On another topic Transformers ROTF vs DOTM

I guess this is kinda related to astronomy and is one of my many passions. Seeing that this might be the last of the great (or not so great depending on how you view these movies) Transformers movies, unless it gets the reboot like all the other movie franchises, I felt a writeup/review/comparo was in order. I guess I am one of minorities from the original G1 generation (man I have followed everything Transformers in every media format so trust me I am a BIG fan...well with the exception of Beast Wars and anything without Optimus Prime) that actually likes Bayformers. Although I do not agree with everything he has done with our beloved Transformers, I felt he has listened to the fans, and generated many more newbie Transformer fans. At the end of the day you can only please so many people. I guess that's what makes the human race so unique, we all have our own opinions.

I remember reading about a possible live action Transformers movie way back in the early 2000's. I can't even remember when. I was ecstatic. I was excited. I knew CGI had come a long way, with Jurassic Park being the first of the superb enmeshing of CGI and real life human actors. I knew what CGI could do. I also knew that if done in a wrong way (i.e the Naboo fight scene in the 1st Star wars prequel, The Phantom Menace), everything could fall apart and blow up in the producer's face. So I had my fingers crossed. Fortunately the first Transformers movie in 2007 was good. Well not the best in terms of storytelling, but still better than what I had expected. Also the redesigned Transformers were also not as bad as expected, with most of the characters retaining their G1 identities. I actually like the redone Optimus Prime (a combination of Prime's original red and blue, and Hot Rod's flames!). I initially did not like Bumblebee's new design, but it quickly grew on me. Other bot designs that I really liked were Jazz (they should not have killed him off in the first movie!!!), Ironhide and Sideswipe. It was also fortunate that Peter Cullen, the iconic voice of Optimus Prime, got to reprise his role as the leader of the Autobots. I was bummed that Frank Welker did not get to voice Megatron, but I got over it pretty quick when Frank was involved in Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) and Dark of the Moon (DOTM-he is the voice of Soundwave and Shockwave). Most people also liked the first movie as it introduced the characters and gave them more depth. The hardcore fans hated the lack of robot action and the fact that there were too many human scenes (this unfortuntely made its way throughout all three movies). I hated the fact that Prime was made to look weak in the first movie. Fortunately for us, Bay listened to the fan base (come on people he does listen!) and redeemed himself (in my eyes at least) when he made restored Prime to his former fighting glory (i.e. the now iconic forest battle scene in ROTF). In short I really liked ROTF. In my eyes, it came close to what the original animated movie (still the best movie of them all...Till all are one!) was in terms of the epicness, plus it had really badass fight sequences that even Jet Li would be proud of!

Fast forward to 2011 and DOTM. Could this be the last? It is still not certain if the franchise will be given the reboot, or as rumours would have it will continue in another trilogy (how they would do that is still anyone's guess as they killed off all the main antagonist). So what did I think of Dark of the Moon? I am assuming everyone has seen the movie so I am not going to hold back with the spoilers. So if you have not watched the new movie DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER THAN THIS!!!! To me the movie was good. It was not great, definately better than the first, but sure as hell wasn't the best of the three as many people would like you to believe (well in my opinion anyway). Many people hated ROTF. To me that was the best movie of the bunch. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the movie came a close second to the iconic animated Transformers Movie . This one had its moments, but lacked in many aspects. I was hoping for DOTM to be what ROTF was and more. Sadly it did not pan out that way.

Firstly the good. As I mentioned before, contrary to what everybody thinks Bay actually listens to the fans and tries to stay true to the G1 stories and timelines, even though he oftentimes goes overboard (like mixing up his bots and cons and calling them weird ass names such as Devastator {who was really Brawl}, and then renaming the Constructicon combiners Devastator again, or calling Wheeljack Que, even though I did not really care as the design was crap anyway and Mirage dino...go figure!). It terms of pacing, the balance between humans versus robot scenes and corniness and lewdness, this one was the best of them all. The flow and pacing of the movie was heaps better than both its predecessors and there was minimal corniness or lewdness (although Bay still does those annoying lingering woman bum and curve shots, as well as bad toilet humour...the scene where Jerry "Deep" Wang ambushes Sam in the cubicle). I also did not find the human bits too long like in the other two movies (I could not stand the college bit and Sam's annoying roomie.....what's his face name again in ROTF!). Also Bay held back on cutting the scene too soon and you could follow plotlines a whole heap better. I also though he tried to differentiate the robots better in this one by giving them more color. At least the Decepticons were not all metallic grey in colour, making them hard to tell from one another. An example world be the Decepticon dreads were black in colour for one. also there was no annoying Megan Fox, although I really missed her after watching the other broad...she can't act to save her life...Bay get actresses not lingerie models!!!!!

