[UniPol]

My wife and I are minding our son's house for the weekend in Blackheath as they are having a mini break from work. Lucky I grabbed the Vixen Porta mount and newly acquired Celestron C6-A OTA (thanks to Craig from this forum) as the seeing here was simply superb. Dew was a problem later on around 10.30 p.m. but nonetheless a great few hours viewing.

I hadn't realised how clear it is further up the mountains, skyglow from Sydney has had a definite affect on seeing conditions even in the lower mountains where we live. Definitely a retirement prospect however the winters are supposed to be pretty cold and wet, hence the name "Bleakheath".

This is a great time of year to see the sights so to speak. Earlier in the evening I was able to to view Orion before it set as well as Venus. Saturn was superb and later, Jupiter looked more like Venus, I haven't seen it so bright in a good while. Omega Centauri was spectacular as usual and the Coalsack lived up to its name, appeared so much darker than the surrounding sky. Too many sights to list but most of you know what was out anyway. Must mention Eta Carinae though, it simply mesmerizes you, great dust lanes.

The C6 was a pleasant surprise, I would rate it a 9/10 for contrast and brightness, almost refractor performance. No image shift on this scope and the focuser is silky smooth. It has the XLT coatings which probably makes a difference and I think the stars are more pin point than my 10" LX200 GPS. The Porta mount is rated as carrying around 5kgs and the C6 weighs in at around 4.5kgs and it handled it perfectly. The only problem is the finder which ends up underneath the OTA as the dovetail bar is at right angles to the usual position. The focusing knob ends up above the star diagonal but wasn't a real bother. Tube rings would solve this problem though. I also dragged out the Orion Express 80mm which is simply a superb telescope. At 24X using a 20mm GSO Superview eyepiece, the milky way was absolutely magnificent.

I hope Saturday night will be a repeat of last night, I forgot to bring my blower brush and LED torch which was a pain but managed somehow to feel my way around.

Cheers,

Steve