Posts Made By: david elosser

Louie, that is very nice. I am impressed with the lovely detail you have captured. Good work!
David E

Daniel,
You shouldn't wash out at 240x with a 10" Dob, it's probably sky conditions that hampered you. My favorite planetary eyepiece with my 8" Dob (fl/1200mm) is the 5mm Nagler. It has an excellent image and the very wide field makes it easier to track. Jupiter has been a lousy target this year for northern hemisphere viewers. I havn't had a chance to view it yet with my Dob. I've taken Saturn up to 300x and more a time or two, under really great conditions. Most of the time though, I'm viewing in the 125-150x range. I also use the BO/TMB planetary eyepieces and they are excellent on planets and lunar too. My 9mm has a bit of flare to it though. The 8mm is cleaner in image. I don't have the 7mm but either the 8 or 7 would be a good middle road between your 10mm and the 10mm with 2x barlow. I would be tempted to get the 8mm which you could barlow to 4mm when the air is really clean and steady. That view would blow your socks off! I recommend getting a photo FL-D filter. You can get one in 46mm and then a 48 to 46mm step down ring to attach to your 2-1.25" adapter that fits in your 2" focuser. Your favorite photo supply store can get these for you. It's a great filter for Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn too.

David E

Daniel,
If the air is steady enough, I choose my 5mm Nagler (240x) for globs and small open clusters. I use my 13 Nagler (92x) when the air is not as cooperative or if the glob is really too dim to see at 240x. IMO, for your first "dso" eyepiece something in the 100x range is a good place to start. But your 10" Dob will go to some really high powers so don't be afraid to kick the power up to 200x or more on the brighter globs like M13 or M22. Since you manually track with a Dobsonian, I would go with the best you can afford, with the widest angle as possible. Naglers and Meade 5K UWA's come to mind. But the new Orion Stratus (also Baader Hyperions) have some really good reviews and are moderately priced.
David E

Wonderfull shot Louie! I see a lot of stars reddened from extinction in the background.

David E

In front of. In fact its shadow could be seen leading just in front. I have visually followed Europa and Ganymede transiting Jupiter with my Nighthawk. I missed Io this morning due to clouds, and the last oppertunity I had to see an Io transit this year daylight interrupted me. :C

David E

The center of the feather, notice the barbs...

Thanks Chris, another great image! I enjoyed your animation too. Maybe I'll get lucky this year and spot Red Jr again, your images always help.

David E
Kernersville NC

Paul, I've seen spiral arms in M51 with my 8" Dob from my suburban home, visual magnitude about 4.5 or so. I was using a Meade 6.7mm 5000 series UWA for 179x. Once I got lucky and saw some spiral structure in M33 with my 102mm achromat, also from home. Andromeda is of course the easiest to see spiral arms. From a really dark site I've see the spirals with a 3.3" apo. In addition to spiral arms you might try for the large dark dust lanes in M64 the Blackeye and M104 the Sombrero. Seeing needs to be very steady and the air very clean to see these features well. Unsteady skies may not prevent you from seeing the galaxy, but they will make it a blur.

David E

Number 2...
This one is exposed to show detail on the Moon.
Photographed with a Fuji S5200 camera set to ISO 100 in manual mode. Hope you enjoy them!

David E

This leg's ready for nair...