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Finally had a decent night for using the NA140SS.
The 13mm Ethos was the best EP to use. It really brought the views alive whilst providing a wide field of view. My Vixen 22mm LVW did provide a more comfortable view of the Magellanic Clouds, except for the Tarantua Nebula ,which showed much better with the higher magnification.
Nebulas all showed well through this scope. I felt like it was my clearest view ever of M78 and I was blown away by the mix of brightness and of contrast in the Orion and Eta Carina Nebulas. I could see the dark lanes in the Flame Nebula, but not as well as my memories of that Nebula seen with a 300mm Dob. That said, the detail seen in nebulas surprised me and I looking forward to viewing my Winter favourite, M17.
The more specialised Planetary Nebulas also showed well. Last night was the first time I have viewed IC418 in Lepus and it was brighter than I expected and well showed the characteristic aqua dot. NGC 3918 in Centaurus was easy and pleasing.
Open clusters also showed well. The Gem cluster was colourful and NGC 2477 was a treat. The sparse Beehive was bright and entirely visible within the field of view, as was the Pleiades.
Globular cluster were interesting, but I admit that I felt slightly limited by appature. Omega Cent was no test as it is a pleasing sight in almost any telescope. NGC 1808 in Columbia with the 13mm showed some resolution at it edges. With the 22mm, it looked like a torch shinning through fog.
Galaxies were disappointing. I thought the NGC 4945 (Cigar), NGC 5128 and M104 were too faint for my liking. I pointed to the Virgo cluster and saw several other galaxies. I should be able to tour the Virgo cluster and identify all the galaxies of interest, but they will look disappointing faint.
I viewed the Moon during twilight, which seem to spare me from the false colour problem. With the 13mm, it provided more detail than I was expecting.
In summary, this is great scope that has a niche for providing very pleasing views within our galaxy.
The contrast & sharpness at 61x is great. The obvious downside is false colour (however, this is not even noticed when viewing bright open clusters).
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