Looks like everyones getting a chance for a change.
Put in a couple of hours with Mark (mhodson) last night at the Mapleton Observatory,
http://www.mapletonss.qld.edu.au/obs.../indexpage.htm playing with his new celestron 80mm
trying to ToUcam the moon. It was a bit like looking along a beach in the middle of summer, just a bit bumpy. But got to play with all his great lenses.
I introduced Mark to the Observatorys 25mW green laser pointer. What a piece of equipment that is. We were trying to find Machholz, and like you Mike, were having a bit of difficulty. I knew where it roughly was so I got out an old 60 mm 400 mm FL refractor with 25 mm eyepiece (no tripod) and did a bit of a scan. Felt like Capt Cook
. Once I found it I laid it ontop of the Observatory scope placed the laser on top of the refractor and turned it on. You could actually follow the laser in the C11 right to where Machholz was. Through the scope it looked as though the beam was touching the comet. Awesome. Not only that but Mark outside the observatory was able to follow the laser with his scope straight to the comet. I think he's hooked
. And yep it is naked eye in fairly dark skys. (with a bit of averted vision
)
We then popped Marks Powermate 4X into the observatories C11 with our Tele-Vue Panoptic 35 mm and had a peek at Saturn. Bit hazy but 5 moons NP. What a lense set up. Tried it with the Tele-Vue 16mm Nagler but it was unfortunately pushing the envelope a bit. Took out the powermate and tried the 35 again. What a lense. Could still clearly see Titan and three other moons (with another poping in and out of view faintly). (We gave up on Marks Celestron at this ponint the dew had moved in.) Flipped up to M42 at this stage. Man what a site throught the 35mm that was. Seeing still wasn't that great (trapez a bit hard to reach clear focus) but the over all impression was awesome.
We then swung over to the Flame nebula and even with the moon still half an hour or so from setting we could see it.
I think a great night was had by all, even with the marginal seeing. I got to meet a fellow Iceinspacer. We got to play with some excellent equipment, and the sky was finally clear enough to actually make it worthwhile getting a scope out.
Maybe tonight will be clear again and I can get my scope out tonight.
Clear skies folks
Paul