Telescope Reviews: Eye on Infinity

Eye on Infinity

Tom Trusock, Saturday, May 03, 2003

Equipment: Pronto on Telepod / Bogen 3036, 22 nagler (22x), 12mm ortho(38x), 7mm nagler (69x)

Conditions: Seeing 7 - (out of 10), Transparency 7 - (out of 10), ZNELM appx 5.5, observed from 9:30 pm to 11:00 pm EST, no wind, temp high 30’s.

It’s been a while since I typed up a semi-formal report. It’s not that I haven’t been observing – on the contrary. I’ve simply been to busy to write my experiences up. Most recently, I’ve been playing around with some 15x70 bino’s I picked up for the grand sum of $69. The brand I found are the Galileo, but I’m willing to bet they come off the same line as the Barska, and most of the other cheap Chinese bino’s that are to be found. For that kind of money, I didn’t really expect much. I was surprised. The mechanics are decent, and the optics are actually pretty good. I’ve been able to see Saturn’s rings with them, and a number of clusters in Gemini and Aguria (m35, m36, m37 and m38). The double cluster and several others in Cassiopeia also floated into view. I was also able to spot M65 and M66, and very faintly NGC3628.

I’d also been playing with the Pronto and the binoviewer (using mainly orthos – 9, 12.5 and 18, but also a pair of 30mm ultimas and 13mm naglers), observing many of the same targets as with the big binos. Typically, the pronto/binoviewer combination was able to provide better views than the binos – in large part to the ability to change magnification. I should note tho, that I did find a rather large surprise, when on the same night I examined M65/M66/NGC3628 with both the binoviewer (on the pronto) and the binos. While 3628 was easily visible in the 18mm orthos on the pronto/binoviewer combination, it was nearly invisible in the 15x70 bino’s. Magnification, I’m sure played a large hand, but still – I found this result somewhat surprising with the light loss that is a side effect of a binoviewer.

That was earlier.

As tonight was another excellent night in Michigan’s thumb, and again I decide to take out the pronto – in mono mode this time (I tend to ignore that little scope far too much). I had initially intended to make a start on the h400 (again), but as my 10” returns from Rob Teeter’s on Monday, I found an excuse to bow to laziness and hit some bright showpiece targets instead.

First up were the bright galaxies in Leo. M65, M66 and NGC3628 fell easily to the Pronto at 22x, with M65 and M66 being visible just barely into astronomical twilight. As true night arrived, NGC3628 joined them. My best views of the galaxies were with the 12.5 ortho, although the 22 nagler did frame the triplet better. The faint swatch that is 3628 was visible with both the 22 nagler, and the 12.5 ortho, but it was slightly easier with the ortho. It was invisible to the 7mm nagler. To me, M65 appears the brighter of the two.

Moving up the body of the Lion, M105, M95 and M96 were the next set to tumble their photons into my eyes. I see no sign of the “tie fighter” structure in m95, but that’s hardly surprising – the challenge with 70mm of aperture is simply in the finding – the beauty and wonder spring from the knowledge of what you are seeing.

Deciding to take a momentary break from the galactic smudges before braving the depths of the Virgo cluster, I hopped over to Coma Berenices to pay homage to M53, the sole globular cluster on my tour this evening. O’Meara gives the distance to M53 at 56,000 light years – just in our backyard as compared to most of the other targets I visit tonight. While I won’t go so far as to say there was any resolution, there was a certain granularity to the globular, best visible in the ortho at 38x. The 22 nagler (22x) again gave a most impressive frame to the scene with Alpha Com blazing away off to the side.

From here, it was a short hop back into the depths of interstellar space where I found M64, the Black Eye galaxy. No sign of the shiner with any eyepiece. Best views were with the galaxy floating in a sea of stars at 22x.

Next was M85, to the edge of the 22x (22 nagler) field lay 24 com, by all appearances, a nice double. Try as I might I couldn’t spot a hint of NGC4293 – I’ll need to spend more time here.

M100 was a beautiful glow in a low power field that featured a chain of mag 8ish stars just off to the side. When properly framed in the 3.5 deg FOV of the 22 nagler, M100, M98 and M99 were all visible in the same FOV.

Teetering on the edge of the Virgo cluster, I realized that the charts I had brought were not sufficient for navigating it’s depths – and so I quickly beat a strategic retreat to M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. I’d looked for this in the 15x70’s earlier this week, but had been unable to find it. Going from memory, I had been tens of degrees off. Tonight, in the Pronto, with the charts at hand, it was an easy catch. At 38x, while no dark lane was visible, I did had the distinct impression that one side of the faint fuzzy was brighter than the other. Averted imagination perhaps?

With this denizen conquered, I completed my retreat from the massive virgo cluster, and moved directly overhead to check in on a few old favorites before heading in. I wasn’t surprised to find M51 still there, and even in 70mm exhibited a distinct bi-polar quality, undoubtedly due to the presence of its companion galaxy NGC5195. While there were no discrete arms visible, there was a slight mottling indicating the presence of structure.

Moving to the other side of the handle, I quickly located the face on spiral M101 – this galaxy appears huge at 22x, and takes up an impressively large section of the FOV in the 22 nagler. While there were no arms to be found, I did have the impression of increasing brightness toward the center, and overall, there was an interestingly smooth quality to this circular glow.

Finally, I journeyed to the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper to pay a call on M108 and M97. I had expected to pick up M108’s distinct spindle shape first, but was surprised when I detected the circle of M97 and had to spend several minutes studying the field before spotting M108. At 22x, M97 is a fairly regular circle, displaying uneven brightness over its surface. M108, on the other hand, is a spindly splash of light typical of an edge on galaxy. In my opinion, this is the best part of a small scope – not in witnessing individual objects, but in the interesting pairings that you can glimpse. Consider that M97, the planetary better known as the Owl Nebula is relatively nearby, spatially speaking. Only lying some 1,639 LY away, while it’s counterpart in the field (the galaxy M108) sits at a vastly farther 46,000,000 LY.

Tonight, in the space of some 90 minutes, the little Pronto and I had visited a globular on the edge of our galaxy, traveled through the fringes of the Virgo cluster, and run home to play in the embers of a dying star.

All the while keeping our eye fixed on infinity.

Clear Skies

Tom T.

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A mans greatest contribution lies in those he leaves behind.

Edited by Tom Trusock (05/04/03 08:26 PM)