First Light - NEQ6 + Pentax + Baader Hyperion 13mm

[NickK]

Oorah!

NEQ6 Pro (EQ6 SynScan)

Pentax 105 SDP (105mm app, 670mm fl, f/6.38).

Baader Hyperion 13mm

Vixen bundled 20mm and 6mm Plossils that came with the A80Mf.

After watching the weather for a break in the clouds... tonight seemed a good possibility but I didn't get my hopes up. Driving home I could see a couple of stars out and about with varying amounts of cloud.

I got within a stones throw of home and looked around .. I could see a darkening sky and parked up.. hehe a 'clear' night with orion neb visible to the eye.

I dashed inside, put the potatoes on.. (~1815) and made the decision to get first light visually (no imaging). The NEQ6+tripod went out first.. with a quick dash back to pick up the scope in the case.

Rather than align, I thought I'd set the scope up first. Everything takes longer when it's unfamilar.. but soon enough the scope was seated and balanced. I plugged the mount into the car - the cable that comes with the mount is just long enough if the weights etc are in range of the paintwork... so this was used with manual slewing etc.

The scope's focusing wasn't having the elbow, the stars appeared blurred. So the eyepieces had to be used directly. No biggie.. I had a mat to lie on.

First EP - the BH 13mm.

I looked through. To quote Steve Jobs - *BOOM*

The view was completely different to the Vixen A80Mf and bundled Plossils. Infact the pin pricks of right were sharp, very sharp... and so many of them it was harder to find anything! I eventually found the Orion Nebula and a mass of stars.. you could see a far far more detailed nebula and the number of stars inside the main mass - distinct with separation. I switched to the vixen bundled EPs.. dim, and the stars faded a little but the difference between the Pentax and the A80Mf (80mm/910mm/f11.4) was clear as a bell! I get the impression that Pentax could run a very short focal length EP. The 6mm was not as dim as with the A80Mf but showed more but it still cries out for a better EP (Pentax XO 5mm please!).. but for now I shall ignore it's cries!

The NEQ6 held the field of view steady as a rock.

I switched to another old favourite - Pleiades. I didn't recognise it. It was as if someone had switched a light bulb on. Yet another mass of stars. Far more than I'd seen with the Vixen+bundled 20mm or 6mm. My little, simple world of astronomical navigation just got complicated and I needed a sat nav..

It was at this point I wasted 30 minutes attempting to align the scope using the polar scope in order to try the GOTO.. I couldn't recognise Cassiopeia through it (yet there it was in front of me).. so I gave up as I thought that I wouldn't have another clear night for a while.

Looking at Cassiopeia, again with the BH 13mm, I couldn't see the stars ... for the stars.

At this point it was about 21:20.. luckily my potatoes were fine!

I did make the Noob error of leaving the scope case open resulting in it being a bit dewed up - it's now drying out downstairs along with everything else.

The Pentax has flibble-inducing detail.. so much detail it's easy to get very lost. It's like a mandlebrot - the more you look the more detail you see.. which is both awe inducing and very disconcerting. Star hopping has just got a lot more difficult!

The Baader Hyperion 13mm is perfect. Initially I thought that I may have gone for something too wide field. In fact the ability of the Pentax to provide detail just meant you could see more at a leisurely x51 mag.

I get the feeling that it would handle a good quality 2.5mm (x150) on a clear night, 5mm (x134) on normal nights, 8-9mm (x75) through to 17-20mm (x40-x33) with ease.

The Vixen Bundled 20mm and 6mm Plossils were interesting. Dim, dark, with less stars and compared to the A80Mf more detail and stars. The 20mm was just a bit too low mag (x33) without the mass of stars and the 6mm (x111) was zoomed but just didn't have the same 'oomfph' in displaying what was coming in.

A little more play time with alignment and I'll be ready for a first light with a camera

edit: I forgot to say.. I almost broke my nose on the polar scope - it's going to look like someone has hit me!