busy day

During the day yesterday, I created a wider hole in the 6" telescope's tailpiece and was able to have the focuser work properly.  I bought a 2-3/8" hole saw, the size needed for the drawtube, but as I started to drill it wandered from center and I knew I would ruin the tailpiece if I continued.  So I got a file and began widening the hole by hand, which took about 40 minutes of effort.  I painted it then installed it in the evening, and had a look at M42 again.  Still a bit of defocus at the outer edges, I'm not sure how much it will bother me, or if there is some error in the lens mounting.  In any case, onward to constructing the mount.

I also spent some time with my 15x70 binoculars, seeing M42, M35, M47, and so on.  Still a very pleasing view and actually comparable to the 6" -- which only prompts me more to transform the 6' into a binoscope, given the views which may be possible.  Fun to see three satellites, one after the other, track north through Orion.

Later in the night I set-up Big Blue, and had a go at some double stars and the moon.  Seeing was only average and transparency was off (and the moon was full), so I stayed at 270x for the session; my sense of separation scale was messed up accordingly:

STF 684: Fine white and yellow, 2-3" at this scale, 2 delta mag. [20,000 light years is actually quite a large distance for the average double star...] 

05H 22M 11.04S +45° 04' 53.9" P.A. 141 SEP 1.5 MAG 7.72,9.34 SP B8III DIST. 5882.35 PC (19188.23 L.Y.)

ES 576: Pretty finder split, white, near equal to 0.5 delta mag. [AC seen; AB 13th mag]

05H 24M 22.85S +42° 36' 37.0" P.A. 237 SEP 42.7 MAG 8.10,8.90 SP A2

NGC 1857 would be a pretty little misty open cluster if not for the moon.  It's in a nice swath of stars of different magnifications and colors.

STF 699: Wide yellow and blue-white, half delta mag.

05H 25M 38.50S +38° 02' 41.1" P.A. 345 SEP 8.9 MAG 7.90,8.61 SP A1V DIST. 308.64 PC (1006.78 L.Y.)

STF 698: Orange-yellow A and lilac B, wide, finder split.  1 delta mag.  Pretty.

05H 25M 12.94S +34° 51' 18.6" P.A. 347 SEP 31.2 MAG 6.65,8.33 SP K2III DIST. 125.47 PC (409.28 L.Y.)

79 Aur: Bright light orange with 2-3 delta mag finder split wide pair.

M38, M36: Surprisingly good, even with the moon.  Fill the field with stars.

BU 1053:  Nice!!  Blazing white and close but nicely split light blue B, 2 delta mag.  Another star, 3 delta ma, is further out, may be a 2+1. [Just a double.]

05H 53M 28.64S +37° 20' 20.7" SEP 1.9 MAG 6.91,8.83 SP F5 DIST. 68.54 PC (223.58 L.Y.)

STF 799: Hairline split but definite in the best moments, white, half delta mag.

05H 52M 13.88S +38° 33' 36.4" P.A. 158 SEP 0.8 MAG 7.30,8.26 SP B8 DIST. 211.86 PC (691.09 L.Y.)

Nu Aur = H 5 90: Bright orange with a much fainter wide split.

05H 51M 29.39S +39° 08' 54.5" P.A. 206 SEP 55.9 MAG 3.97,11.40 SP K0III DIST. 70.62 PC (230.36 L.Y.)

STT 132: White A and slightly red B.  Fine pair but probably ~5".  2 delta mag.

06H 08M 11.68S +37° 58' 57.9" P.A. 332 SEP 1.8 MAG 7.16,9.63 SP A2V DIST. 184.5 PC (601.84 L.Y.)

STT 131: Very close, need seeing to resolve 2 delta mag white A and light blue B

06H 07M 25.84S +36° 16' 28.7" P.A. 277 SEP 1.5 MAG 7.04,9.45 SP B9II DIST. 301.2 PC (982.51 L.Y.)

To end the session I spent about a half hour on the moon using the binoviewers.  I followed the limb all the way around and can confirm, the moon is not round, there are mountains and depressions which cause it not to make a perfect sphere.  I then traversed its face and traced out the varying webs of rays and crater formations.  Very satisfying.

surgery required

It cleared up enough last night to take the 6' outside to test focus.  The 31mm bottomed out the in focus and did not quite reach focus -- this will mean I need to cut out a wider hole in the aluminum tailpiece to make room for the focuser drawtube.  It will make the changes irreversible, but it's ok: I can reach focus at 22mm no problem, and by adding a tube extender to the diagonal, I can reach focus with the 13mm and 8mm too. 

With the 31mm the whole of Orion's sword fits in the view very comfortably, though the stars on the outer 20% of the field are more out of focus than those in the center -- is this coma?  I see a similar effect with the 22mm; though with this view I began to see the greenish tint to the Orion Nebula.  The 13mm eyepiece has the best view.   I moved on to view the moon, which had very dark sky around it -- contrast seems very good in the scope.  Best view with the 22mm, the whole of the nearly full moon, showing streaks of rays and bright pockmarks of new craters.

