binoviewers!

With the upcoming Mars opposition, and Jupiter rising, and Saturn, and the moon to observe at home, I thought I would take the plunge and get a pair of binoviewers.  After running the math and finding I could use it on both the 12.5-inch and 20-inch, I found a good used pair locally and picked them up a couple weeks ago.  I tested a few eyepieces on them to make sure I could reach focus.  Then I bought a good pair of 10mm eyepieces.  Tonight was the first to test them out on the 12.5-inch, on the moon, for an hour, through holes in clouds blowing through.

First impression is really, wow.  The seeing was not at all good, but I felt I had very good resolution and I could see detail upon detail.  Most noticeable was the color gradations and ray patterns were much more distinct.  Craters seemed deeper; the terraced walls had angle and shape which they didn't have before.  An mountains along the limb!  Maybe it was the luck of the libration, but MAre Humboldtianum was very prominent and there were mountains beyond it. 

So overall, very pleased.  I didn't try the higher magnification configuration given the seeing (and my tiredness).  I found focussing to be easy, even without diopters, and I could quickly find a merged image.  I can't tell about collimation, but I didn't really notice any strain to my eyes and things seemed sharp.  I could pick up Plato craterlet a, and hints of a couple others.  So, I'm looking forward to more views!

night at the peak

Last night was a public night at Fremont Peak, and since they expected many visitors they sent out a call for volunteers.  I came and supporting using the old orange 16-inch telescope, which is actually a really good scope, though the mount is a little stiff.  Showed the moon, which was in first quarter and to set at 12:30am; Leo Triplet which was a tough object for many but showed up well enough (nice to share some galaxies); M3, M51 in which we could actually see spiral form; and the Turtle Nebula NGC 6210, another challenge object.  As things were wrapping up I suddenly remembered the star hop to Omega Centauri, and was able to find it in the 16-inch -- I needed to sit on the ground to reach the eyepiece, and unfortunately it only looked like a large brown granular smudge.  We looked at it with a couple other scopes.

I stayed late in order to observe with the Challenger, starting around 11:30pm.  I tried to figure out its motions, which are strange in the off-axis mount.  Eventually I picked an area in Serpens which was high enough to be out of much of the haze but not too high that I could still reach it with the ladder.  I star hopped using my atlas and one straight through 80mm finder near the bottom of the scope.  This too was awkward but I got used to it.  I didn't try to use the setting circles -- this will need to wait for another time.

I observed until 3:30am. Seeing was pretty good and it warmed up, so I think I was above an inversion layer. Transparency was still on the poor side, with jets making long silvery vapor trails in their wakes.  SQML was 20.99 after the moon set.

NGC 5970: Bright, pretty large, sharp stellar nucleus and a bright oval core, 3:1 elongation E-W.  Halo seems thick, like a fat tire, mottled.  Must be dark lanes/spiral, seen at moderate incline.  11.5v, SBc.  8' to the SE is IC 1131, small, quasi stellar nucleus, 3:2 NW-SE, near a triangle of 14th magnitude stars.

NGC 5956: Small, fairly bright, stellar nucleus seen with averted vision; brighter round core 2:1 E-W haze with two faint stars in an E-W line, one on each halo tip.  

NGC 5957: Moderately large faint round glow, with a small bright core.  Halo very diffuse and tough, but feels mottled, likely spiral.  11.7v, SBb

NGC 5936: Moderately large, round diffuse mottled halo, quasi-stellar nucleus flashes with averted vision from the small round core.  With patience I can discern a NE-SW bar and two opposing spiral arms at best moments and with averted vision, at 457x.  Definitely a face-on spiral and an interesting sight.  12.5v, SBb.  DSS shows a lot going on--it is an HII Galaxy, which are dwarf starburst galaxies in the local universe perhaps forming their first generation of stars.

NGC 5951: Nice 6:1 N-S edge on with dusty mottling and a gradually brighter core.  Large and faint; I can see a very faint star superimposed on the southern half of the halo.  There appears to be an extremely faint companion galaxy to the west, an amorphous faint smudge [this seems to be just a grouping of very faint stars on the DSS.]  

Arp 91 = NGC 5953 & 5953: 5954 is fairy bright, small, with a bright core and round diffuse halo; it seems to have a double nucleus but the "nucleus" to the southwest is a superimposed star.  It overlaps on its eastern rim with 5954's south halo tip.  5954 is a fairly bright small N-S elongated mottled/disrupted haze.  Best seen at 457x.  

HCG 79 Seyfert's Sextet: Small and tight group, used 457x.  a, b, and c components bright elliptical in appearance and easy; e sometimes appeared with AV tucked just south of b; d was merely sensed, extremely faint. Did not see the tidal tail wing coming off b.

Arp 209 = NGC 6052-1 & -2: Using 457x, it appeared as two small bright very closely separated cores orientated in a line east and west.  The one to the west with a small roundish halo and the other with a N-S elongated halo, which I sensed had a comma shaped sweep headed south then tapering to the west.  Really tough.

