Posts Made By: Lois Quick

That is spelled right as this is a cat masquerading as a platypus. I have never seen cats sleep in the positions that this kitten and our feral do!

Lots of cats & dogs - anyone else have these?
This is Pepe, a sable blaze.

I'm having a problem with M42. Can't see it with the current scopes(Stellarvue 102f8.7apo, Nighthawk, and MiniBorg 50.) And it's not external light pollution as I had no problem with an 8" SCT, 90mm Mak, or an Orion 120f8 refractor. No problem with 12X50 binos either. Even the MiniBorg had the problem. The 2 Stllarvues have Antares 2" diagonals. The Mini has the Borg diagonal that came with it. It's like the Thetas just burn it out. An OIII and UHC filter don't help. With the 120, (no filter)I barlowed the 10mm Plossl and was even able to get streamers.
It's not the scope type, aperture or magnification. Now I'm wondering if it's the type of EP or coatings. The 120f8 always seemed to be muzzy - these 3 are far sharper and brighter. I've tried a 13mm Nagler and a 14mm Antares wide with the same results. A 32mm plossl wasn't much better. I've asked at our club's star party, they couldn't answer it, either.
Hope someone here can help figure this out.
Thanks

Big Help!!!

All grown up - thinks she's smart. Still sleeps in weird positions.

Why don't you try looking a using a PDA? Planetarium and Astromist can both be used to drive a scope - For a PPC, I think The Sky can, too.
Carpetshark

You are kinda missing the point. I can see much more nebulosity in an 80f5 and 120 f8.3 (both Orion) than in the Stellarvues or the Miniborg. Some of it HAS to be EPs. I tried the Mini again this AM with 3 different Eps. There was about a 50% improvement in a Vixen 20mm Lanthanum. A generic 17mm plossl showed nothing, and a 10mm Orion Sirius plossl had about a 35%improvement. Put the 14mm Antares back in and couldn't see much. (The 14 Antares and 13mm Nagler were almost the same in the amount of nebulosity the showed.) I'd be thinking focal length if it wasn't for the 80ST. I've also seen people that had good refractors (similar in f/l and aperture) bragging about what good views they have. I've also seen filters discussed and the Meade OIII is not too well thought of. I've also read that a good UHC will do better (mine's Lumicon) That's why I'm so puzzled.
I'm extremely happy with all 3 scopes and I just want the best performance as possible out of them.
Thanks,
Lois

I can get up - usually it's about 3AM. Live at 39N. I think those of who suggested the diagonal might be right. Tried the Lagoon last night even though it was over the more light polluted area. Tried using some 1 1/4 diagonals. Had one I bought from Scopetronix as a web special. Ad said it was listed at 1/8 whatever, but that was all. I swiped it from the ST80. Could see unfiltered about what I see filtered(UHC)in the 2". Filtered using this diagonal and saw much more of it. Tried a 19mmPan and a 13mm Nagler (which did better). Also seemed to see more color in the stars of the double cluster. Was going to try M42 this am, but it's raining.
I played around with trying to look straight thru, but can't get the scope to focus at infinity. I don't have an adapter. Any way to do this w/o an adapter?
Thanks,
Lois

Good - I get quite pleased whenever I can spot anything out of the way.
A - trying to learn to starhop (which means memorize so I don't have extra stuff to deal with.)
B - using mostly a Stellarview Nighthawk

Did find M81 the last time I got out. Couldn't find M82 (or didn't recognize it)

Carpetshark