Posts Made By: Dmitri Kulginov

but with a telescope where the lowest magnification is 50 - 60x it is a bit too large

He he he

Dmitri

While Cheshire is an extremely useful tool, star test is the ultimate answer. I usually use Cheshire to collimate the focuser unit as good as possible, and then tweak the OG cell to get a good star test.

Dmitri

2158 is almost at the edge of the Galaxy.

Dmitri

A list of all Dolidze open clusters or those close to Cygnus?

Dmitri

"Evolution of the Astronomical Eyepiece" by Chris Lord can be found at
http://www.brayebrookobservatory.org/BrayObsWebSite/BOOKS/EVOLUTIONofEYEPIECES.pdf

Dmitri

Most binoculars are terrible optically (or so I've heard), even a cheap refractor might be better than most of them. My ST80 has 4.2 degrees FOV with a 35mm eyepiece, and there is a lot of spectacluar stuff that are 0.5-1-2 degrees in size that neither STC nor binos frame well. But you see more stars in binos.

Dmitri

Tonight I grabbed the last opportunity of the year for deep sky. We had five hours of clear skies between two low pressure systems. The Moon set at half past seven, the skies cleared at 8, and I was at my dark place at nine together with my wife. While she browsed Milky Way in Auriga/Perseus/Cassiopeia for open clusters with 10x50 binocular, I looked at 6939/6946 again. The sky was fairly light near the horizon but very dark at zenith. I saw M33 with naked eye. I also swear that I saw nebulosity in Pleiades with my naked eye!

Both the open cluster and the galaxy were immediately obvious already at 11x in my finding eyepiece. The best view of the galaxy was at 22x in my new Ultima. It could still be seen clearly at 100x, and it looked mottled. I borrowed my wife's binos and they both were obvious. Now I know that I saw them in binocular from my backyard a few days ago, without being properly dark-adapted. Inge, cheapest of the cheapest 10x50 will show this pair, given a reasonably dark sky.

After that I re-visited NGC891. I do confirm that it is a difficult object in 80mm that requires a lot of patience. The galaxy is seen only rarely, and an impression builds up gradually. The best view was at 100x - a 10' long needle of light.

Soon after we had had absolutely spectacular views of M31/M32/205 we were forced to leave by dew and cold. On our way home the clouds came. A brilliant ending of a year of observing!

Dmitri

Wow. Somehow I find that sketches represent what one actually sees in the eyepiece better than photos and CCD images.

Dmitri

Focusing lever, easy to make, works miracles. I'll send a picture from home. The prototype made by Florian Boyd can be seen here (together with him?):
http://tinypic.com/bydd1
http://tinypic.com/bydcp
It's too long for my taste, and I've added a couple of springs to the construction.

Dmitri

Peter,

Can you see any baffles inside the barlows? Is blackening equally good? Scattered light can reduce contrast without reducing brightness.

Dmitri