|
|
Location: Skyview Observatory, Thursday, June 7, 2007 Conditions: appeared clear, but turbulent and windy on the ground, highly mosquito and flying bug infested Per Anderson: Celestron 8” SCT As Neetu and I headed north into the blackness on Frankford, we caught a bright meteor in the north, which we mistook for a good sign. The Shakespearean star-crossed symbol of the tragic Romeo and Juliet was a more accurate interpretation, however. The night looked deceptively nice, with the sky clear and the stars shining. Per Andersen had set up near the entrance, but Don had set up on one of the Concrete piers at the Gott, and I used the other one. I had brought out my EQ-2 alt-az modified mount, which I feared would need some tweaking, and I was right. Curt called right as I was setting up. He and Pierre were stranded with car trouble at a coffee shop at 4th & Frankford. He didn’t know how lucky they were! Martine was on the way to recover them, so they would be alright. The winds made keeping a good view of anything difficult at best. The field of view jumped around so that concentrated detail on any target was hard to achieve. Add to this the constant buzzing of mosquitoes about the ears (and arms and the rest of one’s body), and you have a recipe for an unpleasant evening. Between slapping mosquitoes and holding the telescope steady, this was a tough night for astronomy. Per, Don & I stuck to it, but this was a labor of love. I had a list of objects I’d wanted to compare the several eyepieces on. I was particularly keen on comparing Don’s new Pentax XL 12mm eyepiece with my TeleVue 11mm Plossl and UO 12.5mm Abbe Ortho volcano top. All my plans were quickly dashed in the first few minutes of observing given the harsh circumstances. Saturn was simply too magnified in the big dob in all three of my eyepiece selections. My own AT80ED refractor couldn’t get a good image of Saturn in the BO/TMB 8mm. The turbulent skies and wind simply lowered expectations. Don’s 4” Apogee F/6.4 achromatic refractor did much better, with all three eyepieces doing a good job, the 12mm XF best, overall. We switched to DSOs for better results and got a small amount of reprieve. M13 looked very nice in Don’s big dob in the Pentax 12mm XF. The detail in the core was similar in the TeleVue 11mm Plossl, but the image was poorly framed (took up the entire field of view) and the eye relief was terrible. Although the 12.5mm UO Abbe Ortho volcano top was more comfortable to look through, the image had a claustrophobic feel compared to the Pentax. M104 looked great through the big Dob & Pentax. M51 was framed best in the Pentax 12mm XF. All three eyepieces showed detail in the spiraling arms of the primary galaxy, but the XF simply framed it best at the same time delivering the most comfortable view. On Jupiter, the big Dob was simply looking through too much swirling atmosphere blended with swaths of night flying critters to get a good image. We used the 4” achromat again with better results. A lot of extraneous color, but a nice image, nonetheless. Don expressed interest in getting a Lumicon Minus Violet filter. The 11mm TV Plossl did a nice job on Jupiter, but less comfortably, and the UO 12.5 was good, too, but tighter. The 12mm Pentax XF did with Jupiter what it had done with all the other objects we looked at, framed it better, more comfortably, with an excellent on-axis presentation. Neetu had participated to about M51, then she retreated to the car. After our Jovian experiences, we too gave the night over to the mosquitoes. We cussed and discussed our fate and hoped Summer 2007 wouldn’t be too much like the one two years ago when the rains never ended and we didn’t get any good astronomy until the freeze of late autumn. I am in the process of selling both my 11mm TeleVue Plossl and UO 12.5mm Classic Abbe Ortho eyepieces. I’m on a waiting list from Anacortes and will get it as soon as they receive a shipment from Pentax. This was the only nice result of the otherwise difficult evening under the heavens. I’m sorry Curt and Pierre had to miss this evening, but in all honesty, they were the lucky ones. Neetu and I are still scratching mosquito bites from all over our bodies. The little beasts were savage. Hopefully the dry, hot summer weather we’re used to will head our way and make cotton farmers and astronomers happy. Clear skies,
|
|
|
