It's time for M42 ... the first time since late last winter, and the first time with decent EP's. I get the belt in the finder, and slowly ratchet my way over to the hazy blob in the middle of the sword, and peer into the eyepeice.
Oh ... My ... GOD.
I was completely unprepared for the view I got. I had seen M42 only once before in this scope, and it was using the horrid eyepeices that came with the scope, so it wasn't terribly impressive. But the excellent seeing, coupled with superior eyepeices made this far and away the most beautiful DSO I'd ever seen, in any scope, any time. Even at 45x, four trapezium stars were visible in a bright (and I mean bright) cloud of gas that looked like a bent rectangle with a bite taken out of the side. Tendrils of luminous gas blossomed outward from this glowing cloud like the delicate petals of an ethereal rose. M43 appeared as a bright haze around a fairly bright star near M42.
At 90x, I can see a couple of faint stars near the trapezium, and three more just ouside the nucleus of the nebula. The image almost fills the eyepeice, and there is a suggestion of yet another layer of fainter luminescence surrounding the rose that extends beyond the eyepeice. At 135x, the image has diminished not in the slightest, and I detect much detail along the edges of the nebula, and the dark dust cloud that separates it from M43 and forms the "bite" in the rectangle, has a distict, substantial shape, not just a dark patch of space.
Each time I peer into the EP, more detail becomes visible. Subtle ectoplasmic eddies swirl sinuously through the nucleus. I gaze for a few moments each time, then step back and shake my head. I am reeling, punch drunk, like an aging boxer who keeps going back to the well. And I keep going back to my dark well, to gaze, awestruck, one last time.
I turn my attention to Saturn and Gemini, and realize that I should have ended with M42, not started with it. Even my first good view of Saturn since the spring is a denouement. Saturn is quite pretty, the Cassini division clearly visible, as well as (another first!) the inner C ring, visible againt the planet's surface. A light surface band is apparent near the equator, as well as a darker south polar region. Two moons at least are visible, that line up roughly with the planet, and perhaps a third, forming a right triangle with the other two and Saturn in the midst of them.
I swing over to M35, my last stop on my ghostly journey. I am able to get it in my finder, and drop in the 20mm. What a gorgeous cluster, filling the eyepeice with a trove of dazzling jewels. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate its dimmer companion, NGC 2158.
Wanting to end the evening on a high note, I return to M42. It's stunning. It's like Seinfeld describing the Soup Nazi's broths to Elaine: "You can't eat it standing up. Your knees give out."
This punch-drunk fighter is knocked senseless by a luminous rose.
Clear nights ... dark sites,
Darren
Oh ... My ... GOD.
I was completely unprepared for the view I got. I had seen M42 only once before in this scope, and it was using the horrid eyepeices that came with the scope, so it wasn't terribly impressive. But the excellent seeing, coupled with superior eyepeices made this far and away the most beautiful DSO I'd ever seen, in any scope, any time. Even at 45x, four trapezium stars were visible in a bright (and I mean bright) cloud of gas that looked like a bent rectangle with a bite taken out of the side. Tendrils of luminous gas blossomed outward from this glowing cloud like the delicate petals of an ethereal rose. M43 appeared as a bright haze around a fairly bright star near M42.
At 90x, I can see a couple of faint stars near the trapezium, and three more just ouside the nucleus of the nebula. The image almost fills the eyepeice, and there is a suggestion of yet another layer of fainter luminescence surrounding the rose that extends beyond the eyepeice. At 135x, the image has diminished not in the slightest, and I detect much detail along the edges of the nebula, and the dark dust cloud that separates it from M43 and forms the "bite" in the rectangle, has a distict, substantial shape, not just a dark patch of space.
Each time I peer into the EP, more detail becomes visible. Subtle ectoplasmic eddies swirl sinuously through the nucleus. I gaze for a few moments each time, then step back and shake my head. I am reeling, punch drunk, like an aging boxer who keeps going back to the well. And I keep going back to my dark well, to gaze, awestruck, one last time.
I turn my attention to Saturn and Gemini, and realize that I should have ended with M42, not started with it. Even my first good view of Saturn since the spring is a denouement. Saturn is quite pretty, the Cassini division clearly visible, as well as (another first!) the inner C ring, visible againt the planet's surface. A light surface band is apparent near the equator, as well as a darker south polar region. Two moons at least are visible, that line up roughly with the planet, and perhaps a third, forming a right triangle with the other two and Saturn in the midst of them.
I swing over to M35, my last stop on my ghostly journey. I am able to get it in my finder, and drop in the 20mm. What a gorgeous cluster, filling the eyepeice with a trove of dazzling jewels. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate its dimmer companion, NGC 2158.
Wanting to end the evening on a high note, I return to M42. It's stunning. It's like Seinfeld describing the Soup Nazi's broths to Elaine: "You can't eat it standing up. Your knees give out."
This punch-drunk fighter is knocked senseless by a luminous rose.
Clear nights ... dark sites,
Darren
