A purchase and some views

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russmax
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A purchase and some views

#1

Post by russmax »


My life got busy. I sort of fell off of the old astronomy forum over the summer. I didn't manage to drag scopes outside when the planets were at their peak. Not a huge deal. I saw some amazing things on the Earth, instead, like the Burj Khalifa, for instance.

Back in late October, I took my 102mm refractor to a campout, and the screw hole for the eyepiece set screw in my diagonal stripped out. I was too tired to even think about what I wanted to look at, anyway. Bummer. Over Thanksgiving, I decided to replace the broken 90 deg prism diagonal that came with my 102mm with an upgrade. I thought about getting a dielectric, but I'm kind of attached to correct image viewing in the portable refractor. I sometimes use it for birding, and as a spotting scope when I'm shooting my .270 rifle at 200 meters. Also, I have a dielectric diagonal on my SCT.

Over Thanksgiving, I mentally recovered a bit from the summer/fall craziness. I hauled my 102mm outside, broken diagonal and all, and I got one last look at Jupiter before it goes behind the sun. I could still see 3 moons and the bands. I decided this astronomy thing is pretty cool after all. I get my 13 year old son, and show him Saturn and its rings with a 12mm Xcel eyepiece, and he agrees that astronomy is pretty cool. I'm feeling a bit more motivation for this hobby now.

On Black Saturday, I ordered a Baader Planetarium 45 degree prism diagonal to replace my broken diagonal. Wow, the quality is so much higher than the Amici diagonal that came with my scope. I'm barely getting any of the whiskers on bright stars that I was getting, and I'm spending a lot less time fussing with focus. It just seems to pop into focus now. The thrill is back.

Really this is the season that first got me excited about astronomy. The Orion Nebula thrills, and the cost of viewing it is cheap. With the new Baader prism, it resolved really bright and sharp, even with my Bortle 7 sky. Right in the middle, a crisp, clear hole with 4 sharp stars ensconced inside. But I'm tired of looking at M42. What else is there to see? I gave a half-hearted attempt at the Andromeda galaxy, but I cannot in Bortle 7 skies. M45? Fantastic, but I want something I haven't seen. Something I wasn't up for until now.

I go get Turn Left at Orion and determine what I want to see. Up in Perseus, in the 3-4-5 right triangle created by Algol, Almach, and Mirfak is M34, an open cluster. Open cluster? Boring. But I decide I could use some star-hopping exercise, and find it after a couple of minutes. It's really near the apex of the sky, taxing my alt-az mount to view that high. I dial it in after a couple of minutes. Did I say boring? Wow. No! My, God, it's full of stars! I double check Turn Left, and verify that I really did find it. (I wasn't really in doubt.) Sure enough, M34.

I know you old hands at astronomy are unimpressed that I found M34. I almost posted this report in the beginner forum. But my point is that I went away for awhile, but when I came back, my old friends were still waiting for me, and some new ones as well. I love having good telescopes. Now, if I could just get a few Scouts to finish their Astronomy merit badges, I'd be in heaven.

Best regards,
Russmax
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Celestron AVX 8" SCT & Omni XLT 102 AZ
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Lady Fraktor Slovakia
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Re: A purchase and some views

#2

Post by Lady Fraktor »


Congratulations on the new prism and a successful night of viewing :)
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
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Peter802
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Re: A purchase and some views

#3

Post by Peter802 »


Thank you for and interesting and descriptive session report.
I enjoyed reading it.
Clear Skies.
Regards,

Peter
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Re: A purchase and some views

#4

Post by drock »


Enjoy the skies.!!
Z10 Dobsonian, Starblast 4.5, a few Russell 2" Konigs, and various other eyepieces.
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helicon United States of America
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Re: A purchase and some views

#5

Post by helicon »


Congrats and sounds like you had some excellent observations...
-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
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Re: A purchase and some views

#6

Post by bladekeeper »


Thanks for the great report! Good to see you have rekindled the passion. And congrats on the new diagonal! :)
Bryan
Scopes: Apertura AD12 f/5; Celestron C6-R f/8; ES AR127 f/6.4; Stellarvue SV102T f/7; iOptron MC90 f/13.3; Orion ST80A f/5; ES ED80 f/6; Celestron Premium 80 f/11.4; Celestron C80 f/11.4; Unitron Model 142 f/16; Meade NG60 f/10
Mounts: Celestron AVX; Bresser EXOS-2; ES Twilight I; ES Twilight II; iOptron Cube-G; AZ3/wood tripod; Vixen Polaris
Binoculars: Pentax PCF WP II 10×50, Bresser Corvette 10×50, Bresser Hunter 16×50 and 8×40, Garrett Gemini 12×60 LW, Gordon 10×50, Apogee 20×100

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Re: A purchase and some views

#7

Post by terrynak »


Good to see that you upgraded a key accessory on your scope!

This year, I spent more time fixing, tweaking and upgrading my existing scopes than I did actual observing.
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
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Re: A purchase and some views

#8

Post by Bigzmey »


Welcome back to the observing and the forum! Congrats on the new prism, you can't overestimate importance of a good quality diagonal.
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: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: A purchase and some views

#9

Post by Ylem »


Great report.

Me? I’m too busy standing in the yard yelling at clouds...
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


Member; ASTRA-NJ



Orion 80ED
Celestron C5, 6SE, Celestar 8
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Coronado PST
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russmax
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Re: A purchase and some views

#10

Post by russmax »


This past weekend, I went camping at Guadalupe River State Park, north of San Antonio. I was expecting too much light pollution from San Antone, so I only brought a pair of roof-prism 10x42 Nikon binoculars. Turns out the sky was really not bad. The moon at 1st quarter and maybe a nickel more was a bigger problem, but still not bad. Friday night I had some great views of the nebulae in Orion's sword. It was a 32 deg night following an 80 degree day, so I was only able to view for about 30 minutes, before the dew fell like rain. After that, everything in the sky was pretty nebulous in the binocs.

The next night was a bit hazy, but the San Antonio astronomy club showed up with an assortment of telescopes and hosted a star party. I got to check out a 10" Orion and a 12" Skywatcher dob. I really liked the Orion, and something similar may be my next scope. There was a Meade SCT identical to my 8" Celestron, and a Meade 4" refractor also identical to my 4" Celestron, but on a goto mount. Lots of people were treated to some nice views of Venus, Saturn, the Pleiades, and of course, the moon.

The park ranger with the 10" dob split Alberion for me, and that made me pretty happy. Orange and blue, bright and clear as Dallas.

Best regards,
Russmax
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Celestron AVX 8" SCT & Omni XLT 102 AZ
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