Telescope Reviews: ETX-125 + 1247 Focuser and CLEAR SKYS !!

Hello fellow CNers

Best night in a LONG time! No clouds, warm, no mosquitoes. Took out the ETX-125 to try the new #1247 focuser. I started out about 3 hours before sundown. Setup the #884 tripod for Polar alignment. Set the north facing (taking into account 11degree offset), and level. Set angle to 34.5 degrees. Next, waited for sunset. Put the telescope on the tripod, ran all the required procedures to align, got Polaris where it should be for this time of year. Next, I ran a “2 star” alignment. Stars came into the finder scope and with a little adjusting, I was ready to go. First, I started with something easy, as it wasn’t completely dark yet. Saturn, scope slewed right to it. Next the #1247 focuser, it works great!! Although the sound it makes reminds me of some sort of angry rodent. I find that I can toggle it on and off with the “red led lightswitch” (zero button) on the #497 controller. I never saw mention of that in any of the manuals? Then I went to Antares, as it is very bright in late twilight. Came right to the center of the 26mm plossl eyepiece. After that, I spent the night checking off some Messier objects:

M4 A dim cluster in Scorpus near Antares. I could decern some individual stars w/ 10mm Radian eyepiece.
M13 Hercules cluster, very bright w/ 26mm plossl and 10mm radian
M8 The Lagoon Nebula Very bright, the young stars in the nebular gas were sharp pinpoints.
M27 The Dumbbell Nebula, I could see the general Dumbbell shape, but very dim.
M92 Globular cluster in Hercules, a very bright center.
M82 The Cigar Galaxy, I could only see this with averted vision. (M81 in the same view)
M5 Globular cluster in Serpens Very bright in the 26mm plossl.
M104 Sombrero Galaxy, Quite dim but I could see the bright center, and cigar shape.
M57 Ring Nebula, WOW! A donut floating in space. It’s somewhere between Jupiter and the Moon in relative size. It was pretty dim, but really a great sight!
M52 Open cluster in Cassiopeia, Very pretty, not very many stars.
M16 Eagle Nebula, It’s really hard to see the dust bands, Looks like an open cluster with the ETX-125
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy and it’s neighbor M63. I couldn’t detect the spiral with the 26mm, It looked like a dim globular to me? But my eyes were a bit strained by now!

All in all a good night. Seeing was excellent once it was completely dark. I was also using my 20x80 binoculars on the Paragon mount. I could see most these objects in them as well

We need more clear nights!!

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Yavapai Co., Arizona

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Konus 20X80 Binoculars + Orion Paragon Mount
Barska 15X70 Binoculars
Barska 10X50 Binoculars
Canon 10X25 Binoculars