Cygnus, Lyra, and Andromeda with the TV-85 (2nd Session)

Setup and ready to go a little before 0300 (11 pm local). A little more humid, things not quite as crisp as last night, more neighborhood lights than last night until around midnight local, but Milky Way still bright, M31 still visible naked-eye.

Started out with some double stars, 61 Lyr split with ease, but Epsilon Lyr (Double-Double) not as easy - it took the 1.8x TV Barlow and TV Zoom set at 8mm (135x) in order to just make out the individual pairs. But there they were, positioned as per Burnham's. Biggest challenge was keeping things centered in the FOV at high magnifications.

Looked around Deneb for nebulae again. Despite nice "spacewalk" views with the Celestron 40mm NexStar TV 32mm Plössls, no real glimpse of nebulosity anywhere. I may add a UHC filter to my wish list, see if that helps. Next time out I want to compare these two eyepieces more closely to which one delivers the better wide-field views.

Open cluster M29 was fabulous at all magnifications. Super-crisp at lower magnifications (32mm = 18.75x, 24mm = 25x) right down (up?) to 12mm (50x) with the zoom. 8mm seemed to cause a loss of detail, as predicted my O'Meara in the Messier book. Ring Nebula (M27) not as sharp as last night.

The Starbeam finder definitely needs some dew prevention! And probably eyepiece as well. More $$$.... sigh.

Cygnus, Lyra, and Andromeda with the TV-85 (1st Session)

After torrential thundershowers all night Friday and into Saturday afternoon (and miserable hot and humid weather in general most of the week), a cool front moved in this evening. Waywayanda Clear Sky Clock showed some promise so I took the '85 out back. No cloud cover, seeing average but still best it's been all month. Although very humid, the dew heater worked like a charm, letting me stay out until after 0530 (1:30 am local). Waxing Crescent Moon already low and not a factor, Milky Way in Cygnus bright and very apparent, first time in a while I've seen that. M31 also visible naked-eye later in the session.

Got to try out some new gear:

Thousand Oaks Digital Dew Heater - How did I live without this for so long? Bought the control box and heating bands for both the '85 and N8GPS (and also an Astrozap Dew Shield for the 8, not used yet).

Tele Vue StarBeam - Actually had this for a week, tried it out a couple of nights between thunder showers. Getting the hang of it, although it can be difficult to see target object. Best method I've found is to find the dot below target, then keep it in peripheral view while locating target, then slowly move the dot to target. Probably needs a dew band.

...and the new tackle box I bought at Wal-Mart this afternoon, which is nearly perfect - one removable tray fits all my optics except the MaxView 40 and TV barlow, another tray for the dew heater and tools, and a nice upper compartment for bigger stuff like power supply for N8GPS, vibration pads, Telrad, MaxView, etc. The box was supposed to come with one large (tall) tray and two small (short) ones, but I shamelessly swapped the two small trays for a second large one from another box on the shelf. Good thing, because I doubt anything but my color filters would have fit in the short ones. Sorry, Wal-Mart, but I have my needs...

Setup complete around 0200 (10pm local). Linda went to bed so all house lights were off early, and only one neighbor felt it necessary to leave the flood lights on. Stuck with the 8-24 TV zoom and the MaxView 40. Ring Nebula was small but crisp donut at 8mm, but barely distinguishable from a star at 24mm.

Albireo was very sharp @ 8mm. Beta Lyre easily split, stumbled upon while looking for M27. Forgot to try to split the Double-Double in Lyra. Doh!

Could not see any nebulosity around Deneb (N. American, Pelican), even with eyes fully dark adapted.

After midnight local Great Square of Pegasus was in full view with Andromeda and M31 just poking clear of trees. TV Zoom at 24mm and MaxView 40mm both showed good amount of central bulge and neighboring galaxy (unsure which one, probably M32, need to check the charts).

Tried the TV 32mm Plössl at the end of the session, think I like it better than the MaxView. Maybe I will eBay the MaxView and pick up a 55mm wide field ep from Orion. Already have the entire Vixen Super Wide collection in my Astronomics wish list, just waiting for finances to straighten out before pulling the trigger on those and also some Losmandy dovetail and counterweight gear for piggybacking the '85 on the N8GPS.

After breakdown, I went back out for another look naked-eye. Cassiopeia was rising above north tree, and Pleiades moving into view down in the northeast.

All told, an enjoyable night alone with the stars.

TV-85 First Light

My TV-85 was delivered to Mom's house today, so I drove 3-hours to Closter and back to get the scope, returned around 7:30 local with enough light to test on the hills and trees. Very sharp focus, the 8-24mm zoom looks like it will be useful.

After dark I tested the TV-85 on some bright stars (Vega, Altair, Arcturus) to see if the haze surrounding bright stars on the N8GPS was present. It was. Apparently it is an atmospheric effect.

As it got darker, I tried to find some Messiers. Very difficult to point the scope without a finder, but I was able to find M13 in Hercules fairly easily, probably just luck. Zoom at 8mm showed it as a soft fuzzy blob, but the Celestron 6mm Plössl resolved many of the cluster's outer stars with a bright core. Could not achieve sharp focus with the Celestron 4mm plössl. TV 32mm Plössl and Zoom @ 24mm delivered nice wide-field views, very sharp across entire field.

I purchased a Tele Vue Starbeam pointer from a guy on Astromart for $165; sending m.o. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, it's point-and-pray...

Hercules DSO Hunting

After dinner...: Two clear nights in a row? Could it be possible? Setup scope, went back inside for 10 minutes, returned to find complete overcast. After requisite fit-pitching, the skies cleared and let me be for about 2.5 hours...

No camera tonight. Align on Arcturus and Altair, checked conditions on Vega and Albireo. While on doubles, tried 61 Cyg - nice pair at 15mm.

Hercules sits just over the house, and can see all the way down to Corona Borealis, with Draco off to the left (North). With Night Sky Observer's Guide Vol.2 and red light in hand I proceeded to go down the list of deep sky objects in Hercules, trying only those with entries for 8/10" Scopes with 9mm eyepiece (222x) and 15mm (133x): NGC 6058 (planetary nebula), 6181 (galaxy), 6207 (galaxy), 6210 (galaxy) all faint. NGC 6229 (glob) a little easier, though not many resolved stars. M13 & M92 steal the show, globs which easily resolve into many stars even at 15mm.

Shortly after 0315 (11:15 local) the clouds returned and I packed it up. Hope to return to Hercules a few more times before it disappears for the winter.

Mounted binoculars to the top of the N8GPS just for kicks. Interesting to see a broad expanse of sky in the binocs yet no sign of what is clearly visible in the eyepiece.

Tried running Astroplanner outside on the Dell but was getting errors with each attempt to connect to the scope. Night vision mode sucks, can't read anything on the screen, can't see keyboard to type, glare is horrible, light is overpowering even with brightness set at lowest level. I'm beginning to firmly believe that computers are best left indoors.