Saturn: an oblong blob through 8" newt with 10mm Ploessl

[silv (Annette)]

cheers! great! more input!

will you burn me alive and qaurter me and feed my innards to the ravens if I admit that the 10mm is really a 15 mm?
(Meade and Plossl are correct)

really sorry!

I worked a bit on the 2ndary mirror, today. Wasn't hard, at all. Hurdle taken. No more afraid of collimation.

Tonight's session: Saturn again tiny with 1 ring.

My homework for Stephen:
Jewel Box: maybe 15 clear stars and behind them more stars but fainter.

NCG5139 Omega Centauri:
in the 40mm a perfectly round wisp of cloud???
in the 15mm a definite cluster!
with a little bit averted viewing I could make out many single stars and definitely was sure that there are heaps. wow! what a party up there!!

both objects, after slewing into them, were in the FOV of the Finder scope and only needed 3 pushes on 1 button and 1 push on another to get them centered in the 40mm.

(tracking went also very well, tonight. with 200mm lens targeted an object at about 50-45degrees above horizon and got 20 secs before trailing! what a party on ground level that was!)

after the session, I followed some advice and put the scope upside down to let the dew run out....
dooh! right on the vane bolt! bugger that!
so tomorrow, I have a real reason to do collimation

[silv (Annette)]

oh, and I think I fell in love with Omega Centauri

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by silv

oh, and I think I fell in love with Omega Centauri

Keep staring at it and if you've got a moonless, dark sky, those stars inside Omega Centauri will jump out at you in their thousands. A truly beautiful Globular.

Can you see the lonely red star in the Jewel Box?

You'll get there, Silv. Most of us are still learning ]

Stephen

[silv (Annette)]

I hear the multiple call for that laser tool.

but that is really NOT in my budget for necessary things.
I am on a sabbatical which is soon going to end *sighs* because I am running out of funds. and I don't think I want to be doing that kind of well paid job again that could afford all those gadgets (IT).
(life is soo short. there's much more to be, to do and to enjoy. )

[silv (Annette)]

I think I remember that lonely red star, yes! ... Yes, I do!
*shiver*
Whoah. What a beauty everywhere!

I was thinking: hey - this is COLOUR! I thought there's only black and white in visual observing.

Thank you for chasing me up there, Stephen

[silv (Annette)]

I need a better focuser, though. Noticed that during focusing the previously centered star moved a lot in the eye piece. And the focuser itself moved too - a lot.

That can't be good. For when I hang my camera on it? Nah, that's not good at all.

Speaking of which: it is very hard to balance the scope in RA. Already without the camera hanging off the focuser. And once that is done, I can't star align with stars lower than ~45 degrees because I can't look into the eyepiece, anymore.
(I am only 5'2")
I can twist the scope in it's brackets. It has these special rings fitted to prevent the tube from falling. But that also moves the scope in the mount and moves the RA head, too...
I now understood the reason why SCTs are better for AP.