Telescope Reviews: Fun with a 50mm refractor.

Lucky me, I've had some decent skies this week

. In addition to nabbing a couple new asteroids and a new galaxy with my Dob for my observing log, I had some fun at the other end of the aperture scale. I settled on three Naglers for my SV50 Sparrowhawk, 13mm, 9mm and 5mm (all type 6 of course!) The "Sparrowhawk" is the Stellarvue 9x50 finderscope with an ego.

I used the 13 basically for a finder eyepiece, as it produces about a 5º true field. There were a few objects that I could not see in the 13 (too dim or too small) but showed up well in the 9 and 5mm. Nearly all my observing was with the 5mm at 20x. Here we go:

Double Cluster: Of course I have to view that one, it's obligatory!

M15 Globular: Really stunning in the 9 and even the 5. The glob is nested in a very pretty star field, and is quite bright.

M2 Globular: Pretty, like a cotton ball, but mostly isolated from stars so it's not as visually striking as M15.

M71 Globular in Sagitta: I was pleasantly surprised to see this one in my suburban skies as a very pale indistinctly round patch of light. Best with the 9mm.

M27 PNe: What can I say, this one is very bright and absolutely stunning even with the 5 Nagler.

I really get the impression I'm using a much bigger scope!

M57 PNe: Tiny but still ring-like in the 5mm.

Delta 2 Lyr: I love this star grouping. Delta 2 is a red giant at the apex of a double triangle. Use a small scope for this one: too much aperture shows too many stars and ruins the effect.

Double Double: Okay, only got a Double.

M52 Open Cluster "Scorpion": Wow!

A distinct glowy patch with a bright star in its western edge. Very pretty!

Eta Cas, double star: Very easily split with the 5mm, with a very dim companion 10" due east.

Almach, double star: Quite a bit harder at 9.6" separation (4 tenths makes a difference with a 50mm scope!) The companion, ENE of the primary, is quite bright at magnitude 5 so both stars had rather large airy discs adding to the difficulty.

M103 Open Cluster: Four stars in a flattened diamond embedded in a haze of light visible with averted vision.

NGC 663 Open Cluster: Near M103, this one is large and bright and an easy catch.

NGC 654 Open Cluster: Also near M103, I think I spotted this one but not too sure.

M11 Wild Duck Cluster. This one is very pretty with a low power, wide field view. I could see the eyes of the Duck.

(Early morning targets): M44 Beehive: That, and the Little Behive in Canis Major are nice targets for the Sparrowhawk.

NGC 3692 Eskimo Nebula: This one is almost invisible in the 13 Nagler, but shows up as a dim but well defined tiny round patch of light in the 9mm or even the 5mm.

M42 Orion Nebula: Unfortunately I had a 20 day old Moon in the sky, but saw some nice nebulosity anyway. With the 5mm the Trapezium is nicely resolved. With the 9mm I could get strong hints of M43 in my averted vision.

M81/M82 Galaxies: M81 was rather easily seen with the 9 or 5mm, but I had too much Moon to get a good view of M82; almost, but no cigar!

M67 Open Cluster "King Cobra:" Daylight was encroaching so I was surprised to catch this one, albeit very dim, as a roundish patch of light. It was still a good catch, my last for the sessions this week. I'll try again under better skies.

Thanks for reading!

David E
SV50 The Sparrowhawk.

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David E

If you keep a stack of old Orion catalogs in your bathroom, you might be an astro-redneck.