Anonymous
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I wasn't out too late last night as I'm pretty beat on Friday evenings, but I was out for a couple of hours last night with the new EP's.
I pushed M-57 up to 98x and the structure was clearly evident in the ring. I didn't notice any hint of color but did see differing shades of grey. I tried the 9.7mm (126x) but that was a bit much for the seeing conditions. Never did spot that central star, but I'm going to keep trying.
M56, a bit farther away, resolved to individual stars at 126x and the core was a medium-bright ball.
M4 started resolving at 81x with the 15mm and at 126x with the 9.7mm stars were easily counted. M13 was at the zenith and I wasn't in the mood for sitting on the ground, so I let that one pass.
IC1396 in Cepheus looked very nice and I was able to split both doubles in the center with the 9.7mm. It took awhile to find the left-most star of the left double, but was finally found with averted vision.
NCG7139 in Cepheus is still eluding my telescope. This must be a very faint planetary with a large area. I backed the power all the way down to 30x using the 40mm and all the way up to 81x but still can't see this planetary. Has anyone had better luck than I?
I have now found out how critical prime focus is with higher power eyepieces. Meade advertises these as being parafocal, but they are not, and slight adjustments have to be made for each EP change. That's not a really big deal, but the mount jitters somewhat while focusing. At high power a very light touch is required.
Makes me appreciate those with an electric focuser.
I'll be out a bit later tonight hopefully. Late enough for more objects to clear the trees.
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Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 27427
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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Glad to hear that you are having fun with your new eyepieces!
Couple of questions:
1) What eyepieces are they? I'm thinking it sounds like the meade 4000 set for $99?? But I'm not positive on that....
2) What scope were you using them with? Your 90mm, your 6" or something else?
Thanks
Tom T.
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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Anonymous
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It was the Meade $99 Special for the 4000 series Super Plössels.
I was using them with my 6" achro. The 90mm only has a .965 diagonal and I only have one passable eyepiece for it.
I just got in from tuning up the mount before it got too hot today. There was some slop in the RA gears, where after targeting and locking onto an object the RA would slip backwards about .5 or better of a degree. More annoying than anything, but it needed to be taken care of.
While I had the drive and the gearbox off, I cleaned the thick gunk out that Meade calls "lube", and rebalanced the tube. Much more precision can be had on the balance without the gearbox and drive attached to drag it down.
I Lock-Tite'ed all of the screws, re-lubed with rifle grease, reassembled and adjusted the gear backlash and it seems tight now with no drag or play. I didn't power it up because I want the Lock-Tite to dry first.
Should be much better tonight.
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Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
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Quote:
NCG7139 in Cepheus is still eluding my telescope. This must be a very faint planetary with a large area. I backed the power all the way down to 30x using the 40mm and all the way up to 81x but still can't see this planetary. Has anyone had better luck than I?
This PN is very faint with integrated magnitude of 13.3. It was near the limit of my 4" TV-102 APO refractor, using averted vision without filter. Oval, best view at 110x (8mm TV Radian eyepiece and 2" TV Everbrite diagonal). I don't know which scope you very using and the naked eye limiting magnitude. So you may need a darker sky. Anyway keep trying and try the UHC filter.
Ron B[ee]
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5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO 
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO 
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob 
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Anonymous
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That is right at the limit of my scope's capabilities. 6" Meade Achromat. The sky is pretty dark here and I'm not near any large towns or cities. I'll just have to look closer and maybe bump up the magnification.
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Anonymous
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The cleaning and adjustments made to the RA gearbox made a big difference last night. After locking a target the drive remained steady with no slipping. All slews were positive with no slop.
The Double Cluster in Cassiopia was a real looker last night. I started out with the 32mm and viewed both in the eyepiece at once. Next I concentrated on the easternmost cluster and progressively bumped up the magnification to the 9.7mm. I couldn't believe the detail. It was so bright even at this magnification that all of the individual stars could be seen and counted either directly or with slightly averted vision. I had no idea this cluster contained that many central stars. I've never seen the Double at this magnification. The sky was very black and the stars stood out like pin-points.
The Dumbbell looked pretty good too. Best view was with the 15mm as it started getting dark fast passed this mag.
The Andromeda galaxy and its companion M110 was a sight as well. Using the 12.4mm and 9.7mm, I could swear I caught glimpses of the dark dust lane around the perimeter of the galaxy, but it could have been my eyes playing tricks on me.
I didn't wait for M33 to come over the neighbors garage. A little later in the season I'm going to catch this one.
I also caught another galaxy, NGC 7331 in Pegasus. I really didn't expect to see this galaxy, but the scope slewed to the location and there it was. You could tell it was oblong shaped with a fuzzy ball for the central core. Another galaxy not far away, NGC 7640 was not visible at any magnification. Both were the same relative size on the chart, but it may have been oriented in such a way that I couldn't see it or just plain missed it.
It was a fairly good night and the bugs weren't as bad as Friday night.
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Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 27427
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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Quote:
<snip>
I also caught another galaxy, NGC 7331 in Pegasus. I really didn't expect to see this galaxy, but the scope slewed to the location and there it was. You could tell it was oblong shaped with a fuzzy ball for the central core. Another galaxy not far away, NGC 7640 was not visible at any magnification. Both were the same relative size on the chart, but it may have been oriented in such a way that I couldn't see it or just plain missed it.
7331 is a superb galaxy and the jumping off point for Stephen's Quintet (with a slightly larger scope <g>). I was just looking at this myself in my 15" the other night, and just took a gander over my notes for my 4" apo. On a good night, 7331 was an easy catch, on a poor one, I have it listed as difficult to spot. Not sure I've ever taken a gander at 7640, I'll have to put it on the list. Have you checked out 7662? (Blue Snowball, PN, Mag 8.3) It's a nice catch in a small scope and takes magnification fairly well once found.
Tom T.
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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Anonymous
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No Tom, I haven't tried for 7662. I'll look that one up.
If you try for 7640 and find it let me know what it looks like.
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Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 27427
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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Michael,
I hit 7640 last night (among others - I'll work on posting my notes later), and it was immediatly apparent why you didn't grab it in the 6". My notes say that it's surrounded by a triangle of stars, and faint but spottable in the 15" at 73x. My best views were with the 13mm at 169x. Not all that imposing, but it was an interesting object in the 15". It's listed in TheSky (pocket) as mag 10.5 but it's fairly large so the surface brightness is pretty low. Lack of transparency or any light pollution would pretty much wipe it out. I'd be kinda surprised if you could catch it in anything much smaller than 8-10 inches - and that only under good conditions. YNK tho - you might be able to catch it high in the sky on a good night with a 6" - try using magnifications of around 125-175x once you have the field identified.
Tom T.
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Thanks for the tips. I just replied to your observing report before I saw you post here. I didn't know its' surface brightness was so low.
The next time I slew the tube around I'm going to look for that triangle of stars.
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Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 27427
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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Keep at it, I've seen some amazing things some nights. Once in a while you just get one of those nights where it seems like you can do anything.
Good plossls or orthos are highly recommended if you are trying to just get the last little bit of light out of that 6".
Please let me know if you succeed in pulling it in. (Or even if you don't - a datapoint is a datapoint.)
Tom
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Things might improve a tad when I replace my diagonal with a Williams. It has to be better than the crappy one from Meade.
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Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 27427
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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Most assuredly. I've never really understood the logic behind making a decent scope and then handicapping it. Presumably to sell upgrades, but since they don't really offer an enhanced diagonal - what's the point? Maybe good enough is their motto... (and Meade is FAR from the only one)
Tom T.
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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Anonymous
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I agree.
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