Now for the not so good part. This movie seemed like a standalone movie. There was no direct mention or reference to the previous movies. How did the Fallen fit into the whole story and why was he not aware that Sentinel Prime was still alive? Also that was no mention of the allspark. And Fox's character got dismissed just like that. How could she have just dropped Sam after going through so much with him. they should have just written her character out of the story and not replace her with another even more annoying character. By contrast the second one had a good mesh with the first movie. Then there are the deaths. I think Bay wanted to make the movie a much darker one with a more serious feel. He managed to achieve that, but again failed to fully flesh out the characters. Shockwave for one was a big disappointment. After reading the prequel comics (which is mandatory if you want to know what's going on with the story..even for this one...and more so for ROTF where most people did not have a clue what was going on!) I had high hopes that he would have a much bigger role than in the movie. Non Transformer's fans and lay people would have a hard time telling him apart from the rest of the cannon fodder. By contrast Starscream had much more screen time this time round, even though he had a pathetic death, at the hands of Sam no less (goodness gracious what a way to go. This is worse than his death by Galvatron's hand in the 90's animated movie! he is a warrior and he deserves a proper warriors death...even if he is a sniveling and conniving character). Most people also questioned Optimus Prime's often violent reaction, and his sheer lack of emotion in this movie. Reading the prequels and comic book adaptation fleshed his emotions out a whole heap more. Bay should have focused more in that aspect than showing Carly's bum while walking up the stairs, or Brazzo's (Malkovich's character in the movie) mock fight with Bumblebee...what's up with all this nonsense). The main reason he was so mad at Shockwave was that, in the comics anyway, he killed so many of Prime's colleagues, Jolt among other and especially Elita 1! Also there were longer fight scenes with Shockwave in Chernobly (which should have made its way into the movie) and the ending in the comic and novels were heaps better. Prime did not kill Megatron in cold blood! As to why badass Prime could not take on Sentinel, if you watch closely, Prime was fighting but not giving his all. He could have impaled Sentinel right at the start of the fight, but chose to not stab him directly with his energon sword or axe. It looked like he hit him with the blunt parts of his weapons. I felt he was holding back and hoping Sentinel would feel remorse and make the right choice.

So did I like this movie better than ROTF. I am sorry but I did NOT. Plotflow aside, this movie offered me nothing more than I had already gotten from ROTF. I remember watching ROTF and really liking it and wanting to see it for a second time. The epicness and sheer scale of ROTF was also one of the main drawcards for me. When I watched ROTF, I also kept asking myself how Bay was going to top this!!!. I really liked how Bay brought in the Fallen (easily one of the coolest villian's in the Transformer's comic universe!!!). The fight scenes in ROTF were also way better or more cheoreographed and unlike most people, I did like the spiritual aspect to ROTF. The forest battle scene (especially the extended IMAX version) has to be one of the best, if not the best fight scene EVER. I rank that one right up there with the Prime versus Megatron battle scene in the original animated movie. How could you not like a fight scene with Prime taking on three Decepticons and beating them down (well until he gets run from behind by Megatron). For me that was the highlight of the Bayformers movies. Well the highway chase scene between the Dreads and Bumblebee and company and then Ironhide and Sideswipe's fight scene was pretty awesome too....but not even in the same mold as the forest fight scene. Plus the awesome fight, transform in mid air, catch Sam and then transform back into a car scene. I rest my case.......

City Stargazing : Finding gems under indifferent skies..my writeup from the equator!

I don’t know what is it that compels me to gaze skywards. Maybe it was the impressions I got as a young teenager looking upward in awe. Maybe it was parental influence. Maybe it was peer pressure. The funny thing is that many of my close friends of whom I grew up with stargazing are no longer looking up.  I only know of one other friend who still continues to observe like I do. I never lost that special feeling, the bond, the oneness with the universe above. I never lost that special feeling when I first spotted Saturn’s rings through my small 40mm Celestron Cometron.  I am so draw to the stars that I look up even when most would not. One such place is my light polluted backyard back in JB, Malaysia. I grew up in the same compound where I lived half my adult life. It was also here when I first gazed upon some now familiar DSO’s. The skies have changed dramatically from the days of yore. I remember being able to see things in my small scope that would be impossible now. The skies that were once dark are now pink and, at its best grey. They have gotten so bad that DSO’s are only visible if I use the 127mm Celestron Firstscope. My Cometron CO40 is only good now for bright solar system objects. And it is set to get worse with new skyscrapers adorning the southern sky (mostly KSL City’s new office and hotel block).

