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Originally Posted by Rodstar
I have come to the view that fine dining is more my thing, rather than buffet "chew and spew". My definition of a good night out is enjoying perhaps a dozen objects, seeing what the view with difference EP's produce. I like a mix of familiar friends (eg Messiers and other well known stuff), and perhaps a few new items, which may be quite dull, but sometimes can surprise.
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Yup, I'm normally quite content to look for a few hours, really enjoy seeing a few things well, chat, watch the stars drift past etc... Being out here under such good stars it feels like a waste not to see it all ! But I shall take your advice, perhaps a glass of wine tonight will slow me down.... Acutally it's 43 degrees here (Just out of the Grampians tonight) and extremely windy with lots of high cloud and a change forecast, so I think we might be given a night off by the big man.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodstar
Last night, inspired by your marathon, I decided to have a second session in a row myself from Point Clare (how could I not with the lovely clear skies we have at the moment??!!). I had 90 mins at the EP from 9.30 to 11pm, with a dozen or so targets. The seeing was pretty steady, so I alternated between the 13E with Paracorr (220x) and the 7T6 (360x), as well as using the 20T5 for M42.
I started with some favourites: Tarantula, 47 Tuc, M42, and teased out the Pup with the assistance of an OIII filter to dint the glare of Sirius, then headed off into the less well trodden path of Columba the Dove. Enjoyed that delicate globular NGC 1851, then checked out some bright galaxies in Columba, NGC 1792, 1808 and 2090. All three galaxies were bright and impressive from suburbia, but the standout was NGC 1792, which is a side on barred spiral with a very bright core and clearly marked out galactic plane.
I also took the opportunity to visit one of my favourite globs in the heavens, NGC 2808 in Carina, it reminds me of a mini 47 Tuc, so thick with stars, so cotton-bally notwithstanding its distance.
By the end of my session Fornax was at zenith, so I decided to visit Zorro (NGC 1365), unfortunately the skyglow of suburbia pretty much washed out the spiral arms, but the bar was bright and charming, a mere 60 million lya!
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Don't think I mentioned it but I popped up to Fornax at the end of the night when it had just gone past the Zeinth, best view I've ever had of the Dwarf as well as Zorro - The arms appeared about 3x or more the length of the bar, better even that the first night. I suspect the seeing and transparency were acutally very good thinking back on it now, just being hot and covered in mozzies makes one grumpy !
How do you find the 20T5 - I have and love the 21E but it's more than twice as heavy as anything else I use (all around the typical 400g 10E, 13E type weight) - The 21E really needs the paracorr but that just makes it heavier again. I might just have to stick abit more counter weight on the scope and see how it feels then.
How often do you find yourself using the Terminagler ?