of the 3. I moved the double right out towards the edge, and was still able to split it there so the eyepiece is not too shabby in terms of field curvature and edge performance. Less challenging at f8.1 I know, but not all eyepieces will do this.

I then went on a bit of a galaxy hunt just to see what was possible. The sky looked fairly transparent but I wasn’t particularly well dark adapted.

M66 and 67 were immediately obvious with their angled yet parallel orientation. Initially I couldn’t see NGC3628 so headed to the other triplet M96, 97 and 105. These were all clear straight off, nice little group. Although they are dimmer, they are also smaller so I suspect the surface brightness is similar to M66/67 and better than 3628. I then went back and tried 3628 again. I backed off to the 31mm Nagler and could then just about spot it. It got easier in the 22 and better in the 17mm I think. It needed averted vision but I was pleased to see this one.

I stopped by Algieba while I was nearby, upping the power to see two unequal airy disks, nice, then went over to M51 which I didn’t have high hopes for. How wrong I was! Two glowing centres with haloes around them in the 31mm Nag. Upping the power showed a little more, very nice!

Then on to M81 and 82 which were really fabulous, best I’ve seen for a while. I think I forget sometimes just how much better my skies are down here than they were near London. M82 in particular was quite dramatic and showed some mottled internal structure. I know I can do better too, as there were still lights on around the house and I had been looking at my phone so wasn’t dark adapted in any real sense.

Last two targets were M97 which showed as a roundish grey glow, hints of something within but I couldn’t claim eyes! M108 was tougher, but definitely there nearby.

Unfortunately Mrs Stu’s call finished early and I was also tired after a long day of working on the house, so I called it a night, but my heart wanted to stay out for another hour or so!

From a kit perspective, the scope is amazing, and so much better since I fitted the FeatherTouch. Focus is so much easier to find with the dual speed.

I used a variety of eyepieces, namely 31, 22 and 17mm Nags, 17.5mm Morpheus, Docter 12.5mm for deep sky stuff. High powers were achieved with SvBony 3 to 8mm zoom, orthos and Vixen HR in 3.4 and 2.4mm guise. I also used an 18mm Ortho at one point and really enjoyed that. The SvBony continues to impress, very practical in terms of range and optically excellent. Actually with the SvBony, Leica Zoom and 24mm Panoptic I have a three piece travel set that covers most bases except for very widefield.

The mount/tripod combination is fine for shortish sessions but there is a little more vibration than I would like with the Tak on board. This was just on the patio, so having the tripod dug into the grass would help, but really the AZ100/Planet is much more satisfactory. I suspect the AZ75 on the Planet would be nearly there too but that kind of misses the point of the AZ75 as a lightweight setup.

Finally the StarSense. This was nicked from an LT80AZ and I modified the base to fit onto the finder slot on any scope and it seems to work well on the FT despite being slightly obscured by the mount. Once aligned, it got me either on or very close to all my targets very easily even with a higher power eyepiece in place. I would say it’s not as accurate as the encoders on the mount, but perfectly useable and a great aid. With short sessions, I like to avoid time taken finding targets so this is a great way of maximising time spent observing.

So, a nice little session of an hour or so, must get out with the 128 more often, and make the effort to put the AZ100 out.

[SuburbanMak]

Great read @Stu thank you, & my kind of session! Work & other things been thwarting a little lately so great to get some vicarious enjoyment, have to say, much as I love checking in on "What did you see tonight?"  I do love a longer form observing report!