never say die peter! never say die!
I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT!
last night seeing was only average @ about 5/10. I tried a few easier ones first... beta orionis, alpha cruxis, alnitak (and i knew i was in with a chance when i resolved all 4 stars in alnitak.
I move over to sirius.and used my 9mm then 6.5mm EP.... didnt work. put the barlow in and the 9mm, still nothing. added the aperture stop and replaced the 9mm with the 6.5mm.... nothing!
getting fustrated again staring at his star at full magnification and not being able to see the pup.
then i remember someone (rajah) talking about using diferent shaped masks on top of the apertuer stop. so i ducked inside for a quick hot chocky and started cutting shapes out of paper, one triangle and one octogon. polished off my hot chockie and rushed out side put the triangle one on and........
tadaaaa!! worked wonders. there next to the multi spoked sirius sitting so close it wasnt funny was the lil' pup!
stayed with it for a while at full magnification then changed EPs to the 9mm again and it disapeared... oh well.
spent another 1/2 hour looking at jupiter and omega cent at different mags then headed in.
many thanks to everyone for their support.