Anybody gotten a 102F6 yet?

Started by jonisaacs, 01/23/2004 07:48PM
Posted 01/23/2004 07:48PM Opening Post
Just wondering....

jon
Posted 01/23/2004 11:42PM #1
I received my 102 almost a week ago.
Its a nice little scope.
Bryan
Posted 02/03/2004 02:51AM #2
Good Evening Jon:

My 102F6 arrived last Wednesday (January 28). The funny thing was the first notice I got that it was ready to ship was from FEDEX the Thursday before saying it was shipped. Maybe that was because I had sent a couple of notes just before confirming I wanted the OTA as is and had already given them my card ID for payment. I wound up paying $200 for the OTA, case, and 2 eyepieces (6mm and 40mm 1.25" barrel), and $20 shipping. No diagonal came with the scope. Evidently, they're still hung up.

I've had it out three nights now (including last night during the Superbowl halftime show) and really like it. I've used it to take long looks at the Moon, M45, and M42 so far. Here are my observations so far - FWIW _ I'm only a reconstituted newbie, this is the only scope I have, my last scope was a Sky Research 8"F2.9 dob (owned from 1981 through 1994). All three nights were from my driveway with no lights from my house, but some neighborhood and street lights nearby. The 102F6 rode a CG5 mount with legs fully extended. I left the limiting baffle alone so the refractor was working at 90mm F6.7.

1) M42 appeared as a large form shaped roughly like a seashell extending from the Trapezium. With prolonged study, I was able to see filaments again running roughly from the Trapezium. By comparing the size of the image with the estimated AFOV, I figured I was seeing nearly all of the shape 60' across. Again, with some concentration, was able to see 5 stars in the Trapezium. I remember the images with the dob, they were brighter and in some cases I remember the green being somewhat lighter in the 8" scope (where I lived from 1981 - 1982 the seeing was far better out in farm country). Finally back to the 102F6 there were lots of smaller dim stars in the field aroung M42.

2) M45 was lovely - the image had excellent contrast - diamonds on indigo black velvet. The main stars were white with just a tinge of blue. I recall that the stars in the Pleiades are hot blue-white stars. I could not see any hint of the nebulosity around the main stars - I do remember seeing some of that in the dob appearing as some flaring around the stars.

More in a follow-up note.

Mark Costello
Matthews, NC, USA

"I hear you're mechanically inclined. Did you ever do anything with perpetual motion?"

"Yeah, I nearly had it a couple of times."