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Took out the ST120 about 0300 today. A cold front moved through last night and skies were nicely transparent. Spent a fair amount of time on M42 trying different EPs with / without my nebular filter. Trapezium looked good. The 120 definitely can't handle a 3.8mm EP - went to complete mush - as I expected. Not sure if I've ever seen M43 from home. I think it was visible today, but maybe that was only b/c I know it's there.
Slewed over to M35, then M38. M38 is often a challenge from home, but it was nicely visible today.
M36, then M37, then over to the Beehive (M44). I've admired the Hive, but haven't spent much time studying it in detail. Decided to play around with SkySafari a bit and take better notes on what I observed. Epsilon, 38, 39, and 40 were all easy as was the triangle at 1 o'clock position from Epsilon, but the little fella in green was the faintest I could make out. Have to check the magnitude on that just to see what I could see. Cheers!
============================================================================= I drink tea, I read books, I look at stars when I'm not cursing clouds. It's what I do. =============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
Nice session. yep, it's nice to see Orion again around 4am. Another month and it will be sufficiently in position to give it a go for the Horsehead. :p
Your seeing may not have been sufficiently good enough to handle it that night. I've used a 4mm EP quite a few times with the 120ST and it's been OK (a little soft perhaps). If it was particularly transparent it's likely the "seeing" conditions were actually bad.
Well done Olen. Must of been a tad soft on the seeing. I had an ST120 several years ago, and at f/5. trying to push it toward 200x was problematic unless the seeing was reasonably stable. I liked it and used it as a travel scope about 10 years ago. I had some stunning views of NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri) and other southern treats while traveling farther south.
Alan
Scopes: Astro Sky 17.5 f/4.5 Dob || Apertura AD12 f/5 Dob || Zhumell Z10 f/4.9 Dob ||
ES AR127 f/6.5 || ES ED80 f/6 || Apertura 6" f/5 Newtonian
Mounts: ES Twilight-II and Twilight-I
EPs: AT 82° 28mm UWA || TV Ethos 100° 21mm and 13mm || Vixen LVW 65° 22mm ||
ES 82° 18mm || Pentax XW 70° 10mm, 7mm and 5mm || barlows
Filters (2 inch): DGM NPB || Orion Ultra Block, O-III and Sky Glow || Baader HaB
Primary Field Atlases: Uranometria All-Sky Edition and Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas
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"Astronomers, we look into the past to see our future." (me)
"Seeing is in some respect an art, which must be learnt." (William Herschel)
"What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean." (Sir Isaac Newton)
"No good deed goes unpunished." (various)
“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?” (Scarecrow, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 7:07 pm
What model is your 3.8mm EP?
Agena Astro / Starguider / BST / probably other names.
============================================================================= I drink tea, I read books, I look at stars when I'm not cursing clouds. It's what I do. =============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