I need to decide, though, whether to have a tracking mount for this scope.  I suppose it is not too much trouble to bump it along but I have grown accustomed to its convenience.  I think as a first step I'll do alt/az, but if I find a cheap enough mount I may buy it.

focusing...

More rain this week so no new observations to report.  I spent a few hours (took longer than it should have!) installing a new focuser on the 6" f5.  I chose a relatively inexpensive Newtonian focuser since it seemed short enough and had a flat mounting plate.  Unfortunately, the drawtube diameter is larger than the opening in the tail plate, but I decided to install the focuser anyway to see if it would reach focus.  It took me a while to find the center on the aluminum tail plate and to find the correct sized hardware to mount it with, but eventually, I succeeded.  It was pretty well centered according to a laser I put in the focuser and shined on the objective.  Pointing to a ridgeline a couple miles distant, I was, fortunately, able to reach focus with the 31mm -- but just barely, bottoming out the focus!  The 22mm focussed no problem, but with the 13mm I need to screw it into the diagonal halfway up the eyepiece mounting area.

So it works, if barely.  A problem I did not anticipate is that the field illumination is poor, maybe 50%, if that.  This is due to the tube length.  I realize now to optimize the scope for 2" eyepieces I need to shorten the tube and add a larger focuser, as I read others have done with similar scopes.  Oh well, I'll use it as is for now; after all the goal is to make a binoscope out of it.  Now onto the mount, for which I need to find the correct sized bearings....

I should mention: while using the 22mm I noticed a bird zip into view and then hover -- a hummingbird.  I refocused and was able to get a sharp outline of the shape of its body.  Then, it pirouetted and I saw the brief bright ruby red flash of its neck feathers before it zipped out of sight.

rich field possibilities

I was able to obtain a Jaegers 6" f5 refractor, along with an extra matching objective, for relatively little money recently.  With a 31mm Nagler it should get nearly 3.5° TFOV!  And the extra objective means there is a chance to build a bino-scope out of the pair, which would be quite amazing.

I had the refactor out last night on a totally inadequate mount, but it was enough to get the scope pointed at the sky to see what it could do.  The focuser is very old and at 4" racked in height did not have enough in-focus for my 31mm or even 22mm Nagler, but I could use my 13mm Ethos.  Fit just about all of Orion's sword in the view, and pretty sharp stars too (though the seeing was horrible and transparency not much better).  It gave me hope that under a dark sky it will be quite good. 

I've ordered a new focuser (a 2" for Newtonian, but it will work fine).  I drew a ray trace on the back of some wrapping paper (which conveniently had a grid of 1" squares printed) and I am sure the tailpiece hole cut out and 2" drawtube will not clip the light path.  I also ordered a light shield for the end of the tube to replace my homemade one.  All that's left is an end cap to protect the objective and a mount.  I've been browsing the internet to get some ideas for DIY Alt/Az mounts, since I don't want to spend much more money.  I have a couple ideas.  Ultimately I want to make the mount lift adjustable so I can have the eyepiece at the altitude axis, like the springsonian, and I could just sit or better yet stand to use the scope.  The bino-scope is a longer term and more expensive possibility, but one I want to follow through on -- imagine the views through it...

bino-might

After a severe and cold storm moved through the area these last couple of days, leaving the Bay Area hills shivered in snow, there was some clear sky tonight.  Transparency was not great, and seeing was predicted to be worse, so I used my 15x70 binos with mirror mount in the back yard for about an hour.  M42, M43, and Orion's Belt to start, with the fine arcs and loops of stars around.  Meissa, showing more stars than can be seen naked eye, as Galileo discovered.  Up to M35, large and loose.

Then scanning around I came upon a fairly large milky haze, oval to rectangular, but with very soft edges.  I thought it was M45 out of focus.  But then I realized it was supernova remnant M1 -- which really surprised me as I remember four years ago when trying to find it with the new to me Big Blue on a similar cold night I could not find it, despite my best star hop.  It must have been the larger context of the binocular view.  This is one of the Messiers which certainly could be confused as a comet, unlike many of the star clusters.

Speaking of which, I swept up M41, M52, M47, M46, and finally the Beehive, M44, looking very fine and sharp (and complete) in the binocular view.

So the binos win again and help make for an enjoyable night of it.

catching up

I had a session last Friday night which I haven't gotten down yet, so catching up here.  The notes filled the last page of my notebook, which started in August with some sketches of Mars.  Shows how poor the observing season has been, needing six months to fill one notebook.

Seeing was middling, about 5-6/10, and transparency not much better at 3/5.  Using Big Blue, most at 270x unless noted:

HU 1067: Light orange star, small, definitely elongated at 553x.  Seems to resolve in best moments to a very faint B star, but uncertain.  Very faint in the finder, at its limit.
03H 49M 36.35S +38° 58' 55.5" P.A. 77 SEP 1.3 MAG 9.72,10.56 SP A2IIV: DIST. 467.29 PC (1524.3 L.Y.)

