nFA observing report 27 Sept 2021
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:13 am
Long time no report. It’s not a matter of not observing (weather and smoke permitting) but more because I doubt that my routine of simply revisiting old friends is of great interest to readers and it’s not of much interest for me to write up either.
In any case, despite having new kit to test, I’ve been thwarted by the infamous smokescreen. I don’t like testing under conditions that aren’t cloud free, better than average transparency and at least average seeing conditions. For testing out tonight the object of interest is the Altair Astro 1.25” Tri-BandOSC Filter. It’s designed for imaging, and I might get to that use, but for tonight I wanted to see if I could use it on faint fuzzies visually. I’m looking for means of defeating recently installed neighbor floodlights that impinge on my usual setup spot.
At 10pm I found a spot that was partly shaded by a tree, donned my observing vest/cowl and proceeded.
So, the selected kit for the evening consisted of:
• VMC110L with the Orion EZ Finder II red dot finder and the Meade HD60 25mm eyepiece and Antares 0.5x focal reducer in the up port on the flip mirror, the Vixen 1.25” diagonal on the through port
• Orion Star Seeker III Mount
• 24mm Panoptic with the Altair Astro 1.25” Tri-BandOSC Filter
• An assortment of pseudo Masuyama eyepieces, in this case consisting of
o Orion 25mm Ultrascopic
o Meade 12.4 mm Super Plossl
o Orion 10mm Ultrascopic
o Kasai 5mm AstroPlan
With the VMC110L these combinations give:
Meade HD60 25mm with Antares 0.5x focal reducer
M=20, TFOV=2.9 deg, exit pupil = 5.32mm
Panoptic 24mm M=43, TFOV=1.58 deg, exit pupil = 2.55mm
Orion Us 25mm M=41, TFOV=1.26 deg, exit pupil = 2.66mm
Meade SP 12.4mm M=83, TFOV=0.62 deg, exit pupil = 1.32mm
Orion US 10mm M=103, TFOV=0.50 deg, exit pupil = 1.06mm
KasaiAP 5mm M= 207, TFOV=0.25 deg, exit pupil = 0.53mm
I had some difficulty getting set up. My Celestron Li battery apparently was out of juice. However, I had read that aTSS member (I forget who, it was longish ago, but thanks!) had recommended a more compact battery from TalentCell on Amazon. So alignment proceeded after the substitution.
First on the agenda was to check out the views ofDSOs using the three 24-25mm eyepieces with the Altair filter dedicated to the Panoptic. M11, M13, and M57 all checked out fine with the background darker with the filter. The M57 view gave a good taste of things to come as the filter, to be expected, really helped it pop against the darker background. I had to play averted vision games in the unfiltered eyepieces.
Then I turned to the region about gamma Cyg (Sadr). This was a sheer delight as, aside from the intrinsic beauty of the region, it affirmed that using the Altair filter for visual observation was an excellent means of defeating the local floodlights. Although indiscernible in the unfiltered eyepieces,IC 1318 popped in the filtered Pan. I was surprised to see the three lobed bright side (facing Sadr) the dark lane away from Sadr and the single bright region just beyond that. In disbelief I swept through the field and verified that the nebulosity moved with Sadr. Success!
So, I checked on my old friend M29, for some reason the “water tank” cluster just tickles me, and on to the Crescent Nebula,NGC 6888. There, a repeat of the joy closer to Sadr was found.
On to Saturn and Jupiter. This involved having to move kit to the unobscured southern sky site on the property. The Panoptic and Altair filter were retired for the night. I didn’t realign just pushed buttons until the red-dot suggested success.
Saturn and Titan were fine but not great. Seeing did not permit resolving the Cassini division, for instance. Nevertheless, the angle between Saturn and the Sun made for the nice illusion of Saturn being a 3-dimensional sphere due to the distribution of brightness over the disk. It looked like the Kasai 5mmAP was too much for conditions.
On to Jupiter. 3 of the Galilean moons were visible, Io close, Ganymede further, and Calisto outermost as I IDed later from a crude sketch. I could make out two equatorial bands. One band seemed interestingly discontinuous. Again, the usability of eyepieces maxed out with the Orion Us 10mm. The Kasai 5mmAP was not going to get any use. Later the discontinuity in the equatorial band was IDed as Europa also. I called it quits about half past midnight.
