High Strangeness Tuesday

[Nightspore]

 

Captain’s Log - Stardate: 6/8/24, 23:00 British Summer Time. After a couple of sessions with larger scopes I went back to ‘diddy mode’. This was predominantly due to the fact that I was a tad knackered and wanted an easier time setting up.

 

 

On many (insert risible adjective of your choice) astronomy sites that I won’t mention (SGL, CN, SkySearchers etc lol) I was often ridiculed for using small refractors due to my disability. For some reason attacking the disabled is a new bloodsport on astronomy forums. I mean, who’s bent their Barlows, cracked their apertures and twisted their tripods man? Definitely not ‘based’! I’d rather be fully abled, but there isn’t much I can do about being brain damaged and partially paralysed. Hence my foray into and my adventures in ‘Diddyscopeville’. 

 

 

The 72ED Evostar balances really well on the Sky-Watcher AZ5 tripod/mount. It is versatile as a combo, better still, it’s fairly lightweight! Diddy scopes have good and bad attributes. The most obvious is that as they are small they’re easier to transport, manipulate and use outside in the night. The obvious downside is a lack of resolution. Fortunately fast diddy refractors are much better than the equivalent reflector aperture sizes. I mean, how many 2.8 inch Newtonians on Dobsonian mounts do you see? I think for people new to visual amateur astronomy; a small fast refractor combined with a light alt-az mount/tripod is a virtually perfect solution. Fast telescopes of around 60-80mm in aperture are easy to transport outside when the vagaries of the weather allow it. Even relatively inexpensive achromats can give pretty stunning views of rich star fields and open clusters. A scope such as the 72ED or even an ST80 achromat (or equivalent) are excellent instruments for initially learning the night sky.

 

 

Anyway, rant over, back to Stardate Tuesday 6/8/24. The weather and conditions were above average (definitely based lol) and I could see the Milky Way, which is always a good sign. I had three eyepieces: TV 3-6mm Nagler zoom (70-140x), 9mm Nagler T6 (47x) and a 19mm TV Panoptic (22x). So, I reckon I was amply covered for magnification. Although I must admit that zooms tend to spoil one somewhat. It’s a bit of a luxury to not have to swap out eyepieces on a regular basis. Plus, I get at least a 1.5mm exit pupil with the 9mm Nagler and over double that with the 19mm Panoptic.

 

 

Believe it or not I can use both of these eyepieces with an Astronomik OIII filter. Even more outstanding, the OIII threads mate perfectly with the Tele Vue eyepiece threads. A veritable miracle of high strangeness indeed! I would have emailed John Keel about this but he journeyed to the Summerland in 2009. If Indrid Cold is reading this I’m sure he/she (preferred Lanulosian pronoun of choice) will welcome the news that some 1.25” Tele Vue threads are compatible with some 1.25” Astronomik filters. A truly strange event indeed (based).

 

 

First target was with the zoom. Arcturus and Muphrid are both roughly 37 light years away, so I saw them as they were in 1987. It took a little while, and 140x, but I split Muphrid (eventually). Next up was the Summer Triangle. Both Double Doubles were fairly easily discovered. Epsilon and Zeta 1 Lyrae were good, although it took a bit longer in locating Epsilon, by dislocating my neck, as it was quite high at +74°.

 

 

I swapped the zoom for the 19mm Pan to view Collinder 399 still hanging cosmic coats in Vulpecula. M57 was not found with the 19mm Panoptic but I could easily see M27 both with and without the Astronomik OIII. I eventually observed both M57 and M27 with the 9mm Nagler and the OIII. Green and groovy as they were. I spent some time in Cygnus looking at open clusters with the Panoptic. After nearly falling over my chair (I’m such a butter feet) I found Cassiopeia, M103 and the Owl Cluster. Not forgetting Caroline’s Rose which by any other name would smell as sweet. 

 

 

Iota Cass is one of my faves and the Mickey Mouse star looked most excellent at 140x. I looked at Polaris at 22x (Engagement Ring) and then split (divorced?) Polaris at around 100x with the zoom. I noticed the weather was changing, although it did clear later. Inevitably I found Saturn and Titan (Aquarius). I couldn’t make out any other moons however. I spent a while on Iota Ceti (alt 19° 30’, az 136° 16’) wondering if it was Mars. Remember, I have had brain damage, so its spectral K1 orange red appearance momentarily confused me. Dude/dudesses (insert countable nouns of your choice) it was past 01:30 and Wednesday by now, what do you expect lol? Highlights were M27 and M57 with the 9mm Nagler and OIII. So, a totally based session. In fact, it was a riot!

 

 

And unlike Diamante (born in 1996) I can actually remember 1987. On a really good day I can even recognise meta-irony. 

 

[Astronomer, Reinvented]

There is absolutely nothing wrong will small refractors. People on other forums should know better. Many deep sky objects look much better in small refractors and binoculars. 

[Nightspore]

10 minutes ago, Astronomer, Reinvented said:

There is absolutely nothing wrong will small refractors. People on other forums should know better. Many deep sky objects look much better in small refractors and binoculars. 

 

Yes, I use my 60mm frac for rich field with a 2" diagonal/eyepiece. It's difficult to beat. I can get as low as 10x (6mm exit pupil) with a 36mm Baader Aspheric.

 

 

Unfortunately Imgur's 'improvements' means that I can't find the pictures I wanted, but you get the idea.

 

 

There we go: