Couldn't sleep sooo ..

[prova]

woke up at like 1:30am and thought - screw this, im getting the scope out.
first time i've been up at that sort of hour observing and i was surely impressed.

saw all the nice sights like M42, Pleades, Mars was around last night and boy is Sirius bright !!

still hanging to see Saturn and Andromeda in particular but they weren't high enough at that time

i do have one question in regards to field of view though as with my average 25mm plossl, i was unable to capture Pleades or M42 for that matter in my entire fov .. should I be looking at something else that will do the job and with better quality?

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by prova

....i do have one question in regards to field of view though as with my average 25mm plossl, i was unable to capture Pleades or M42 for that matter in my entire fov .. should I be looking at something else that will do the job and with better quality?

Perhaps you might look at the Televue 32mm or even 40mm plossls, currently on sale for $139 (at Bintel). You'll get quality but apparent fields of view of respectively 50deg and 43deg. Alternatively, lower quality (not in focus off axis, depending on your scope?), but with an 80deg field of view, Bintel SG Wide Angle 30mm (2" barrel) gives you plenty to see in your eyepiece for an economical price ($109).

[Bobj]

After watching a long film on tv untill 1am the boss took the pooch for a walk and told me that the rain clouds had cleared and that there was a beautiful "red star". Got the 10 x 50s out, looked up and Mars was, indeed, beautiful. Then had a squiz at M36, M37 and M38, then the big diffuse Comet Holmes.
One highlight was, when looking at M37, through the binos, a meteor sped through the field of view.
Had thought of putting the dob out, but with about 15 mm of rain, sanity prevailed. After 3 weeks of clouds and the odd rain squall, the night was absolutely crystal clear with the stars far brighter than I have seen for a longtime.