Quote:
Originally Posted by WadeH
Hi Adam,
Sounds like a real nice unit you've got there. But I would say it needs collimating if 47 Tuc and Omega Centuari are dim blobs
My 200mm Newt will fully resolve both clusters to the centre and they are bright!
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I should probably qualify my statement better. I could make out the edge stars reasonably well, and could see individual stars about halfway to 3 quarters of the way to the centre of the cluster with patience. After that, the more central stars amassed into a central blob (moreso for 47 tuc, less so for omega centauri). that said, the entire image presented was surprisingly dim regardless of whether I used the 10 or 25mm eyepiece (for both 47 tuc and omega centauri). It was like looking at them through a pair of dark sunglasses. I should point out that I have only the stock eyepieces. a 10mm and a 25mm plossl issued by skywatcher. I can't really say I have the experience to determine whether I would have had better luck with a different type of eyepiece (though obviously I intend to upgrade to a better quality range once I've had the opportunity to try some out at the next available star party or club meeting night).
It probably did need collimating. As I said, I'm still learning. All I know is that most other bright objects resolved quite well, less than a minute before finding 47 Tuc and Omega Centauri. The stars of the constellations themselves (alpha Crux, Sirius, the jewel box, the various belt stars of Orion for example) were nice and sharp pinpoints of light, and I didn't seem to have any noticable coma until they were past half way between the centre and edge of the field of view, which suggests that it wasn't badly collimated. I am in a suburban area, and the position of omega centauri and 47 Tuc are both over well lit metropolitan areas (football stadiums in some cases I suspect. yet another reason why I hate AFL and soccer
). Of course, I'll be out there the next available night to try again. I may have better luck.
I also intend to get under a proper dark sky. That should help eliminate LP issues from the equation. After that? who knows. I look forward to experimenting.
I'm also hanging out for Saturn. It's coming into opposition in the next few days, and the moon will be dark.... first Saturn look ever? At opposition? through my own scope? Aw hell yeah.