I have one nice neighbor who since the other neighbor has installed floods offered the use of the back adjacent lot of the house as a set up spot. Very kind.
I’m a believer in “never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity”. I once heard the neighbor with the floodlights discuss with partner about how she didn’t want me in my back yard at night. Partner: “But he’s just using his equipment.” “I don’t care.” Then the floodlights. Tonight, free of the hound of the Baskervilles, nonetheless I overheard:
“Guess who’s back?” and “Is he going to be out there all night?”
Yes, there’s stupidity and malice and there is also malicious stupidity.
In any case, despite having new kit to test, I’ve been thwarted by the infamous smokescreen. I don’t like testing under conditions that aren’t cloud free, better than average transparency and at least average seeing conditions. For testing out tonight the object of interest is the Altair Astro 1.25” Tri-Band
At 10pm I found a spot that was partly shaded by a tree, donned my observing vest/cowl and proceeded.
So, the selected kit for the evening consisted of:
• VMC110L with the Orion EZ Finder II red dot finder and the Meade HD60 25mm eyepiece and Antares 0.5x focal reducer in the up port on the flip mirror, the Vixen 1.25” diagonal on the through port
• Orion Star Seeker III Mount
• 24mm Panoptic with the Altair Astro 1.25” Tri-Band
• An assortment of pseudo Masuyama eyepieces, in this case consisting of
o Orion 25mm Ultrascopic
o Meade 12.4 mm Super Plossl
o Orion 10mm Ultrascopic
o Kasai 5mm AstroPlan
With the VMC110L these combinations give:
Meade HD60 25mm with Antares 0.5x focal reducer
M=20, TFOV=2.9 deg, exit pupil = 5.32mm
Panoptic 24mm M=43, TFOV=1.58 deg, exit pupil = 2.55mm
Orion Us 25mm M=41, TFOV=1.26 deg, exit pupil = 2.66mm
Meade SP 12.4mm M=83, TFOV=0.62 deg, exit pupil = 1.32mm
Orion US 10mm M=103, TFOV=0.50 deg, exit pupil = 1.06mm
Kasai
I had some difficulty getting set up. My Celestron Li battery apparently was out of juice. However, I had read that a
First on the agenda was to check out the views of
Then I turned to the region about gamma Cyg (Sadr). This was a sheer delight as, aside from the intrinsic beauty of the region, it affirmed that using the Altair filter for visual observation was an excellent means of defeating the local floodlights. Although indiscernible in the unfiltered eyepieces,
So, I checked on my old friend M29, for some reason the “water tank” cluster just tickles me, and on to the Crescent Nebula,
On to Saturn and Jupiter. This involved having to move kit to the unobscured southern sky site on the property. The Panoptic and Altair filter were retired for the night. I didn’t realign just pushed buttons until the red-dot suggested success.
Saturn and Titan were fine but not great. Seeing did not permit resolving the Cassini division, for instance. Nevertheless, the angle between Saturn and the Sun made for the nice illusion of Saturn being a 3-dimensional sphere due to the distribution of brightness over the disk. It looked like the Kasai 5mm
On to Jupiter. 3 of the Galilean moons were visible, Io close, Ganymede further, and Calisto outermost as I IDed later from a crude sketch. I could make out two equatorial bands. One band seemed interestingly discontinuous. Again, the usability of eyepieces maxed out with the Orion Us 10mm. The Kasai 5mm
I have one nice neighbor who since the other neighbor has installed floods offered the use of the back adjacent lot of the house as a set up spot. Very kind.
I’m a believer in “never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity”. I once heard the neighbor with the floodlights discuss with partner about how she didn’t want me in my back yard at night. Partner: “But he’s just using his equipment.” “I don’t care.” Then the floodlights. Tonight, free of the hound of the Baskervilles, nonetheless I overheard:
“Guess who’s back?” and “Is he going to be out there all night?”
Yes, there’s stupidity and malice and there is also malicious stupidity.