Post by boomboom on Dec 8, 2013 2:22:07 GMT -5
I spent most of Saturday finishing off the f12. Cleaning the objective collimating the scope and mounting it on the NEQ6.
The weather as you can see in the pics of my other thread on the build, was brilliant all day. I'm glad to say it stayed that way as long as I could stay awake.
Eyepieces used ES 68º 40 34 28 24 20 16 and an ES 2x Focal Extender Barlow.
The seeing was OK but the transparency was better than I have seen for about 5 months.
First up Uranus.
Never had much luck with this Planet and tonight was no exception. At least it was a green slightly fuzzy disc no sign of any moons!
Then onto the 1/4 Moon which was sinking slowly in the West. Lot's of heat waves and atmosphere boiling away but still nice and sharp. A slight fringe of yellow on the rim of the Moon was the only false colour I could see….wow no purple at all. I put in my new filter wheel and trawled through a few colours and a WO V-1 filter. The Minus Violet filter took all the yellow fringe off leaving a natural looking whiteish Moon, really nice. The Moon was just getting into neighbouring trees so next target please!
One of the many joys of the Southern Skies is the glob Tucana 47. The NEQ6 dropped Tuc 47 in the middle of an ES 24mm 68º eyepiece….fantastic. Even looking over a fairly light polluted sky this in an amazing sight. I stayed with this one for quite some time using all the ES 68º series eyepieces and an ES 2x focal extender. These eyepieces are a great match with this scope. The best view came with the 16mm, a little jewel of an eyepiece. Lots of pinprick stars and the feeling as though I'm falling into the glob. Very similar to the view using Bino's which tonight I wasn't going to use. Moving the glob to the edge of field had pin point stars all the way, just beautiful. I also have the ES 9 14 and 20mm 100º eyepieces and they aren't as good as the 68'''s IMO. The TFOV is just too much….I like seeing a sharp field stop, each to their own I suppose. Used to like the 100's in the f8 but at f12…..not so good. Is this an f stop thing I wonder? Or perhaps the love affair with huge fields has worn off…
Next up the Sculptor Galaxy. aka NGC 253 or the Silver Dollar galaxy. Close to Zenith and even though the scope is 6" there it was in the FOV of the ES 28mm. Quite large but a grey blob still. Not bad for 6" and 10,000,000 light years away.
Next the Pleiadies, M45. The Seven Sisters has been in various scopes I have had since the late 70's, and I never get tired of it. By the time I got to this it was midnight and I had been out for three and a half hours. I took time over it too. First view was with the ES 40mm and wow…. M45 was looking blue, black sky in-between, it's rare that I have seen this cluster blue. It was easy to see the wispy dust around the stars. F 12 is hardly a wide field scope but this was just beautiful.
To end my first session I parked the scope turned it off, unlocked the clutches and did my favourite thing and cruised what was visible of the Southern Milky way. This big scope moved so easily and was a joy to pull around.
Jupiter had just made it over my neighbours house but was too low down to get a good view. Orion and Canis Majoris were hidden behind trees, shame I'll have to save those for another time, and a session with the WO Bino's.
To sum up…the Istar 150mm f12 Objective is a terrific bit of glass. Thanks Istar! All I need to do is to work out how to get it on and off the mount!
The NEQ6 works fine with the scope. I was a bit worried that the gears would bind or something like that, but no, nothing. Focusing by hand was easy. My wooden tripod should make a difference. It did with my f8 150mmm on an HEQ5. Adding my Rigel electric focuser will make it even better.
Cheers
Matt
The weather as you can see in the pics of my other thread on the build, was brilliant all day. I'm glad to say it stayed that way as long as I could stay awake.
Eyepieces used ES 68º 40 34 28 24 20 16 and an ES 2x Focal Extender Barlow.
The seeing was OK but the transparency was better than I have seen for about 5 months.
First up Uranus.
Never had much luck with this Planet and tonight was no exception. At least it was a green slightly fuzzy disc no sign of any moons!
Then onto the 1/4 Moon which was sinking slowly in the West. Lot's of heat waves and atmosphere boiling away but still nice and sharp. A slight fringe of yellow on the rim of the Moon was the only false colour I could see….wow no purple at all. I put in my new filter wheel and trawled through a few colours and a WO V-1 filter. The Minus Violet filter took all the yellow fringe off leaving a natural looking whiteish Moon, really nice. The Moon was just getting into neighbouring trees so next target please!
One of the many joys of the Southern Skies is the glob Tucana 47. The NEQ6 dropped Tuc 47 in the middle of an ES 24mm 68º eyepiece….fantastic. Even looking over a fairly light polluted sky this in an amazing sight. I stayed with this one for quite some time using all the ES 68º series eyepieces and an ES 2x focal extender. These eyepieces are a great match with this scope. The best view came with the 16mm, a little jewel of an eyepiece. Lots of pinprick stars and the feeling as though I'm falling into the glob. Very similar to the view using Bino's which tonight I wasn't going to use. Moving the glob to the edge of field had pin point stars all the way, just beautiful. I also have the ES 9 14 and 20mm 100º eyepieces and they aren't as good as the 68'''s IMO. The TFOV is just too much….I like seeing a sharp field stop, each to their own I suppose. Used to like the 100's in the f8 but at f12…..not so good. Is this an f stop thing I wonder? Or perhaps the love affair with huge fields has worn off…
Next up the Sculptor Galaxy. aka NGC 253 or the Silver Dollar galaxy. Close to Zenith and even though the scope is 6" there it was in the FOV of the ES 28mm. Quite large but a grey blob still. Not bad for 6" and 10,000,000 light years away.
Next the Pleiadies, M45. The Seven Sisters has been in various scopes I have had since the late 70's, and I never get tired of it. By the time I got to this it was midnight and I had been out for three and a half hours. I took time over it too. First view was with the ES 40mm and wow…. M45 was looking blue, black sky in-between, it's rare that I have seen this cluster blue. It was easy to see the wispy dust around the stars. F 12 is hardly a wide field scope but this was just beautiful.
To end my first session I parked the scope turned it off, unlocked the clutches and did my favourite thing and cruised what was visible of the Southern Milky way. This big scope moved so easily and was a joy to pull around.
Jupiter had just made it over my neighbours house but was too low down to get a good view. Orion and Canis Majoris were hidden behind trees, shame I'll have to save those for another time, and a session with the WO Bino's.
To sum up…the Istar 150mm f12 Objective is a terrific bit of glass. Thanks Istar! All I need to do is to work out how to get it on and off the mount!
The NEQ6 works fine with the scope. I was a bit worried that the gears would bind or something like that, but no, nothing. Focusing by hand was easy. My wooden tripod should make a difference. It did with my f8 150mmm on an HEQ5. Adding my Rigel electric focuser will make it even better.
Cheers
Matt
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