M42 Best Visual

[moondog]

I’ve just had the best view of M42 ever.

In the words of the blues song - ‘Well I woke up this moanin…’ - in my case , 3-45am BST. Looked out the window and even with my sleep- bleary, short sighted eyes I could see Orion and the fuzzy patch of the sword hanging below the belt.

So I snuck off into the spare bedroom where I’ve got the Revelation 80 ED refractor on a camera tripod. Opened the window, popped in the TAL 25mm SP, and homed in on M42. These short focal length ‘scopes don’t need a finder.

The seeing must have been excellent as, even at x22, I easily found the Trapezium stars. I could only make out 3 of them at this magnification. The 3 stars opposite the ‘mouth’ were bright, but what was striking was the clarity of the dark nebulosity. I could see differences in shading in this dark part, something I haven’t seen before. Quite spectacular. I looked at the same view for several minutes - not like me at all!

Swapped EP for the 15mm Lanthanum @ x37. Immediately picked up the faint 4th star in the Trapezium. ( Is it a variable?), but the dark nebulosity faded. I’ve just got an Astro Engineering x3 photo visual barlow ( with T thread for DSLR ). Tried this with the 25mm TAL EP @ x67. Excellent sharp view and very clear Trapezium stars. As a test substituted the 9mm Lanthanum @ x61 and the views were surprisingly similar.

The Revelation 80 ED performed very well, easy snap-to focus, good colour correction, light weight and small enough to be used on a camera tripod.

I did try the 2 ins Moonfish 30mm Ultrawide EP, but although it gave an excellent wide field view, it is nothing like as impressive as on a longer focal scope like my TAL. With the TAL 125R I get a definite ‘space walk’ effect. Best view was with the TAL 25mm EP.

I’m looking forward to being able to use the TAL - which lives outside- on M42 when Orion is a late evening object.

MD

[FLO]

Nice report MD,

Really enjoyed it

[OXO]

Nice Report MD like you last night i had some nice views of M42

faint 4th star in the Trapezium. ( Is it a variable?)

Trapezium 1D? if so that isn't a variable as far as iam aware :?, i noticed NU Orionis appeard to be shifting in Mag but this is purely down to see Conditions..

James

[geppetto]

Great report

A picture painted in words

Thanks for sharing

[daz]

Nice report MD!!

I bet that was a real treat

And no, I don't think any of the trapeziums are variables.

[moondog]

Glad you liked the report.

The Trapezium stars - I've been doing a bit of research.

Apparently the faint star is Star B, an eclipsing binary. Varies from + 7.9 to + 8.7 mag. over 6 1/2 days.

It's designated BM Ori

8)

MD

[Kain]

Looks like you had a good time there MD, nice one.

I can't wait till I get the Dob on it, rather than just it's finder scope lol.

Kain