Last night al the signs where good so why not give it a go. Weapon of choice is the Classic Obsession 18". Eye pieces Nagler 5, 7, 13mm and a Vixen LVW22. Had to dust of a few things here and there and of course the collimation was a mess but after 20 minutes it was ready to go.
I live in the country as they say but biggest town is 15 KM away so not really great skies. I think
M57, always a treat. And what a site this is! Starting with the 22mm wich gives a nice overview with surrounding stars, great view! When putting in more power the ring it self becomes the star of the show. With the 7mm the outer parts of the ring gives away some fragile structure. The inside of the ring is hazy. Central star flips on and off and it is clearly visible that the ring is not round. OIII filter does not help in anyway.
M56. This cluster resolves nicely into a ball of stars. Not so dence as some well known clusters as M13 and M22
M27. This thing is BIG! With the OIII filter the Dumbbell shows itself realy well, but I prefer the view without it. More background and surrounding stars visible. When using the 7mm Nagler the central star becomes visible as do three other stars wich shine directly through the nebula, never seen or noticed this before!(I think...)
Highlight of this night was a visit to the Veil nebula in Cygnus. It is quite difficult to describe the image one sees with this size telescope. When using the OIII filter you see lots of plumes and fragments but it's just too big to fit into view. I just folowed the nebula and its amazing how much detail you see. The
After drying the finder scope and the secundary from dew for the second time I did a quick tour. You know, the things you show at a starparty. M13, M51, M92, that sort of stuff. But I noticed the sky becomming lighter and lighter because of the moon and above that, clouds comming in.
Thats it. I realy enjoyed this! Starhopping became rusty but for now, happy person! And good to hear that at least some barn owls survived winter overhere.
Things I learned: 1,I should do this more often and 2, perhabs some form of preparation would be helpfull....
greetings
