OneOfOne
21-07-2006, 08:34 AM
Well I think we all know, on the east coast at least, that last night was the first clear night in I don't know how long (sorry if it wasn't clear for you, but Melbourne was at least). I set the scope up last night and was out for a couple of hours until my little tootsies had had enough.
First swung around to Omega Centauri and dropped in my old Celestron 16mm and 9mm and took note of the field of view, clarity etc. The view wasn't too bad, remember that my backyard is dark enough that I could read the text on the eyepieces without a torch, I could just about read the newspaper! In fact, I could barely make out my laser when I was aligning the scope initially.
Then I dropped in the XW10, fantastic view, tack sharp. Dropped in the 14, also sharp, the difference in FOV compared to the Plossls was unbelievable. Pano, couldn't see a lot of detail in the cluster but this is because the magnification was getting quite low but could see the whole area around the cluster. Over the next few minutes I tried out a few large clusters that would fill the view, can't remember the numbers of most of them. I did notice that near the edge of the 14 there appears to be a bit of "out of focus", it appears to be some sort of coma as all the stars had little tails pointing away from the centre. I would be interested to see if a Paracorr would fix it (Santa? I WILL be good). As for the 10, I think I would have to say...brilliant!
After about half an hour I noticed that my new eyepieces were showing many more stars than the old ones, however, after checking them out I found they were getting fogged up. A quick blast with the hairdryer and I was back in business...for a little while. Eventually I was happy enough with the improvement that I didn't bother to use any of the old eyepieces, however, during the two hours or so the Pentax's did not fog up once! I find this amazing for such a large piece of glass...this is a bonus I was not expecting (they do say on the website that they are "fog proof"..they are!) I think they definately show slightly more stars than the Celestrons, these are "kit" eyepieces and appear to be Omni's? (mid level), however, the Celestrons are still quite good and have no major defects themselves, but for the price of one Pentax I got the whole kit.
Swung around to so many things I can't remember all of them but including Wild Duck, Swan, Triffid and Eagle (couldn't see a cracker), Blue Planetary (definately blue), Neptune (about 5 degrees above the neighbours roof, so couldn't see much), Jupiter (excellent but surrounded by some glow, some high level cloud I think), Sombrero (faint but noticable), tried Carina but the scope just pointed at the neighbours lounge window, Jewel Box.
All in all, the view is amazing, very clear, excellent contrast. A bit of a problem initially with blacking out but you soon get used to where to put your eye. I am hoping for a couple more nights of viewing before the cloud comes back around Sunday. I didn't get to use the 24 Pano much, but then again I mainly used the 9&15 Celestrons and only rarely the 20 or 32, which is what the 24 replaces. I didn't get to use the Powermate much as the view really wasn't clear enough to get the benefit of the extra magnification. I tried it with the 10 on Jupiter, but the detail was just washed out and focus...well there wasn't any!
I think a 7 would be nice!
First swung around to Omega Centauri and dropped in my old Celestron 16mm and 9mm and took note of the field of view, clarity etc. The view wasn't too bad, remember that my backyard is dark enough that I could read the text on the eyepieces without a torch, I could just about read the newspaper! In fact, I could barely make out my laser when I was aligning the scope initially.
Then I dropped in the XW10, fantastic view, tack sharp. Dropped in the 14, also sharp, the difference in FOV compared to the Plossls was unbelievable. Pano, couldn't see a lot of detail in the cluster but this is because the magnification was getting quite low but could see the whole area around the cluster. Over the next few minutes I tried out a few large clusters that would fill the view, can't remember the numbers of most of them. I did notice that near the edge of the 14 there appears to be a bit of "out of focus", it appears to be some sort of coma as all the stars had little tails pointing away from the centre. I would be interested to see if a Paracorr would fix it (Santa? I WILL be good). As for the 10, I think I would have to say...brilliant!
After about half an hour I noticed that my new eyepieces were showing many more stars than the old ones, however, after checking them out I found they were getting fogged up. A quick blast with the hairdryer and I was back in business...for a little while. Eventually I was happy enough with the improvement that I didn't bother to use any of the old eyepieces, however, during the two hours or so the Pentax's did not fog up once! I find this amazing for such a large piece of glass...this is a bonus I was not expecting (they do say on the website that they are "fog proof"..they are!) I think they definately show slightly more stars than the Celestrons, these are "kit" eyepieces and appear to be Omni's? (mid level), however, the Celestrons are still quite good and have no major defects themselves, but for the price of one Pentax I got the whole kit.
Swung around to so many things I can't remember all of them but including Wild Duck, Swan, Triffid and Eagle (couldn't see a cracker), Blue Planetary (definately blue), Neptune (about 5 degrees above the neighbours roof, so couldn't see much), Jupiter (excellent but surrounded by some glow, some high level cloud I think), Sombrero (faint but noticable), tried Carina but the scope just pointed at the neighbours lounge window, Jewel Box.
All in all, the view is amazing, very clear, excellent contrast. A bit of a problem initially with blacking out but you soon get used to where to put your eye. I am hoping for a couple more nights of viewing before the cloud comes back around Sunday. I didn't get to use the 24 Pano much, but then again I mainly used the 9&15 Celestrons and only rarely the 20 or 32, which is what the 24 replaces. I didn't get to use the Powermate much as the view really wasn't clear enough to get the benefit of the extra magnification. I tried it with the 10 on Jupiter, but the detail was just washed out and focus...well there wasn't any!
I think a 7 would be nice!