Not much to report - after (roughly) collimating the local club's 8" 1000mm (f5) Saxon dob, I gave it a test last night. Sky conditions were a bit off, with some light cloud making & breaking and a bit of milkiness to the rest. This affected the contrast of the views a little I think. It wasn't helped by a big floodlight on next door (but can't complain, they're great neighbours & the floodlighting is very rare). Still, they were skies that the average light-polluted city slicker would die for!
No charts, so checked out a number of favourites with 21mm Celestron X-Cel EP (48x). First up the
Tarantula Nebula in the LMC - nice but not great, and I think the lack of contrast on the night severely affected this one. I did notice stronger mottly nebulosity in the field around it than I'm used to in the 4.5".
Moved to galaxy
NGC 253, almost at the zenith - very nice, strong, and extended more than half way across the field of view. Mottling was easily visible, brighter core stood out with effort - much better than views I'm used to.
Went to NGC
1365 & the big cluster of galaxies near it. 1365 was very disappointing and I've seen it much better in the 4.5" on a good night. Moved down to the rich galaxy field and all the little galaxies I'm familiar with were instantly there, no averted vision needed. However, no more detail was visible than in the 4.5", as would be expected given the magnification used and the size of the galaxies. As I had no charts, I didn't attempt to pop previously unseen dimmer galaxies into view. Tried for the Grus Quartet but light cloud thwarted me.
Both the Great Nebula in Orion & the Eta Carinae nebula were behind trees but I did cruise the little of the denser Milky Way I could see and there were some wonderful open clusters.
NGC 3114 just over the treetops was lovely!
Had a look at
47 Tucanae, but it was pretty underwhelming at 48x. However, I tried an 8mm eyepiece (125x) and the view was probably marginally better than I'm used to at that mag - better resolution & brighter, although still let down a little by contrast.
Finished off with
Jupiter at 125x - very bright, LOL, colour good, 4 moons showing. Reasonable detail visible but the seeing wasn't flash. Didn't have a Barlow handy to test at higher mags, and not sure if the conditions would have allowed it anyway.
All in all, this scope will perform very nicely in better conditions - just dreaming of one of those crystal clear dark nights out at the Porepunkah airstrip!
Cheers -