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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 345
Loc: Canada
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I finally got my scope to a dark, moonless site for the first time ever. I drove 2 hours (each way) to get to a Bortle green sky.
WOW!!! First time I EVER saw the milky way. My friend was sure it was cloud cover!
Seven galaxies in all...M31, M32, M110, M81, M82, M51, and it's companion NGC 5195.
No doubt, Andromeda was THE sight. It looked soooooooo photographic. It extended right to the edge of the FOV. My friend (a man in his 60's with almost no telescopic experience) remarked how M31 was so bright, it looked like a flashlight to him! I can tell he really liked what he was seeing because he stayed at the eyepiece for so long. But I didn't mind because he was so enthusiastic for a newbee.
M82 looked better than ever. A thin sliver of light that actually revealed some details with the 17mm Ethos. M51 was smaller than I thought, but I was nonetheless delirious when I spotted it. Couldn't see details though...just a double smudge, one bigger than the other.
Beautiful was the Double Cluster. So many stars! It was so dark, I was able to spot it with the naked eye, as was my friend. (But try as I did, I couldn't spot M31 with the naked eye.)
One observation about myself - I preferred the 30mm Scopos over the 17mm Ethos for almost every galaxy. (M82 the exception). I found that I lost a noticeable amount of light when using the 17mm. I don't know. I'm certainly no expert. But the whole majesty factor and increased contrast just didn't do it for me. I mainly like the Ethos for lunar and planetary. To each his own I guess.
All in all, a night for me to remember. Now I understand the excitement people feel for this hobby. My heart was pounding when I got my first naked eye look of the night sky. Seeing the milky way stretch from horizon to horizon with detail was truly special. And that view of M31 was amazing. My best view through a telescope ever!
The cold was getting to my friend, so the evening was cut shorter than I wanted, but the impact of that night won't soon wear off.
I WAS thinking of a bigger scope. But now I am thinking darker skies. Our grandparents don't know how lucky they were to have those kind of skies every night. 
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Celestron CPC 1100 
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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glava2005
member
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 87
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nice it reminds me of my first dark site trip. although mine is only 20min away on top of a mountain above the city and we didn`t do alot of observing since we brought alot of beer and some extra stuff
but we did manage to get few good views of the milky way and standard targets like m13 m51 m81 m57 and stuff like that. i too was suprised how much of a difference does a good site make. just seeing the milky way with naked eyes after 10years of poluted city skies is a Wow! moment.. seeing the M51s double spiral also.
next time i`m goin solo with no beer :P
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Sky-Watcher ED80
TS Astro5 mount
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GlennLeDrew
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/18/08
Posts: 1267
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Jack,
Your 17mm isn't 'losing light' at all. It's delivering a higher magnification than does the 30mm, and hence results in a smaller exit pupil with the necessarily darker view. I'll bet that if you looked carefully, with the darker sky background in the 17mm you'll see fainter stars.
But I know what you mean about the view the 30mm gives. In a dark sky, a large exit pupil works very well for the larger fuzzies, in that the view has high surface brighness and the field of view tends to be larger, nicely framing the object.
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Home-made 11X50 right angle bino, 8.1 deg. FOV
Modified 26X100 bino, 3.5 deg. FOV
Home-made Mk II RA bino, using interchangeable objectives and eyepieces
My Gallery
Mediocre minds discuss people. Good minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.
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dpwoos
sage
Reged: 10/18/06
Posts: 218
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Best view I have ever had of M31 was at a very dark site in the Green Mountains (Vermont) with 11x80 binos. Filled the fov. Unforgettable.
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 345
Loc: Canada
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Quote:
I'll bet that if you looked carefully, with the darker sky background in the 17mm you'll see fainter stars.
You're absolutlely right there. I should have chosen a better phrase than "losing light". But certainly, almost all galaxies looked less impressive to me in the 17mm. (It still an interesting observation though, since one EP cost me $700 and the other cost me only $160!)
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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scopethis
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/30/08
Posts: 629
Loc: Kingman, Ks
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I'm so frustrated, I have a dark site right outside my back door, but can I use it? NO, cause it's just RAIN RAIN RAIN one night after another. Now the clouds will go away and the Moon will return...I feel much better now, thank you.
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 345
Loc: Canada
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I'll trade you my light polluted skies for your temporarily clouded dark skies!
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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YankeeJeff
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/11/06
Posts: 537
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
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Jack - congrats on your excellent night. Seeing the Milky Way for the first time is special - something you'll never forget.
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Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
24Pan, 17T4, 13T6, 11T6, 9BTMB, 8TVpl, 7T6, 5T6, 3.5T6, 5/6BTMBs
Z10"Dob, Paracorr, 2xBrlw, Telrad, RACI,°Circles, )Spider
FBF, Brooklyn: 
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