Andromeda For The First Time This Year
- Refractordude
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Andromeda For The First Time This Year
Just got back in from one of my dark sites. My new 6" refractor showed a great improvement in light grasp compared to my 4.7" refractor. M81 and M82 were brighter. The Pinwheel galaxy was a ghost, if it is what I was looking at. Maybe it was NGC5744. Moved past Alkaid straight to M51. I could see the actual shape of M51. It was not bright, but I did not have to use averted vision to barely see half the structure this time. I even noticed a few nuggets of dim lights in M51. With the 4.7" refractor M20 showed just a hint of nebulous with averted vision. With the 6" refrarctor I could directly see nebulous and canyons of stars. Just before leaving/2:00am I spotted M31. It was low but great observing it with my 20x80 binoculars. Using my cheapo Svbony 40mm plossl caused M110 to pop out a little brighter. Was looking for M33, but could not find it. Perhaps it was below the trees. This 6" refractor rocks. Could have did a better write up but I am tired. Thanks for reading.
- Buckethead 2.0
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Re: Andromeda For The First Time This Year
Refractordude wrote: ↑Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:58 am Just got back in from one of my dark sites. My new 6" refractor showed a great improvement in light grasp compared to my 4.7" refractor. M81 and M82 were brighter. The Pinwheel galaxy was a ghost, if it is what I was looking at. Maybe it was NGC5744. Moved past Alkaid straight to M51. I could see the actual shape of M51. It was not bright, but I did not have to use averted vision to barely see half the structure this time. I even noticed a few nuggets of dim lights in M51. With the 4.7" refractor M20 showed just a hint of nebulous with averted vision. With the 6" refrarctor I could directly see nebulous and canyons of stars. Just before leaving/2:00am I spotted M31. It was low but great observing it with my 20x80 binoculars. Using my cheapo Svbony 40mm plossl caused M110 to pop out a little brighter. Was looking for M33, but could not find it. Perhaps it was below the trees. This 6" refractor rocks. Could have did a better write up but I am tired. Thanks for reading.
Great report, you did fine RD. That is great to hear the 6" refractor is performing so well.
~Eric
Binos: Bushnell Falcon 10x50
Binos: Bushnell Falcon 10x50
- terrynak
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Re: Andromeda For The First Time This Year
Good to hear that the 6" is a noticeable improvement over the 4.7" in terms of DSO viewing!
Looking forward to getting my 6" Newts out to a dark site; they've never been away from home...
Looking forward to getting my 6" Newts out to a dark site; they've never been away from home...
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
- Bigzmey
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Re: Andromeda For The First Time This Year
Well done RD! 6" frac is a powerful instrument, thousands of targets will be accessible to you from a reasonably dark site.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2437, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 257
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2437, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 257
- helicon
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Re: Andromeda For The First Time This Year
Thanks for the report. I love my 6" Achromat when observing starfields and wide-field objects, pinpoint lights up there.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
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