Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Cloudy Nights - Official Forums of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User   You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Equipment Discussions >> Binoculars Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 Mr. Bill Carpal Tunnel Reged: 02/09/05 Posts: 2748 Loc: Just passing through..... Bagged Pal 5 with BT100s......       #2562104 - 08/05/08 03:36 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   After sitting in wildfire woodsmoke here in northeastern Calf for the last four weeks, I decided to go to the clear skies of central Nevada. Spent 5 nights of absolutely dark and transparent skies (est. mag 7+). SQM readings were consistently 21.85-21.9. These are world class skies for astronomy....there's plenty of good quality observing available in the west in spite of the best efforts of developers. Hint: the quality of the night skies is inversely proportional to the number of bars on your cell phone. This was a chance to try out my BT100s with 24 Pan eyepieces (25x) and 14mm Denks(43x) to best effect. Also had my 5.5 inch refractor and new 13mm Ethos eyepiece (62x) for MW sweeping. Here is a challenge for you...Pal 5 in Serpens Caput. This is a very faint globular cluster about 5 minutes across according to NSOG. Its visual magnitude is listed as 11.8 so it is one of the hardest (ie faintest) objects I examined with my binoculars and was swept up by moving the field and using averted vision. Once spotted, however, it was seen with direct vision. The surface brightness of Pal 5 is perhaps less than the other challenge....NGC6822 (Barnard's Galaxy) located in Sagittarius and is much larger than Pal 5 at about 15x14 arc minutes. Its listed as mag 8.8, but remember that is integrated so the light spread out over the extended object is very low surface brightness. Binoculars under these conditions can do marvelous duty on viewing Milky Way large scale structure and in some respects do a better job than a telescope for revealing the lowest contrast extended objects, including most all the Sharpless nebulae listed on the Sky Atlas charts. Also, many more dark nebulae than listed are seen while sweeping through the MW starfields. Going back in October for some of the fall-winter MW. Can't wait. -------------------- 10x50 Fujinon FMT-SX binos 15x70 AP binos + Paragon p-mount Oberwerk 100BT 45 degree + Hercules fork mount 120mm f/5 Orion achromat + Moonlite focuser 140mm f/5.7 Vixen NeoAchro Petzvel refractor 150mm f/6.5 Antares achromat 150mm f/8 homemade achromat....EE Barnard MW Sweeper 8 inch newt with f/5 Swayze mirror 10 inch f/4.7 Orion newt + Paracorr 15 inch f/5 Discovery split tube 35mm Pan, 26mm Nagler, 17mm Nagler, 13mm Ethos, 8mm Ethos Member IDA Edited by Mr. Bill (08/05/08 10:11 PM) Post Extras:       Mr. Bill Carpal Tunnel Reged: 02/09/05 Posts: 2748 Loc: Just passing through..... Re: Bagged Pal 5 with BT100s...... [Re: Mr. Bill]       #2562343 - 08/05/08 05:59 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Opps....senior moment... just noticed I mislabled the thread. Obviously, should read... "Bagged Pal 5 with BT100s..." -------------------- 10x50 Fujinon FMT-SX binos 15x70 AP binos + Paragon p-mount Oberwerk 100BT 45 degree + Hercules fork mount 120mm f/5 Orion achromat + Moonlite focuser 140mm f/5.7 Vixen NeoAchro Petzvel refractor 150mm f/6.5 Antares achromat 150mm f/8 homemade achromat....EE Barnard MW Sweeper 8 inch newt with f/5 Swayze mirror 10 inch f/4.7 Orion newt + Paracorr 15 inch f/5 Discovery split tube 35mm Pan, 26mm Nagler, 17mm Nagler, 13mm Ethos, 8mm Ethos Member IDA Edited by EdZ (08/05/08 06:02 PM) Post Extras:       Mr. Bill Carpal Tunnel Reged: 02/09/05 Posts: 2748 Loc: Just passing through..... Re: Bagged Pal 5 with BT100s...... [Re: Mr. Bill]       #2562374 - 08/05/08 06:12 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks, Edz.... -------------------- 10x50 Fujinon FMT-SX binos 15x70 AP binos + Paragon p-mount Oberwerk 100BT 45 degree + Hercules fork mount 120mm f/5 Orion achromat + Moonlite focuser 140mm f/5.7 Vixen NeoAchro Petzvel refractor 150mm f/6.5 Antares achromat 150mm f/8 homemade achromat....EE Barnard MW Sweeper 8 inch newt with f/5 Swayze mirror 10 inch f/4.7 Orion newt + Paracorr 15 inch f/5 Discovery split tube 35mm Pan, 26mm Nagler, 17mm Nagler, 13mm Ethos, 8mm Ethos Member IDA Post Extras:       Rich V. scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 01/02/05 Posts: 967 Loc: Carson Valley, Nevada USA Re: Bagged Pal 5 with BT100s...... [Re: Mr. Bill]       #2562568 - 08/05/08 07:41 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Bill, good to hear you were able to get away from the smoke in central NV. You didn't say where your observed from; I'm curious. I love Nevada because you can go nearly anywhere into the interior and find mag 7 skies. Any mountain range will give you a decent 6000-8000' observing spot. The drive is grueling but at 10,000' the Wheeler Peak campground at Great Basin NP gives some fantastic vistas! I try to go there every few years. With Lehman Caves and many year-round streams there's lots to do in the daytime, too. From your area, the Granite Range north of the Black Rock Desert is in your back yard; have you explored it much? Lots to see in the Black Rock as well. Rich V -------------------- Binoculars: 33-150x100 Saturn III, 16x70FMT-SX, 10x50 PCF-V, 10x43 DCF-SP, 10x35 E2, 7x35 E, 8x30 E2, 7x26 Custom, 8x23AS Diplomat, 8x23 Travelite Scopes: C9.25, 6" f8 reflector, SV80S Post Extras:       Mr. Bill Carpal Tunnel Reged: 02/09/05 Posts: 2748 Loc: Just passing through..... Re: Bagged Pal 5 with BT100s...... [Re: Rich V.]       #2562712 - 08/05/08 08:45 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Rich... Don't reveal exact locations after previous problems with especially Southern California clubs overrunning dark site locations upon mentioning exactly where.... Too bad that this has become a hot button issue; I guess a sign of a rapidly shrinking resource. Let's just say somewhere below Austin...dry camping (means squatting and shovel) in the outback. -------------------- 10x50 Fujinon FMT-SX binos 15x70 AP binos + Paragon p-mount Oberwerk 100BT 45 degree + Hercules fork mount 120mm f/5 Orion achromat + Moonlite focuser 140mm f/5.7 Vixen NeoAchro Petzvel refractor 150mm f/6.5 Antares achromat 150mm f/8 homemade achromat....EE Barnard MW Sweeper 8 inch newt with f/5 Swayze mirror 10 inch f/4.7 Orion newt + Paracorr 15 inch f/5 Discovery split tube 35mm Pan, 26mm Nagler, 17mm Nagler, 13mm Ethos, 8mm Ethos Member IDA Post Extras:       milt sage Reged: 09/13/04 Posts: 424 Loc: Arizona Re: Bagged Pal 5 with BT100s...... [Re: Mr. Bill]       #2562744 - 08/05/08 09:02 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Great catch in 100mm, Bill! I should have gone after some of the Pal globular's (would have meant observing into the wee hours) while camping in Big Bend N.P. this spring. It had similar darkness to what you describe. Everyone should get themselves to a truly dark site at least once. It's breathtaking to see what our skies used to look like before light pollution. Milt Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 6 registered and 31 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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