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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 4658
Loc: Illinois, US
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- The ring nebula is still hard to see in a 90mm scope from my front yard.
- A friend of ours has a front yard which gains us about half a magnitude in NELM.
- It's also hard (but now possible, barely, with lots of magnification and even more averted vision) to see the ring nebula in a 90mm scope with that extra .5 NELM.
- Alberio's component stars are quite widely separated. It's really hard to miss.
- Speaking of Alberio, it seems that the color in a Rini MPL is quite warm, compared to an Orion Sirius plossl, which seems almost harsh by comparison.
- Pleiades is back!
- Pleiades looks remarkable in the 15x70s that I never really got a good chance to try with it last year.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Silicon Owl
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/25/05
Posts: 943
Loc: Waimea, Hawaii
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Ouch, what that says about the light conditions in your front yard is discouraging.
I hadn't noticed much color difference in seeing Alberio in different eyepieces. I see it fairly regularly this time of year as I line up the 'scope for public viewing. Biggest difference I notice is based on seeing or poor focus that spreads out the light a bit and shows the color better. Higher power will also seem more colorful when the light from the star is spread out and not so bright as to wash out the color.
Andrew
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Andrew Cooper
Personal Website and CN Gallery
Handmade 18" Dob / NS11GPS / 6" RFT / 90mm APO / TV-76 ...and a twin 10m
"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." --Sarah Williams
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Chris,
Wow, your front yard is not the best place is it? I can see M57 in my TV85 and my 24 Pan from my Riverdale rooftop. That's 25x. I'm about 1/2 mile from the northern boundary of Manhattan. Of course, I can't see it as a "smoke ring" at that power, just as a decidedly hazy, non-stellar puff. On a really good night, I can see it as a smoke ring at about 60x in the TV85 and 50x in the 6" Dob. A friend and I once saw M57 in his Pronto from Central Park, so your yard is not the place for DSO's, but I'm sure you're well aware of that!
And you're so right about M45 in 15x70's. It's one of my fave's in my friend's Fuji's.
Clyde
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MidnightFrost
member
Reged: 08/25/08
Posts: 11
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yea m45 is amazing in the 10x50 nikons i bought a while back, i counted several dozen just with the binos alone, and there blue color is remarkable too...
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-Jordan
Orion Spaceprobe 3
Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ (dont buy this)
Nikon action 10x50mm binos
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richard7
sage
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 480
Loc: Sacramento
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And Orion, while still lying prone, is rising early.
Tried to find the Trifid last night in 20x80's. Not a hint
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Richard Trost
Orion 130st, Ioptron e/r80
Meade 10x50, Konusvue 20x80, Zhumell Tachiyon 25x100
Coffee thermos and cup
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 4658
Loc: Illinois, US
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Quote:
Ouch, what that says about the light conditions in your front yard is discouraging.
Isn't it? I knew that, though. Part of it is the sky dome, but that's probably (hopefully) better than some. What really gets you is the direct glare from every direction.
Still, I'm pretty sure I could see it in the 6" from the yard...
Quote:
I hadn't noticed much color difference in seeing Alberio in different eyepieces. I see it fairly regularly this time of year as I line up the 'scope for public viewing. Biggest difference I notice is based on seeing or poor focus that spreads out the light a bit and shows the color better. Higher power will also seem more colorful when the light from the star is spread out and not so bright as to wash out the color.
I think I may have just tried two of the right eyepieces, luckily. The magnification was a little different (we're talking about a switch from 26mm to 22mm at 1000mm focal length of the scope, so 38x to 45x). I think the 22mm eyepiece was a 60 degree apparent view, too, as opposed to 52, so the true field would have worked out to be pretty close. Not really a noticeable change in any way, except that the color worked out better.
Chris
Edit: To be clear about the exact sky conditions here, Pleiades isn't exactly a naked eye object. It's visible, with direct vision, as kind of a really dim blob just on the edge of perception. I've never failed to recognize it this way, once I knew what to look for, but it doesn't look like Pleiades. None of the individual stars are visible, just the milky blob.
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
Edited by Protheus (08/30/08 04:30 PM)
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charlie g
sage
Reged: 10/05/07
Posts: 287
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Thanks Chris (Protheus) for the 'almanac-type' post from 'your castle'! It both prompts us 'other 'CN-ers' to compare nightface skies with your viewa, especially your 'un-aided eye/naked-eye astronomy' of 'the seven sisters/ the Pliades ?sp??'.
Your posts have often helped me ( once I 'CN-classified' purchased a 'both:2"&1 1/2" eyepiece...your comments
clarified my questionsd on thios matter!).
If you post these 'Almanac-type'/seasonal posts 'from your backdoor'...I know many of us will follow (perhaps ourselves do driveway 'setups' to share in your lead!).
Great and thoughtful post...horrible clouded nights here in northeast for months, thanks for your 'sky-views post',Chris. charlie guevara NJ,US
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 4658
Loc: Illinois, US
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Hey Charlie. I'm happy to report that I had a quite rewarding session with the 6" today. The ring nebula is easy to miss, but clear and well resolved (as nebulae get...) at 46x in the 6". The O-III line filter works well still at that magnification in the 6" scope, too, though it doesn't really draw more detail out of the ring. I suspect it would if I could maintain better dark adaptation.
Thinking about taking the 90mm out and giving it another shot; perhaps experience will help.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 4658
Loc: Illinois, US
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Well, I took out the 90mm again to give it another try. I'm really having trouble getting that deep with this particular scope. It's the conditions here, obviously. No trouble away from town. Even knowing exactly (well, more or less) where to look for it, I can only suspect I caught a glimpse of it. Never did get a really good look.
Still, a suspected glimpse is better than the last try. Maybe experience does help.
Pleiades, on the other hand, is a fine target in the 90mm. Given the Owl 80 degree 16mm eyepiece, and the 0.5x focal reducer, I get something around the full 80 degrees at 31x. It's quite an impressive view.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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MidnightFrost
member
Reged: 08/25/08
Posts: 11
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hey protheus, how bad is your lp on the color scale? im wondering how much i can pull out of my skies with one of the scopes you were mentioning above...
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-Jordan
Orion Spaceprobe 3
Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ (dont buy this)
Nikon action 10x50mm binos
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 4658
Loc: Illinois, US
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As far as I can tell, it's white. 
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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