STF 500: 1 delta mag, ~4", very hazy. 553x
04H 11M 41.62S +40° 15' 54.7" P.A. 79 SEP 3.9 MAG 8.84,10.70 SP G0

Atik = STF 464AB: Triple system, 2 very faint stars nearby.  270x [Did not see BU 535 1.1" 3 delta mag; the second star I saw not in system]
03H 54M 07.92S +31° 53' 01.2" P.A. 209 SEP 12.9 MAG 2.86,9.16 SP B1IB DIST. 230.41 PC (751.6 L.Y.)

Anonymous between Atik and BU 535: Very close & faint B 3 delta mag.  Tough with 270x

BU 535: No split at 270x seeing not steady
03H 44M 19.13S +32° 17' 17.7" P.A. 20 SEP 1.1 MAG 3.91,6.70 SP B1III DIST. 343.64 PC (1120.95 L.Y.)

40 Per: Wide, 2 delta mag, white-yellow and very faintly blue
03H 42M 22.64S +33° 57' 54.1" P.A. 244 SEP 19.8 MAG 4.97,10.04 SP B1.5IV DIST. 323.62 PC (1055.65 L.Y.)

BU 533: Overlapping yellow-orange disks, equal mag, at 270x!
03H 35M 37.81S +31° 40' 48.7" P.A. 220.7 SEP 1.02 MAG 7.55,7.74 SP F4V DIST. 85.98 PC (280.47 L.Y.)

Tok 13 = UX Ari: Orange star with very faint wide blue B?  I seem to also see a much fainter star in a near line in between these two. [Likely the wider star...  also has CHR 9 0.4" 3 delta mag, would be good to try with the 20-inch]
03H 26M 35.36S +28° 42' 55.2" P.A. 129 SEP 96.4 MAG 6.59,10.00 SP G5IV-V DIST. 51.63 PC (168.42 L.Y.)

STF 401: in the scope equal mag, white, well separated.
03H 31M 20.76S +27° 34' 18.5" P.A. 269 SEP 11.4 MAG 6.58,6.93 SP A2V DIST. 97.47 PC (317.95 L.Y.)

STFA 7: Nice finder split, equal mag but faint, ~8th mag.
03H 31M 03.47S +27° 43' 53.6" P.A. 234 SEP 44.1 MAG 7.41,7.81 SP B9 DIST. 120.05 PC (391.6 L.Y.)

STF 427: Near equal mag, white and fainter B is yellow, well split.
03H 40M 38.77S +28° 46' 24.0" P.A. 207 SEP 7 MAG 7.41,7.84 SP A1V+A2V DIST. 113.12 PC (369 L.Y.)

STT 77: Finder triple. [Not likely seen, AB is 0.5"; may have just been a near equal field star]
04H 15M 55.73S +31° 41' 35.1" P.A. 316 SEP 132 MAG 7.48,9.57 SP G0V DIST. 101.52 PC (331.16 L.Y.)

STT 81 = 56 Per Pretty yellow and slight red pair, 2 delta mag.
04H 24M 37.46S +33° 57' 34.9" P.A. 13 SEP 4.2 MAG 5.84,9.25 SP F4V DIST. 40.62 PC (132.5 L.Y.)

STF 533: Finder split, fairly wide, 1 delta mag; wider in scope.
04H 24M 24.85S +34° 18' 53.1" P.A. 61 SEP 20.2 MAG 7.30,8.49 SP B8V DIST. 221.73 PC (723.28 L.Y.)

14 Aur = STF 653: Triple, one of which is one delta mag fainter than the other equal pair.  All well separated.  [AC is the brighter pair; AB fainter.]
05H 15M 24.39S +32° 41' 15.3" P.A. 11 SEP 9.8 MAG 5.03,10.90 SP A9IV DIST. 87.57 PC (285.65 L.Y.)

STF 648: Light orange, half delta mag, wide. [AB seen, three other pairs too faint]
05H 10M 59.19S +32° 02' 19.5" P.A. 62 SEP 4.7 MAG 8.14,8.93 SP G5 DIST. 42.44 PC (138.44 L.Y.)

STT 61: Finder split, 1 delta mag. [Not seen, likely just a field star; separation too close for finder]
03H 42M 45.91S +07° 54' 10.6" P.A. 128 SEP 1.4 MAG 7.77,10.63 SP A2 DIST. 127.55 PC (416.07 L.Y.)

STF 645: White and grey, 2 delta mag, wide. [A,BC seen.  BC good for the 20-inch, BU 1047 0.3" near equal]
05H 09M 45.06S +28° 01' 50.2" P.A. 29 SEP 11.3 MAG 6.04,9.11 SP A5M DIST. 52.6 PC (171.58 L.Y.)

Bgh 21: Yellowish-white star.  Suspect a close-in B but the pairing might be the faint, very wide star seen in the scope and finder. [for sure the wide star]
05H 10M 03.87S +27° 33' 23.4" P.A. 353 SEP 314.6 MAG 7.02,9.27 SP F5+G5 DIST. 40.03 PC (130.58 L.Y.)

M37: After a while of searching, used the 31mm for 87x view in the scope.  Carbon star at the edge of the field.  Duller than I remember, transparency hurting the view.