Start of my visual journey

[Galileo]

Here going to post all my observations and experiences. Advice, comments and suggestions most welcome folks. 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Galileo
typo

[Cumbrianwolf]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

Here going to post all my observations and experiences. Advice, comments and suggestions most welcome folks. 

Did you not start out with visual? As you know in the visual game, aperture is king, and two inch eyepieces are awesome for the most deep wide field views. What are you planning to view as in planetary or DSO, as this can make a difference in eyepiece choices?

[Nightspore]

I don't know what  eyepieces or scopes you intend to use. If the weather is good I'm going to concentrate on the Moon tonight.

 

 

There will be plenty of objects near the terminator. I plan on using my 127mm SkyMax. I can get virtually everything bar the Porta II/TL130 into the Oklop bag.

 

 

Personally I think the Moon will be a bit bright tonight for anything else and I will go for a dedicated lunar session. However, the list below, roughly in order of right ascension, are all pretty easy and satisfying targets with a 60mm refractor, some are naked eye objects: 

 

Arrakis (Mu Draconis) - double star
17 Draconis - triple star 
Izar (Epsilon Bootis) - double star
Alkalurops (Mu Bootis) - triple star
Mizar/Alcor - Ursa Major
M3 - globular cluster (Canes Venatici)
Cor Caroli - double star (Canes Venatici)
Coma Berenices (the tail of the lion) - large open cluster/asterism
Algebia (Gamma 1 Leonis) - double star
M44 - open cluster
Castor (Alpha Geminorum) – double star
Phi 1 Cancri – double star
Tegmine (Zeta 1 Cancri) - double star
Alpha Persei Moving Group – open cluster
Owl Cluster (NGC 457) - open cluster in Cassiopeia 
NGC 559 - open cluster in Cassiopeia 
NGC 637 - open cluster in Cassiopeia 
Iota Cassiopeiae - triple star in Cassiopeia 
Stock 2 - open cluster in  Cassiopeia
Caroline’s Rose (NGC 7789) open cluster in Cassiopeia
M52 - open cluster in Cassiopeia
Polaris ‘Engagement Ring’ - cluster of stars in and around Polaris

 

I can locate all of these with a simple red dot finder/reflex sight. I haven't included more obvious targets like the Perseus Double Cluster. You'll find all of these pretty easily and they should all be in Stellarium. Cassiopeia is getting lower now but it's full of open clusters.  I can often see the Pacman Nebula and Heart & Soul Nebulae without filters utilising a 3-6mm exit pupil. 

 

Obviously you'll need around an 0.5 to 1mm exit pupil for most doubles. Recently I split Izar and Iota Cassiopeiae at 180x with my Altair 60EDF (0.3mm exit pupil). A zoom is handy for finding and splitting doubles. Open clusters can be viewed at anything between a 1.5mm and 6mm exit pupil. Coma Berenices is nicely framed at 10x in my 60EDF with a 36mm Baader Aspheric. Berenice has big hair! lol

 

 

I'm with Cumbrianwolf with regards to 2" eyepieces. They can be heavy but show wonderful rich field views. 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Nightspore

[Nightspore]

I don't know if you possess any 2" diagonals. I've rabbited a bit about diagonals. I tend to prefer mirrors to prisms mostly as they're usually significantly lighter in weight. I have several 2" Amici prisms including the bog-standard Baader (Long Perng) and the BBHS (Zeiss spec) one. 

[Galileo]

great cheers but please no more pics of EP's, scopes or mounts 😠

Edited April 7, 2022 by Galileo

[Nightspore]

13 minutes ago, Galileo said:

great cheers but please no more pics of EP's, scopes or mounts 😠

 

Sorry, I think it's the lecturer in me. A picture's worth a thousand semiotic signifiers, or something.

[Galileo]

Well that wasn't a long session but very productive. Got my goto's working spot on with laser accurately aligned to help with star alignment. Found focus and balanced nicely. 

 

Bit of a pain rotating focuser but I think that the key might be to observe targets in one area of the sky rather than slewing all over the place like I was.

 

Anyway checked out the crescent moon, M3 globular cluster, Mizar / Alcor, Beehive cluster and random areas of the sky by slewing around. All very pleasant 

 

Next time I'll be a bit more methodical in my viewing.

 

I think I've got to adjust my expectations in order to enjoy and get something out of observing. One can be spoilt with images and I've asked myself why view when you can see so much more with an image but there is something unique about seeing things in an eyepiece for sure.

 

 

[Nightspore]

This is why I like rotating focusers. Well, that and I'm partially paralysed on the right side of my body. Heavy stuff can fall out!

