Telescope Reviews: Rare night in New England! Oberwerk 15x70/03

I started out by carrying a scope and my 20x80 Oberwerk Deluxe outside. Right away I spotted a few things with the 20x80s and notice how easy things were. Mizar and Cor Coroli were easy, M51 was seen, M81 & M82 were easy, M3 and M13 very bright. I never even set the scope up. I went in and grabbed the 15x70 Oberwerk/2003 on loan from Kevin Busarow. They were easier to focus than the 20x80s and were mounted on a better tripod. I used the 15x70s for the rest of the night.

By 10PM, naked eye, the Little Dipper had 11 stars. 11 and 15 UMi at 5.0mag and 5.2mag were seen directly, 19 Umi at 5.5mag was seen averted. First time I’ve ever recorded seeing 19UMi. By midnight the sky was aglow overhead with Cygnus near zenith.

The new Oberwerk 15x70s proved their value for the rest of the night. Tfov measured at 4.3°

Mizar 2.3-4.0/14.4” was easy, Cor Coroli 2.9-5.5/19.4” faint but easy, M51 seen, M81 and M82 seen bright, M63 and M94 seen, M3 bright core large halo, M13 brighter overall larger core, 100Her 5.9-6.0/14.2” very easy, E2259Her 7.3-8.3/19.6” near 94Her faint but seen, E2474Lyr 6.7-8.8/16.2” easy, E2470Lyr 6.6-8.6/13.4” more difficult but seen, M71 glow, M27 large bright, M29 brite, yDel 4.5-5.5/9.6” squinting to see, M10 bright, M12 faint, M9 small, 6539 glob near M9 very faint, M16 with neb, M17 nebula, M18 o.c. brite, M24 very large mixed with brite background, M23 dense wide, M11 looks like a globular, M26 seen, 15Aql 5.5-7.0/38”, 61Oph 6.0-6.5/21” easy, I4756Oph o.c. large mixed, 6633Oph bright mixed, I4665Ser vast dense faint stars, Alya theta Ser 4.5-5.0/22” very easy.

When I realized how good a night it was I decided to try for M101. At first, I had it in the field of view of the 15x70s, but I didn’t see it. I was looking at the wrong edge of the field. I got out my charts and verified the star pattern around it and there it was. I walked away and came back to swing right to it three more times. Once I knew where it was, it stood right out. I have only seen M101 a few times in my years of viewing. This final item was not the last seen but quite early on in the evening it was the best jewel to catch.

Not long ago I made some comments about the limitations of the 15x70 Oberwerks. Kevin asked me to look at the coatings on these new 2003 model of the 15x70 Oberwerk as compared to my one-year-old model of the 15x70. Fact is with these newer 15x70s, I was able to see close to a dozen objects I never saw before with my one year old 15x70s. If 15x70s work for you, I don't think you could spend your $150 on any better than these.

edz

--------------------
Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21

Edited by EdZ (07/02/03 09:13 AM)