[davewaldo]

Hi Everyone,

I finally got to have a good nights viewing last night! Not a cloud in the sky south of Brisbane. Brisbane has been clouded over for the last few weeks it seems.

I'm relatively new at this and this was the first time I really sat down to do some serious observing and spent a good amount of time without interruptions (either by friends or clouds).

I was keen for some views of Saturn... and it didn't disappoint! I started with my 14mm UW and it looked great! I had recently purchased a shorty plus barlow from Striker so I put this on and was blown away by the DETAIL!

This was around 9pm so it was quite high up. I don't know much about judging "seeing" but the image was rock steady at 180X and much detail was seen. I have witnessed bad seeing and this was not it! The cassini division stood out like the proverbial, and I could see a lot of banding across the planet! I'm pretty sure I could see the hood as well but not sure. I then tried my 9mm in the barlow and the image was still fantastic! The seeing was holding just fine at 275X although it was very hard to keep it in frame. I much preferred the amazing view through the Meade UW. The planet remained very sharp as it travelled from edge to edge of FOV.

I was extremely happy with these views and even my wife had a look and was very impressed!

I then moved on to Eta Carina (which I had never viewed before). I enjoyed this view however my backyard is very light polluted, I look forward to viewing this one out at Ron's. I also took in some of the great clusters around Carina including the jewel box (beautiful) and also the tarantula (good but another to view at Ron's).

I also purchased a 26mm Meade s5000 plossl from Striker which was a joy to scan around with. Also very sharp.

I also managed to take in a galaxy or two (the sombrero was one) and also of course Orion.

All in all I had a great night and have never experienced such amazing seeing and clarity. I think it might also have been that my Scope was very well adjusted to ambient (my past backyard sessions have been a bit rushed).

Well I just thought I might share my experience with you all.

I hope others had as much joy over the last few days as I have.

Cheers

Dave.

PS. I am still quite amazed by how much I could see with what is relatively inexpensive gear. My whole setup would be worth less than $1000.