[Galileo]

23 hours ago, Cumbrianwolf said:

Did you not start out with visual? As you know in the visual game, aperture is king, and two inch eyepieces are awesome for the most deep wide field views. What are you planning to view as in planetary or DSO, as this can make a difference in eyepiece choices?

Yes I did years ago and had a long break in Astronomy till the old winters of 2010/11 when we had amazing skies full of stars even in the city, that ignited my interest again and soon got into imaging.

 

i hope not to buy a light bucket to do this so may be a bit limited with my 4" refractor although it is premium quality so that should count for something.

 

Got a handful of EP's of various quality, would like a zoom but unsure how good they are.

[Cumbrianwolf]

4 minutes ago, Galileo said:

Yes I did years ago and had a long break in Astronomy till the old winters of 2010/11 when we had amazing skies full of stars even in the city, that ignited my interest again and soon got into imaging.

 

i hope not to buy a light bucket to do this so may be a bit limited with my 4" refractor although it is premium quality so that should count for something.

 

Got a handful of EP's of various quality, would like a zoom but unsure how good they are.

Excellent, a technique to use on some DSO objects is averted vision, as the light cones to the outer side of the eye are a monochrome sensor in essence and will show more details than looking directly. As well as spend at least ten minutes on the object as your eyes begin to sort of stack the images and the detail appears slowly as well as seeing can improve. (Sorry if I am teaching you to suck eggs). I have only one zoom eyepiece left from around twelve premium ones I used to have, inclusive of the 2" inch ones that I loved, sure wish I had not sold it off in a huff as visual can be so much easier to work with compared to imaging. 

 

Addendum: light buckets can be great, but also come at cost with a weight penalty, the largest I have had was 14" and this showed colour on the objects that I had never seen colour on before so that was a wow moment of my visual viewing, but caveat was having to haul it in and out!

Edited April 8, 2022 by Cumbrianwolf

[Galileo]

Not telling me to suck eggs at all John please keep any tips coming.

 

I did notice a Bahtinov mask wasn't as successful as when imaging how do you achieve best focus? I found that ignoring any bright stars and concentrating on feint ones helped

 

The moon blinded me momentarily but it's not something I'm going to observe regularly so not buying a moon filter, I'd quite like to do a Messier marathon.

 

 

[Galileo]

On 4/7/2022 at 4:42 PM, Nightspore said:

I don't know if you possess any 2" diagonals. I've rabbited a bit about diagonals. I tend to prefer mirrors to prisms mostly as they're usually significantly lighter in weight. I have several 2" Amici prisms including the bog-standard Baader (Long Perng) and the BBHS (Zeiss spec) one. 

Yes I have a 2" diagonal, think it might be a half decent one. I only have one 2" EP, a Skywatcher which is standard issue with their scopes, I seemed to get some considerable flare round big stars. I found my Ostara FF12mm to cope much better with those bright stars

 

@nightspore , no pics of EP's or diagonals please, ta

Edited April 8, 2022 by Galileo

[Cumbrianwolf]

23 minutes ago, Galileo said:

Not telling me to suck eggs at all John please keep any tips coming.

 

I did notice a Bahtinov mask wasn't as successful as when imaging how do you achieve best focus? I found that ignoring any bright stars and concentrating on feint ones helped

 

The moon blinded me momentarily but it's not something I'm going to observe regularly so not buying a moon filter, I'd quite like to do a Messier marathon.

 

 

As for focusing, a dual rate focuser with a 10-1 gear ratio helps, and it is just by eye so no masks needed. Yes, the moon requires a filter otherwise it blinds you for some time.

[Nightspore]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

Yes I have a 2" diagonal, think it might be a half decent one. I only have one 2" EP, a Skywatcher which is standard issue with their scopes, I seemed to get some considerable flare round big stars. I found my Ostara FF12mm to cope much better with those bright stars

 

@nightspore , no pics of EP's or diagonals please, ta

 

I have one of those Sky-Watcher 28mm EP's. Possibly a reverse Kellner but more likely some type of Konig as it has less edge astigmatism than any reversed Kellner I've used. My guess would be the diagonal if you're getting a lot of scatter. IME mirrors tend to do this more than prisms. Fast refractors can be a tad fussy.

 

 

[pixelsaurus]

I think I might join you chaps seeing astrophotography is now severely compromised for me. Anyone have any thoughts on Celestron eyepieces? I got a suitcase full of them when I got a Celestron Edge 8 for my birthday.

[Galileo]

A suitcase full ?😮

 

I seem to have started a visual revolution. 

[pixelsaurus]

This one: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/eyepiece-sets/celestron-eyeopener-eyepiece-and-filter-kit.html

 

I also have a 25mm SWA Meade Series 4000 eyepiece from the 80's.

Edited April 9, 2022 by pixelsaurus