My first view of the Great Nebula in Orion

[Matthew.Blake]

Wow! What a night. I lie slightly, it's not my first view: it just felt like it. Never before have I seen the nebulosity surrounding the stars. I don't know what I've been doing wrong before but it was clear tonight and it was beautiful. I thought at first it was fog on my eyepiece so started panning round to check! I must have sat there for 30+ minutes just looking at it. I'm even more eager for the UHC filter to arrive now as I saw all this with two street lamps shining into my garden from just under Orion!

I was using a 21mm Hyperion in an Skywatcher 200p, I tried it with my 2x Barlow as well and got some good viewing there; though I've always found that the Hyperion doesn't barlow (is that a verb?) as well as my Aero. Does anyone have any ideas why this might be?

Can't wait to tell my wife when she gets home, I've just got to start chopping apples for mincemeat like I promised now, horrible stuff!

[Doc]

I always see nebulosity in M42 and I agree with you it's a fantastic sight. I used to have the 21mm Hyperion and it's a great eyepiece.

[Wobbly Bob]

Good report Mathew, so pleased you found orion fascinating.

Cant help with the barlow issue though. Now back to chopping that mincemeat

[Doc]

Bob why are you chopping mincemeat at 22.00

Btw never use barlows as I find they always deterioate the view. I did have the Tal x2 when I very first started this amazing hobby but soo turned to just using eyepieces.

[Beulah]

Bob why are you chopping mincemeat at 22.00

Btw never use barlows as I find they always deterioate the view. I did have the Tal x2 when I very first started this amazing hobby but soo turned to just using eyepieces.

Glad I'm not the only one Doc...I don't like using my Barlow very much.

[DarkerSky]

Good report.

M42 is one of those sights you just have to keep coming back to. A real jewel in the sky. I had a small group of brownies round a couple of years back doing their stargazer badge. We did M42...the gasps from the eyepiece were quite thrilling

[Astro_Baby]

There is a view that Hyperions dont Barlow well because of their complex optical design. I find my own Hyperions dont like the Skywatcher 2" ED Barlow but are ok(ish) with the standard 1.25 DeLuxe version. I dont really use my Barlows much - they are there as a kind of emergency booster.

[Matthew.Blake]

I use the 2" ED with them. I use it most with my 30mm Aero and I find only slight degradation in the quality of the image. I think it's well worth compared with the cost of buying another 15mm eyepiece with the same view quality of the Aero. When I win the lottery...

[Beulah]

SO, Seb & Mick..what does M42 look like through a 16" telescope?

I had the best views last night in my measly 8" - the main nebula was quite blue with a second confirmation that M43 appeared to have a pinkish hue...

[russ]

The skies have been incredible for the last week or so. Awesome transparency. M42 last night was the best i've seen it with the 8 and the view seemed to match that of the 12.5" on a average night. I think we must be seeing those legendary English winter nights, which were starting to become something of a myth.

I don't mind using barlows but it depends on the eyepiece. Some (like the Hyperion) hate being barlowed while others show very little ill effect of being barlowed. Plus i would much rather use a longer focal length Ortho with barely acceptable eye relief and a barlow, than a silly size (5mm or less) Ortho with zip eye relief.

[Matthew.Blake]

I don't mind using barlows but it depends on the eyepiece. Some (like the Hyperion) hate being barlowed while others show very little ill effect of being barlowed. Plus i would much rather use a longer focal length Ortho with barely acceptable eye relief and a barlow, than a silly size (5mm or less) Ortho with zip eye relief.

I thought that what made Orthos so great was the high contrast achieved by the small number of elements. If you're going to barlow one, then why not just buy a higher power plossl of a decent make? It wouldn't be expensive, offers more FOV and better eye relief.

[albedo0.39]

Orion nebula from a dark sight (Kelling) in my LB-16 was simply awesome. It looked on fire.. It's hard to find the exact words to describe because whilst the imagers pick up loads more detail, I feel there is nothing like seeing it "live and direct"

Dreamy