Hi §AB,
As usual an excellent write-up -- seems like you are having a great time with the new 12". But in the end, will 12" be enough? Hmmm ...
Take a good look at the collimaton of the secondary and also, centration of the primary under the secondary. Unless it is nicely centred under the secondary, it can occasionally give an astigmatic type appearance. Is the primary in a sling or in a cell like the 10" GSO?
§AB wrote:
"I increased mag to 353x, dare I say that during 1 single split second moment I got a perfectly sharp view!!!! I saw a number of brown cloud belts and maybe a bit of limb darkening."
Isn't it just sensational when it snaps in like that?
I must have seen that happen dozens and dozens of times and yet it still amazes me and leaves me dumbstruck -- just for a moment. One such incident that comes to mind was a night 2 years ago out at my southern highlands spot where we observe every new-moon weekend. It was a night of very good to excellent seeing and when that happens, I tend to spend a lot of time on very small high-surface brightness objects like PNe. I remember that I spent a lot of time on NGC 2392 (Eskimo), NGC 3242 (Ghost of Jupiter) NGC 3132 (Eight-Burst) and IC 418 (Wow, Woooooww) at x317, x371 and even x494. On Saturn (somewhat lower in the north), the image at x317 was almost perfectly stable but x371 was a bit wobbly until that magic moment(s) arrived -- it was at x371 when it snapped in for about 3 seconds and it was sensationaly beautiful. One is tempted to describe it as "Hubble-like". I let out a yelp as it happened but the show was over before my observing comrades had realised what happened. There was swirly detail in the dark grey/fawn belt immediately adjacent to the eq band, Cassini looked like you could drive a bus through it, the Enke division was there and easy to see and the crepe ring stood out like a honeymooner's whatsername -- brown and dirty violet in colour. Certainly stand's out in the memory!
For interest's sake, reproduced is the observing note on NGC 2392 from that night:
x494 10'TF
NGC 2392 PK 197+17.1 PNG 197.8+17.3 Planetary Nebula
*RA: 07h 29m 11.0s Dec: +20° 54' 39"
Mag: 9.9 (P) Size: 50.0" Class: 3b+3b
Mag C. Star: 10.5 R.V.: --- Source: Str-ESO
*Wow!! Words nearly fail. Virtually all of the detail in the Hubble image is visible or at least there are hints of it. This PNe has a prominent mag 11 central *. The Whole halo just over 1' diameter with a very diffuse looking edge. This outer halo comprises the outer 15" diameter and is patchy in brightness with a radially streaked appearance like someone has raked it outward in places. It is blue without filtration. Then heading inward there is a definite, fine circular, maybe slightly ovoid boundary where the inner halo takes over. The inner halo is generally smoother, but at times when the seeing settles you can occasionally make out a maze of fine weakly brighter streaks criss-crossing the centre -- particularly in the S half of the inner halo and some occasional tiny darker areas between. A magnificent object -- wonderful!
This is a link to the Hubble image:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031207.html
It's a pity we can't book and pay for seeing like that in advance!
Best,
Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T