Posts Made By: Ed Moran

Do they work? Have you tried one? Opinions requested!

Thanks in advance...

Any opinions about the JMI NGF-SE vs. the Apogee model vs. the Williams Optics model? For visual use mainly...

TIA...

Hello Group,

Has anyone tried the new 26mm Nagler with an f/6.3 R/C on a
medium/large SCT? Does it vignette?

My 27 Panoptic works well with the R/C, giving me 1.0 degree tfov on my NS11.

The 35 Panoptic gives 1.35 degree tfov with f/6.3 R/C but vignettes badly.

The 26mm Nagler should give 1.21 degree tfov with the R/C but the question of vignetting remains.

The question has some relevance because Santa MIGHT be real generous this year......

Thanks,

Ed

Observation Report - Saturn & Jupiter
Anaheim CA
8:30 - 11:30 p.m. local (- 8 UTC)
Equipment: NS11 SCT

Hi Everyone,

Saturn:

Saturn was already about 54 degrees above the horizon and looked sharp in the 18mm Radian (155x). Tethys, Dione and Rhea were semi-aligned in a little string north-west of the planet. Enceladus was supposed to be next to Tethys but I could not detect it. Titan stood out on the west side and there was a nice little double star (optical double I think, not a true binary system) to the east.

The Cassini Division was etched sharply almost all the way around, except for the portion behind the southern pole. The last time I observed Saturn it fooled me (fooled myself, to be more accurate!)into thinking I saw it all the way around. The better seeing last night removed the illusion. There is an interesting optical effect whereby a bit of the shadow of the globe on the rings seems to be visible just to either side of the pole. Is this an illusion or is it really the shadow?

Another interesting observation was the Crepe Ring, which was easily seen in front of the planet and around one side but not on the other. Maybe this has to do with the angle of illumination?

Cloud bands on disk were evident, with gradiations in the polar region.

Jupiter:

This was my first "real" observation of Jupiter this time around and I picked a good night for it! I started at 9:30 p.m. local time. The four Galilean moons were strung out to the east, with Europa & Io closest to the planet. The Europan shadow transit had already begun and the shadow was sharply cast on the equatorial band. Jupiter was still a bit low but the north & south equatorial bands were prominent and starting to show good edge definition. Ganymede was farthest out in fov and actually showed itself as a tiny disk, with a bit of color, albeit with some diffraction "noise". Europa and Io, at the center of the fov, were sharp-edged and clean. As I watched, Io began its shadow transit and Europa closed in on the edge of the planet. I was able to follow Europa across the face of the planet for only a short distance, but it would re-appear sometimes as the seeing improved. I continued to observe until the two shadows were equally spaced on either side of the centerline of the planet, making Jupiter look like a beady-eyed, petulant alien with one Frida-like eyebrow:-)

Saturn was now almost directly overhead so I slewed back to it for a final observation. The seeing was still good so I put in my 10mm Radian (280x)and was rewarded with the best view so far this season. Aside from the absence of the small, thin divison near the outside edge of the A ring (Encke division?) it looked like a smaller version of a Hubble photograph. Since this placement of Saturn required me to kneel in the wet, cold grass to avoid permanent neck damage I decided to call it a night. I went to bed happy I decided to pull the scope out!


Thanks for reading this and Happy New Year!

Ed

I was unable to detect M1 near Saturn earlier in the week from my house (mag 3.5 skies) but last night, out in the desert, it was a bit different. I can say, without fear of contradiction, that I "maybe" saw M1 behind Saturn last night. There is usually a kind of "glow" around bright planets in my NS11 (light scatter?) and in Saturn's case it is oval in shape, centered on the planet and the
long axis is aligned with the rings. Last night, under dark skies at Joshua Tree NP with Saturn about 70 degrees above the horizon and using a Lumicon (R.I.P.) UHC filter at about 150x, the glow was "off-axis" and irregular in shape. It was very faint, but I think this was M1....maybe. It goes in the log as only a "possible observation".

Ed

LOL, you're not alone! Once I forgot that my UHC filter was in my diagonal and I wondered why all the stars were so dim. Thought my corrector plate fogged or something...doh!

Here's myself and LouCypher, my NS11, at Joshua Tree NP. The 'Burb is an essential part of my observing gear 'cuz it hauls me and my stuff out to the dark and provides a cozy place to sleep when I run out of steam!

Yeah, I can see it now...."Ok, pup, hold still...no, don't chew on that eyeguard...hey, don't be licking that!....Put that down! Come back here! Aauuugh! He's trying to bury it! Where's my gun?!?!"

Anyone headed out to Joshua Tree NP this weekend? If so, maybe I'll see you at the Cottonwood Spring campground. Look for me and my NS11 Sat. afternoon...

Just a short post about my impressions from last night and how "seeing" is a bit unpredictable. I was in Joshua Tree National Park in southern California (about 4000' altitude)and did not expect good seeing. The jetstream was close to overhead and the surface conditions were bad, with gusty winds. Yet to my surprise, whenever the gusts died down and Jupiter stopped vibrating in the eyepiece, the level of detail visible was above average. Loops, festoons, white ovals, etc. were popping out all over. One factor may have been that my scope, an 11" SCT, appeared to have reached thermal equilibrium (for once!). It was nice to have a view that approached the views shown in some of the nice sketches here. Hope I get a few more nights like that (without the wind however).

Ed