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the pleiades

Started by Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_* , Nov 29 2003 10:59 AM
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24 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 10:59 AM

finally, the wind stopped and the night was clear...
but cold! i suggest some LLBean storm chaser footware :jump: and perhaps a tele~cozy for the
scope!! ;)i set up the 90mmm orion refractor f/10
which i bought OTA. Due to the recent days of windddddddddd i havent had much chance to view anything but blowing leaves! :mad: but last night it was perfect.
The pleiades was fantastic! Using the 25mm plossl, the stars were very clear and bright. Being a newbie, I was very pleased with this scope and....the pleiades!
sky

orion 90mm f/10 refractor
orion 130mm st f/5 reflector

#2 Echo

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 11:10 AM

Sky,
I'm so glad someone finally got a clear night. How long did you brave the cold? Did you check out Orion?

#3 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 11:18 AM

hi echo!
about an hour in the cold :o brrrrrrrrrr....but it was worth it. Orion was having a hard time sailing over my largest tree :grin: By then, it was a tough decision to either change out the refractor to the reflector or go indoors... and the latter won :D tonight is reflector night!
sky

orion 90mm f/10 refractor
orion 130mm st f/5 reflector

#4 Bill Grass

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 12:24 PM

Sounds great, Sky! Here in Louisiana, we were actually pretty cold last night, too. I stayed outside for probably 2 hours or so. I checked out the Pleiades, also. I enjoy looking at it through my 40mm EP. I'm kinda recovering from a cold, so I probably shouldn't have gone outside at all!! :tonofbricks:

#5 Scott Beith

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 02:19 PM

Hi Sky,
The pleiades is by far my favorite open cluster. I can just fit it in with my CR150 and my Orion 40mm Optiluxe 2" EP. It never fails to improve my night.

Echo, M42 is my favorite nebula - are you guys spying on me?
:-)

Bill, I will be in LA tonight. I am going to observe with Tom Tripi in New Orleans. Should be a great night now that the storm has passed through. Clear and bright skies. I will be wearing extra clothes - looks like a cold evening.

Clear Skies,

Scott


#6 Bill Grass

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 02:35 PM

Cool, Scott! Are you from somewhere nearby?

#7 Scott Beith

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 03:11 PM

I live in Gulfport, MS. About 75 miles outside of New Orleans. Not too far. How do you like the 80ED? I just broke down and purchased a Stellarvue AT1010 as my widefield scope. Low power - high fun. Should be in this week.
Scott

#8 Bill Grass

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 04:14 PM

Oh, okay. That's a hop, skip, & a jump away!

I love this ED80! When seeing is good, the quality of the images is fantastic. I can't detect any chromatic aberration around any of the planets (well, I haven't tried Venus yet, but I don't think that'll be a problem), and there's just the faintest trace of purple around the brightest stars. I've cranked the magnification to 200x with this thing, and on steady nights, the images are still nice & sharp. Saturn is wonderful through this little scope.

Good luck with your Stellarvue, have fun in New Orleans tonight, and clear skies!

#9 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 08:54 PM

Hi again Bill, Scott, Echo!
it is definitely cold again tonight in Texas and thankfully the wind has stopped a bit....as a newbie, i thought seeing
other deep sky objects would be fun, but the pleiades just
took my breath away; seeing it for the first time with a
decent scope.... i hope you two have some good viewing in
louisiana! just look to the west and wave to texas... :thewave: i'll be out again tonight....this time with hot chocolate!
sky

orion 90mm f/10 refractor
orion 130mm st f/5 reflector

#10 Cow Jazz

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Posted 29 November 2003 - 09:21 PM

Hey, Bill, I agree about Saturn in the ED80. I was stunned when I saw it Tuesday. Razor sharp at 116X (the most I can get with my EP's). M42 (4 stars easy) and the Pleiades were also amazing.
John

#11 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 12:22 AM

I just came in from a few hours viewing and caught the pleiades with my FL102S. Had seen it yesterday with my 9x63 binoculars and that was the best view I had of it. It was pretty cold again here tonight in Austin, TX and I wasm't wasting much time stating out, but the seeing was great last night and tonight and I didn't want to miss it. I finally was able to get the Andromeda Galaxy and M110 from my backyard. No filter. I also caught Saturn through the tree branches in the east before giving up. The best was really the moon tonight. There was a lot to see along the terminator. I gave up a bit ago as I was cold.

#12 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 12:38 AM

i second that, shady, about the texas cold... i just came in from that cold because the haze was settling in...getting a bit humid too, believe it or not, and my lenses started acting up :mad: was trying, too, to get
a glimpse of saturn rising, but my trees and the neighbors mercury vapor lights :help:in that direction didnt help....
i have a 9x50 finder scope and the sky last night was absolutely great...even with the neighbor lights :jump:
sky

#13 Bill Grass

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 02:30 AM

It's almost 1:30 here & I'm dead tired, but I think I'm gonna bring the scope outside for a peek at the sky! (I have to take full advantage of these clear weekend nights!) :jump:

#14 Echo

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 02:59 AM

Bill,
We just did the same thing. A patch of sky cleared so we raced out for a quick look at M42 and M43. This was my first chance to try out the Nextar 114. Overall I'm really pleased. It's awesome to grab and go. That has never been an option for me before. Now if we could just warm up the air a bit. BRRR!

