Telescope Reviews: ETX-80 and a cluster extravaganza (and more)

Last night the weather man again played a cruel trick...the clear skies promised for Saturday night arrived on Sunday instead, but I made the best of it and managed to get in about 3 hours of observing between 11 - 2. Temperatures were in the mid 50s, with 98% humidity and moderate to heavy dewing. There was a light breeze and the skies weren't particularly steady (nor transparent), but I wasn't about to waste a clear night! And for a change, only one set of porch lights (plus the streetlamp) were lit to interfere with my viewing, although the sky had a soft glow characteristic of the high humidity which washed out any stars below mag 4.

I aligned the little ETX with Altair and Vega. Again not ideal choices given their proximity, but it worked. First stop was NGC6940...what I had read led me to believe this would be a nice cluster, but I was underwhelmed. The cluster seemed to blend in with the other stars surrounding it. Perhaps under better (darker) conditions this cluster will present itself better.

Next stop was NGC6633...this one was a little better, although a bit loose. It gave the impression of a somewhat denser section of the milky way...again it might have been better under better conditions. Both clusters seemed best with the 9.7EP.

Now for something a little different...the Saturn Nebula (NGC7009). At first glance, I'd wondered if the scope had made a tracking error, as all I saw in the 26mm EP were stars. Upon reading the Autostar's description that the object was "stellar like, but fuzzy", I hunted for a star that didn't quite seem to be in focus. Sure enough, just above the center of the FOV lay my target. I increased the magnification in steps, going from the 26mm through the 9.7, 6.4, 5 and 2.5mm EPs. (It disappeared completely with the 2.5mm

). Best views seemed to be with the 5mm, at that magnification it had a distinct bluish hue (different then the hue of a bluish star) and appeared as a tiny disk. I also experimented with an Astronomik CLS light pollution filter. This dimmed the surrounding stars and significantly upped the contrast while having little (dimming) effect upon the nebula. This is one target that truly benefits from this filter. I spent quite a bit of time on this little nebula. I didn't make out the appendages that give it it's name, but I was pleased none the less. (It's only my second planetary nebula with M57 being my first.)

Time to move on...I decided to revisit NGC7789. This time I gave it a closer look and spent some time taking it in with averted vision. It presented itself as a very nice spray of stars...this is another target that will definitely benefit from a dark sky sight and has the potential of being a gem. This one was best with the 9.7mm, although I did try the 6.4mm to see how it would compare. It was larger, but the loss of light caused me to drop back to the 9.7mm.

After about ten minutes I moved on to a classic, but one I'd not yet seen. The Owl Cluster NGC457. It is by far one of the cutest little cluster I've ever seen. With the 26mm it looks like a tight group (almost a fuzz ball) of stars with 2 bright stars to one side. In the 9.7mm this cluster spread nicely across my FOV and the little "ET" immediately jumped out at me. I could trace both arms, legs, and those glowing orbs! This will be a fun object to show my wife and friends.

I spent about 15 minutes or more taking him in and speculating as to whether or not the dimmer of the two bright stars is a part of the cluster or is in the foreground (according to the autostar this isn't certain)...if that star is a part of the cluster then it must be blindingly bright given the 9,000 ly between us and the cluster!

I was ready for something a tad different, so I moved on to Gamma Andromedae (Almaak). This is a very pretty double star, although in the 26mm EP it looked more like a somewhat oblong star. My best views came with the 5mm EP. This split the pair easily and I could clearly make out the star colors. To me they appeared gold and greenish blue (or bluish green...I couldn't decide). I spent 5 to 10 minutes on this one, admiring its simple beauty.

After Almaak I was inspired to take in another double, so I moved on to eta Cassiopeia (Achrid). This double is tad wider. Both stars looked white to me (although others see color), with a nice contrast of one being signifcantly brighter then the other. Both doubles will be worth revisiting.

Back to some clusters...first stop was M103. In the 9.7mm EP I saw what looked like two clusters, one a double line of stars in the upper portion of the FOV and another cute little triangle of stars just below the center of the FOV. (a check later with Starry Night confirmed that it was the upper group). I didn't notice the orange star that is supposed to make this cluster eye catching...although by this time I may have been losing contrast due to dewing so I'll have to revisit this one.

Next stop was M52...a look through the EP showed an attractive milky white patch of light that was rather prominent, but I also noticed a haze of light across my FOV that wasn't there before. Hmmm...I checked my objective and sure enough, there was a light mist of dew. Time to pack it in for the night....:astronomer1:

Overall, a very productive evening, but perhaps too much? I found that when I came inside to make my notes that I had trouble remembering just exactly what I had observed with the first two clusters...in the future I'm going to have to carry a small voice recorder with me to log my notes.

Craig