Mu 1 Boo: This star was on my radar because of a cloudynights discussion about 0.1" separation doubles.  I gave it a try, pointing the Challenger at zenith and luckily being able to reach the eyepiece with the ladder pressed against the north pier.  I tried 457x but found it was out of collimation (I had not checked it beforehand) so I adjusted the focuser and tried again.  At 915x I was able to see an airy disk but it was highly diffracted in a very strange pattern.  I could not detect any elongation, let alone a split.

quick look at moon

We've had continuing poor observing weather, along with various stresses and strains of life, so no significant observing completed.  I did however pick up a used pair of binoviewers, and last night was able to confirm I can achieve focus on my 12.5-inch in low and high power eyepieces.  I need to try the 20-inch when the opportunity presents itself.  I have a 10mm eyepiece pair on the way, and will wait until I can confirm the 20-inch before getting a low power pair.  I'm excited to try it since I hope it will enhance my home planetary and lunar viewing, and add some spice to deep sky with the 20-inch.

I had very quick looks at the moon at 277x, seeing did not permit more.  The moon is in an early phase and was temporarily blocked by our neighbor's yew trees.  Crissium was in view, with many very dark shadow filled craters about.  Messier's ejecta streams were nicely visible, especially the ones at right angles to the craters.  Below Messier was a long, dark, thin splinter which I found on the map as an unnamed (at least on that map) mare ridge; it forked at the tip pointed to Messier.  There was a long rille running in parallel to it.  On the tips of both horns of the moon there were disembodied lit peaks, seeming to float in space.  There was a ~8th magnitude star ready to be occulted, but I misjudged the speed at which the moon was moving and missed the disappearance.

Hoping for better nights soon, to help clear and calm my mind...

doubles in Cancer

This Sunday was thankfully clear and turned out to have exceptionally good seeing, consistently 7/10 with moments of perfection.  I had charts prepared for Monoceros so much time has passed under the clouds I found it was too low.  So I pointed up to Cancer for a quick tour.  Big Blue, 553x as usual:

HJ 460 / 53 Cnc: Orange primary and 2x fainter blue, wide separation.  There is a second orange-yellow star of about the same magnitude very wide separation.  [AB is the close pair, AC are the two orange.]
08H 52M 28.60S +28° 15' 33.0" P.A. 335 SEP 43.7 MAG 6.47,11.73 SP M3III DIST. 271.74 PC (886.42 L.Y.)

STF 1268 / Iot Cnc: Pretty orange and pale blue, showpiece object. 
08H 46M 41.82S +28° 45' 35.6" P.A. 308 SEP 31.3 MAG 4.13,5.99 SP G7.5IIIA DIST. 101.52 PC (331.16 L.Y.)

Cbl 32: Pretty yellow-orange 8th magnitude primary, with 3x fainter blue which can be seen direct vision but blinks like a planetary nebula, so must be 11-12th mag.  Wide separation.
08H 46M 14.32S +27° 35' 41.3" P.A. 174 SEP 41 MAG 7.39,10.66 SP K1IV DIST. 99.4 PC (324.24 L.Y.)

67 Cnc: White pair, 2 delta mag, wide.
09H 01M 48.84S +27° 54' 09.3" P.A. 327 SEP 105.6 MAG 6.08,9.22 SP A8V DIST. 58 PC (189.2 L.Y.)

STTA 97: Finder view shows an arc of three stars; westernmost star is a wide equal pair in the telescope.
09H 08M 27.16S +27° 32' 35.3" P.A. 238 SEP 51.8 MAG 8.30,8.31 SP G0V DIST. 42.57 PC (138.86 L.Y.)

BU 105 / Kappa Leonis: Very tough but palpable split.  Seeing needed to settle to perfection for primary to resolve to just an airy disk without diffraction or flaring, and for a couple of seconds could see the much fainter ~10th magnitude B star as a pin-point, ~2" separation.  Fleeting view.  [AB seen; amazing 5.1 delta mag.  AC is 11th mag and much further separated.]
09H 24M 39.28S +26° 10' 56.8" P.A. 211 SEP 2.2 MAG 4.60,9.70 SP K3III DIST. 61.73 PC (201.36 L.Y.)

STF 3132: Very wide 1 delta mag?  Not sure which is the pair...  [Not seen; three 11th mag pairs to the primary not seen.]
19H 28M 12.76S +20° 12' 59.6" P.A. 40 SEP 7.9 MAG 10.10,11.80 SP G5

Hu 1128 & Shy 212: tried to locate these but did not find.  Near zenith, though I was sure my star hop was correct.  Checking Stelle Doppie I see why: Hu 1128's B is 12th mag so beyond my reach, and Shy 212 has a crazy wide 494.4" separation!]

STF 1424: Very bright yellow, 1 delta mag wide.  I'm using too much magnification for a pretty view... [6 stars in system...]
10H 19M 58.35S +19° 50' 29.4" P.A. 127.3 SEP 4.74 MAG 2.37,3.64 SP K0III DIST. 39.89 PC (130.12 L.Y.)

Bvd 81: Very wide 2-3 delta mag yellow-orange & whitish-yellow. 
10H 16M 41.83S +25° 22' 14.5" P.A. 28 SEP 79.3 MAG 5.84,10.01 SP K2III+G6V DIST. 108.93 PC (355.33 L.Y.)