#15 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 04:27 AM

Just came back in from a couple of hours of cool clear sky here in Western WA. :jump: Tried out my new Celestron EPs. The Pleiades were very nice in the 32mm on my Nighthawk. Barlowed up they were great (2x)

The Trapezium was coooolll! The 9mm or the 15 barlowed both gave nice views. The 15 plain took in the whole Sword (if I understand what I am looking at)

As always Saturn was a jewel. tried to use 240x (the 4mm barlowed) no way, too fuzzy, but it did show 2 of the moons leading Saturn well. Minimum magnification for Cassini's division for me was 106x (9mm barlowed) tried to find it at 80x but my poor old eyes wouldn't do it.

Glad some others had a chance to view.

Blessings
Keith CSN

#16 Bill Grass

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 04:37 AM

Boy, we're a crazy bunch, huh? I just got back inside myself! (It's now 3:33 A.M. & it's 32 degrees outside!!) :p I got my first good look at Jupiter through the ED80. I saw the Great Red Spot!! I've never seen it before through any of my previous telescopes. Saturn looked great, as always. The seeing was pretty good, so I was able to check out the gas giants at 200x. I also snuck a peek at the Orion Nebula (saw 5 stars in the Trapezium again), the Double Cluster, the Pleiades, and Mizar.

C'mon, heater! Warm this house up!!

#17 Scott Beith

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 09:51 AM

Hi Everyone,
I'm back from LA. Great fun last night!!!!! I delivered a scope to Tom Tripi and he let me play with his toys:
Televue 102
Tak 102
Others of the flourite/perfect image/expensive type :-)

I brought my "apo in a can" (5" MCT) and we had a great time. Double cluster and pleiades were awesome in his scopes!!!
Nebulosity visible in pleiades. Double cluster was also sharp in my 5" with a 32mm Orion Highlight plossel. Received an astronomy lesson from Tom and can now locate: M27,M57,Double-Double,Albierio, and a few others that had eluded me in the past. Ring nebula was great in both the apo's and the MCT. Tried Saturn in the Mak but it was too low and the image was boiling. Constant temperature drop from 50 degrees to 32 degrees gave my Mak fits!!! It would settle, and then 10 minutes later have thermals in the tube again as the temp continued to drop. M42 was fantastic in the 5" Mak with an Orion Epic ED-2 9.5mm EP. Filled the whole FOV and was extremely extended. Layer after layer of nebulosity was visible. My wife joined us for the observing session, and even though she isn't as addicted as I am, she had a great time. It is a unique experience using EP's that cost more than my scope (31mm Terminagler) the "Handgranade". Worked unbelievably in the apo's - 82 degree AFOV. My wife is starting to understand how cool this hobby is. Froze our butts off !!!!! 32 degrees was time to head back for home. Mr. Tripi was an outstanding host.
I hope everyone had this good of an evening.

Clear Skies,

Scott

#18 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 12:41 PM

ooooooooo i am not alone in my obsession! *G*
what a wonderful time of year to purchase a telescope!
eyepieces make great stocking stuffers!
sky

orion 90mm eq f/10 refractor
orion 130mm st eq f/5 reflector

#19 Bill Grass

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Posted 30 November 2003 - 02:19 PM

Hey, Scott! Where did y'all observe? Did you escape the light pollution of New Orleans?

I wonder if Tom would let me "borrow" his TeleVue 102 for a few days, weeks, months.... :roflmao:

#20 Scott Beith

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Posted 01 December 2003 - 05:55 AM

Sky,
You are right. Winter observing is the BEST observing!!!

Bill,
We were in his back yard. He has large light blocking panels set up to handle the streetlights. Light polution wasn't terrible. Visual magnitude was 4.5 to 4.7. Not bad for city observing. Very clear conditions, seeing just o.k. I don't think he will part with the Televue. We did side by side comparisons between the TV 102 and the Tak 102. With the identical EP's and diagonals used, the TV was sharper and went slightly deeper in light gathering. It was cool to be asked to evaluate those scopes for him. I could "force myself" to use a Televue 102 with a 31mm Nagler (82 degree AFOV) every once in a while ;-)
It looks like you could walk through the double cluster!!! Slight 3D effect. 22 Nagler was also fantastic in the scopes.
Tom is really a nice guy to let me play with his scopes for an evening.

Clear Skies,

Scott

#21 Bill Grass

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Posted 01 December 2003 - 09:10 AM

That sounds like a lot of fun!

#22 Scott Beith

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Posted 01 December 2003 - 02:33 PM

Playing with those scopes was kinda like test driving a Porshe - I will never own it, but borrowing it is great!!!
Scott

#23 Bill Grass

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Posted 01 December 2003 - 02:47 PM

I know that feeling! My dream scope is a TeleVue NP-101. As Wayne said in Wayne's World, "It will be mine....oh yes, it will be mine!" :money:

#24 Scott Beith

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Posted 01 December 2003 - 02:58 PM

Even though I own a MCT and 2 refractors - the Hubble would be a nice addition to my collection. Oh yes - I would need a pack of scientists to point it for me ;-)

Seriously though - after Saturday's viewing with the apo's, a Starfire 155 would probably top my list now.

Scott

#25 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 04 December 2003 - 07:11 PM

yes ,you can't beat it. dark early ,magnificent sights,i personally use ski'ing clothing to beat the the chill so i can enjoy the moment much more
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