24mm Target Practice

[matt]

My new 24mm Panoptic arrived today. I am very excited.

Even though the weather's not the best - a bit windy - I've already got it in the 9.25 ready for first light.:thumbsup:

Was hoping for a few suggested targets for tonight's visual feast?

The pan/9.25 combo gives me 98x mag... so what's going to really give me an indication of what this beauty can do?;)

[matt]

Thanks folks:(

Guess I shouldn't have asked, but I was just so excited and wanted to share my first light.

[davidpretorius]

sorry, missed it mate, but i suggest getting up nice and early and looking at orion, like I did thru Paul Haese's

[matt]

Onya Davo.

No need to apologise, matey. Was more a jokey "boo-hoo" than anything else.

Just thought I'd ask a few of our DSO fans and maybe owners of the 24mm Pan to help me out with some targets for my new toy, being traditionally more a planets lad.

It's OK though... I'll check out Starry Nights... and my star charts.

Thanks anyway, m'friend.

Can't wait to check out M42 with the new ep and 9.25:)

[gaa_ian]

How did you go with the 24mm Matt ?
Did it meet your exectations & was Tack sharp right to the edges, with a velvety black background ?

[matt]

So far so good Ian.

The weather's been fairly ordinary for weeks, as you know. What chances I've had to use it have been quite fleeting but I did get about 2 hours the other night to go for a quick "cruise" along the line of the Milky Way.

I thought I'd try and take in as many of my favourite objects as I could while the air was still and the temp wasn't falling so fast as to make thermals an issue with the 9.25.

I have to say M17 was very nice, even without a UHC or any other filter. Just some lovely detail in the body and neck of the Swan, with wisps of nebulosity very clear.

As you point out, the 24mm Pan does create a very nice dark background and nowhere was this more apparent than on nearby M23 and M25.

Stars presented as very sharp pinpoints across the entire field, although it's true what they say about the SCT/Panoptic combo producing a bit of field curvature. You can really see it when you make a slow slew from one area to one very nearby.

A small price to pay for a very pleasant view once the scope comes to a standstill;)

The one view which did surprise me (pleasantly) was of Jupiter, with the 24mm in the 2.5x Powermate. Plenty of detail in the main bands, with festoons and white spots in the SEB also quite easily seen.

Jupiter's moons were also quite crisp and circular, without the usual "flaring" which one often sees with SCTs, particularly in ordinary seeing and when the planet is as low in altitude as Jupiter is at the moment.

I will say (when viewed through native) I've noticed eye positioning is quite critical and takes a little getting used to. It doesn't take much veering off-axis to see those little comet tails, even when well-collimated.

However, I'm sure like most eyepieces this is something which will diminish as I become more familiar with it.:thumbsup:

[janoskiss]

That's my experience with other Panoptics too: 19, 22, 27 and 35mm. I find it rather annoying. Pity the 24mm is no different. With the 35mm it seems that a different eye position is required to get rid of the comet tails off and on-axis. But at those large exit pupils I cannot trust my eyes: I haven't had them tested in over 10 years.

[matt]

Steve

I had my eyes tested only a month or so ago for work, and they are fine. So maybe yours are OK too, and it's just that the pans are indeed twitchy off-axis even in quite slow scopes?:shrug: