Vixen 140 Refractor

[Tropo-Bob (Bob)]

Finally had a decent night for using the NA140SS.


The 13mm Ethos was the best EP to use. It really brought the views alive whilst providing a wide field of view. My Vixen 22mm LVW did provide a more comfortable view of the Magellanic Clouds, except for the Tarantua Nebula ,which showed much better with the higher magnification.


Nebulas all showed well through this scope. I felt like it was my clearest view ever of M78 and I was blown away by the mix of brightness and of contrast in the Orion and Eta Carina Nebulas. I could see the dark lanes in the Flame Nebula, but not as well as my memories of that Nebula seen with a 300mm Dob. That said, the detail seen in nebulas surprised me and I looking forward to viewing my Winter favourite, M17.


The more specialised Planetary Nebulas also showed well. Last night was the first time I have viewed IC418 in Lepus and it was brighter than I expected and well showed the characteristic aqua dot. NGC 3918 in Centaurus was easy and pleasing.


Open clusters also showed well. The Gem cluster was colourful and NGC 2477 was a treat. The sparse Beehive was bright and entirely visible within the field of view, as was the Pleiades.


Globular cluster were interesting, but I admit that I felt slightly limited by appature. Omega Cent was no test as it is a pleasing sight in almost any telescope. NGC 1808 in Columbia with the 13mm showed some resolution at it edges. With the 22mm, it looked like a torch shinning through fog.


Galaxies were disappointing. I thought the NGC 4945 (Cigar), NGC 5128 and M104 were too faint for my liking. I pointed to the Virgo cluster and saw several other galaxies. I should be able to tour the Virgo cluster and identify all the galaxies of interest, but they will look disappointing faint.


I viewed the Moon during twilight, which seem to spare me from the false colour problem. With the 13mm, it provided more detail than I was expecting.


In summary, this is great scope that has a niche for providing very pleasing views within our galaxy.

The contrast & sharpness at 61x is great. The obvious downside is false colour (however, this is not even noticed when viewing bright open clusters).

[Tinderboxsky (Steve)]

I enjoyed your report Bob.
Yes, these scopes respond well in good seeing conditions. I am sure you will not be disappointed when viewing M17 this coming winter.
I was looking forward to exploring further with mine last weekend at the Ben Lomond Star Party. Ben Lomond is at an elevation of 1500 meters and a very dark site. The seeing was good and improved further after midnight. However, I did not get any real quiet time at the scope as I had a constant queue of other observers at the scope. I did get some time with M1 and the altitude certainly helped resolve more detail than normal - M1's low elevation down here does not help. The only other success was seeing the brighter eastern edge of the emission region IC434 in Orion. It was very faint and only visible after putting Alnitak just outside the field of view. No sign of the Horsehead.

Cheers

Steve

[Tropo-Bob (Bob)]

Thanks Steve, I did look a M1 with the NA140SS also, but although it has size, I find it to be somewhat faint and without much structure. Its good to see because of its history. However, I have never really found it to be an impressive sight; even when I had a 300mm Dob.
I also never found the Horsehead with the 300mm Dob, but did note their was something to be seen in that region on Friday. However, I am out of practice in looking for the Horsehead so did not pursue it further. Maybe, I will try on my next visit to the Atherton Tablelands.