Had a beautifuly clear night on Sunday and decided to cruise the Moon. This is the first lunar run for my new 14mm W70 eyepieces and I was pretty pumped.
I used the 6" refractor, and a 2X Meade 140 barlow screwed into the bino-nosepiece for about 3X+. I started with my 25mm plossls and kept the drive turned off. I moved ahead of the Moon and let it drift into the field. WOW! I slipped in the W70s and moved ahead again. WOWWOWWOW!!!! Watching the lunar surface drift by, was like having my face pressed to the porthole of a spaceship. Copernicus was AMAZING! The debris field, jumbled terrain and splashes of small craterlets surrounding the big crater was AWESOMELY 3D! I was amazed at how many tiny craterlets string out and surround the crater. Its so much easier to see what the impact of a large body does to the Moons crust when using two eyes. Even the central peaks and terraced crater walls were amazing in their detail. Again, I was struck by the number of "paired" craters there were on the surface. It is easy to see that some of these impacts happened in groups. I was also amazed at the number of small rills now visible compared to the mono-mode of normal viewing.
In the end what knocked me out of the chair, and inspired the thread's title was dicovering I was viewing at over 450X and the views were still sharp. But why??? I can't explain... In the past I've rarely viewed at much over 280X, and even then I prefered a lower power for a sharper view. With the binoviewer, seeing seems much less an issue. Maybe being relaxed, using both eyes helps me look through the turbulence. Who know, and frankly, WHO CARES, it WORKS!
As for the W70s - I tried them mono-mode and they were sharp in about the center 50degrees @ f/8, which was somewhat larger than the moon's diameter. When ued with my Meade 2x barlow - sharp to the edge. Anyway, the views were NICE! I'm so spoiled now.
Tom M
I used the 6" refractor, and a 2X Meade 140 barlow screwed into the bino-nosepiece for about 3X+. I started with my 25mm plossls and kept the drive turned off. I moved ahead of the Moon and let it drift into the field. WOW! I slipped in the W70s and moved ahead again. WOWWOWWOW!!!! Watching the lunar surface drift by, was like having my face pressed to the porthole of a spaceship. Copernicus was AMAZING! The debris field, jumbled terrain and splashes of small craterlets surrounding the big crater was AWESOMELY 3D! I was amazed at how many tiny craterlets string out and surround the crater. Its so much easier to see what the impact of a large body does to the Moons crust when using two eyes. Even the central peaks and terraced crater walls were amazing in their detail. Again, I was struck by the number of "paired" craters there were on the surface. It is easy to see that some of these impacts happened in groups. I was also amazed at the number of small rills now visible compared to the mono-mode of normal viewing.
In the end what knocked me out of the chair, and inspired the thread's title was dicovering I was viewing at over 450X and the views were still sharp. But why??? I can't explain... In the past I've rarely viewed at much over 280X, and even then I prefered a lower power for a sharper view. With the binoviewer, seeing seems much less an issue. Maybe being relaxed, using both eyes helps me look through the turbulence. Who know, and frankly, WHO CARES, it WORKS!
As for the W70s - I tried them mono-mode and they were sharp in about the center 50degrees @ f/8, which was somewhat larger than the moon's diameter. When ued with my Meade 2x barlow - sharp to the edge. Anyway, the views were NICE! I'm so spoiled now.
Tom M
Clear, sunny skies.
Tom Masterson
Coronado-Lunt-Daystar Solar Filters forum Moderator
