I'm gonna need more power

Started by tomhole, 02/09/2004 02:11AM
Posted 02/09/2004 02:11AM Opening Post
So far, tonight has been very good. Mag 5 skies, no porch lights and very good seeing (7+ most of the time). I invited the whole cul-de-sac out for a view of M42 and described what it would look like if everyone had their porch lights on. I think they may have gotten the picture.

M42 was magnificent. I had the 24 Pans in with the 1.38x OCS for 88x. All 6 stars in the trap were sharp as tacks and the whispy clouds impressed everyone.

Then I treated them to Saturn at 545x. I was using the 11" Starmaster on the EQ platform. I had the 7mm UO orthos in the TV binovues with the 2.5x OCS. That gave me 545x in a 45 deg AFOV ep. This should be trouble, right? Nope. Everyone was thoroughly amazed. I could make out the usual suspects on Saturn. I asked all the kids to describe what they saw. One of the 8 year olds, without prompting, started describing the yellow banding on the surface and the lighter rings on the outside. This was her first real look at Saturn. Got similar comments from the other kids age 6 to 18. The adults all wondered where the color was. Oh to have the youngn's eyes again.

No one had any trouble merging. What a treat for them. I told them I didn't get to see Saturn at 545x on a nice night like this. They were very happy campers.

As a bonus, my neighbor brought out this gucci heated seat pad for my observing chair. Now that's clean livin'.

Oh, the more power part. 545x was definitely not the limit for tonight's seeing. I need to get to 700x. Looking at a 2x Powermate to put in front of the 2.5x OCS. Hmmmm....

Clear skies,

Tom

Posted 02/09/2004 02:20AM #1
Hi Tom,

"As a bonus, my neighbor brought out this guuci heated seat pad for my observing chair. Now that's clean livin'."

That's funny! I use a heating pad on my observing chair and thought I might be the only one! :^)

Clear Skies,

Steve