7/1/08
So I finally have a night of good seeing, good transparency and calm still air. What happens, it clouds over 1/2 after I drag my scope, eyepieces, star atlas, issues of S&T, collimation tool, rug, chairs and myself outside
Ofcourse, it was that infamous Melbourne stratus, a type of cloud so crappy that it pisses me off even more than other types of cloud. What really pissed me off was that I potentially had the best seeing since I got the 10". At times like this, I wish I lived north of the divide, coz there the climate is far better.
NGC 362
At 250x, got my best view so far. A little more than halfway to the core resolved, the rest is strongly granular. I then got the 2.5x powermate for 625x and was rewarded with a crisp view. Outer 2/3rds resolved with arcs of brighter stars in the outer reaches of the cluster. Really nice.
47 Tuc
500x - got my most crisp view ever!
625x - still crisp! The sight of those pinpricks spilt across the hazy core is always memorable. I can vouch for the optical quality of the powermate
Wish they would've made a 1.25" 2x version.
NGC 1535
Planetary nebula in Eirdanus. Features a tiny 30" disk surrounded by a fainter haze. At 357x with the filter, the 10" showed a greenish ring surrounding the central star. The inner region was surrounded by a fainter circular haze. At 625x I thought I could hint at structure within the central regions but was disturbed by impeding clouds and had to give up.
Tonight I'm goin out there again, hopefully this stupid bloody cloud won't make an appearance.