Its funny how people take things for granted. I used to just say meh to observing here. I had it good in Brisbane, Australia. The skies there are heaps better than back here in Malaysia. Suburban observing was good. And I had a whole new southern sky to gawk at. The old saying goes that all the good and bright stuff is in the southern hemisphere. That is very true. I now live in the northern hemisphere, and while I still have the same urge to gaze skywards, I miss the times when I could just go out and scan, at low magnification, the glorious star jammed regions surrounding the Eta Carina Nebula. There is no northern sky equivalent to this region. Those skies seem so far way now. From my dark sky site at Mount Pinos, the heart of our galaxy is a horizon hugger (maybe I am exaggerating things a bit as it is a tad higher than that). My once fave objects such as Omega Centauri just skims the horizon now. The only way to see them again is to brave the hordes of mozzies and the heat and humidity when I come home to visit. I guess the advantage of living on the equator is that you get the best of both celestial hemispheres.

Observing from the tropics has its downsides too. The weather is often uncooperative and there are many days of clouds and rains. In fact the recent longest lunar eclipse on June 16^th got washed out by rains, right when totality was about to happen. Major bummer? I think so. The best times are to observe are right after a huge thunderstorm. The skies are the clearest and most transparent during these times. Fortunately I came back in the May/June period when Centaurus and the southern cross are riding high in the southern sky. Well higher than Los Angeles for sure.  Coming back for five weeks gave me more time to plan my observations. The number one object on my list was my good old friend Omega Centauri, and the jewel box. I also wanted to see Eta Carina, but at this time of the year, it lies uncomfortably close to those stinking KSL towers. Will try for it in my trusty 10x50 binoculars. More to come on this……

My first try in early June was disastrous. I had not quite come to grips with using the relatively heavy 127mm Firstscope OTA on a photo tripod with no fluid panhead or slow motion controls. In order to get an object in the FOV, one had to overshoot the target, tighten and then let the object drift into view. With a whole heap of cussing, I finally managed to get some DSO’s in the field. It was a practice in frustration! Mental note to myself to bring back a EQ1 head (without counterweights as that would be too heavy) next time. This scope will be my nephew’s firstscope. I want him to get a better headstart with a much larger scope than my puny CO40. Such a small scope would no cut it under such observing conditions!!!!!!

The first object on my list was the jewel box. Not as pretty as I remembered it from Brissie, but then the skies are a whole heap better there (5.6 versus 4 magnitude limit at zenith!!!!!). I played around with magnification, but overall the best views came using the 24.5mm Meade Superwide in the 1000mm focal length scope for a magnification of 40x. The jewel box looked prettier at 50x with the Orion 20mm Expanse. Next stop Omega Centauri. Boy did I have trouble finding this one. Going from memory, I pointed the puny 5x24 plastic finder and then stared into the eyepiece. No go. Had to scan around a bit and finally found the fuzzy cottonball that was Omega. Was it pretty??? The answer was no. But as I found out that night was not a very good night. I have seen it better on three separate occasions, using the same magnification. I can almost make out some graniness to it, with some stars winking in and out. Any attempt to look at it with higher magnification was met with failure. I need a better mount with slow mo controls.

We had some rains in the day yesterday, the 20^th of June and with the skies clearing to a glorious nice and clear day, I brought out the scope and was once again under the stars. The jewel box seemed a lot snazzier last night, easily revealing more stars within it’s a frame of brighter stars. Star colors were also a lot more noticeable tonight (even better than Friday’s session). Omega stood out more boldly and there were many more stars “resolving” tonight than on previous occasions. Still a vague caricature of its spellbinding self under dark skies but one cannot complain when all one has is this. Also as it was almost 2 weeks since my first observation session here, Scorpius and Sagittarius were much higher too. Visited more old friends such as M6, Ptolemy’s cluster and M7, the butterfly cluster. Both looked better under my light polluted LA skies than here, which only showed how bad the skies here have grown. I tried for the planetary nebula, the bug nebula but had no success. Maybe I should try for it with the NPB filter in place. Speaking of the NPB filter, I also had a chance to look at M8, the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius. Wow hardly any nebulosity apparent. With the NPB in place, I could just about make out some. I guess the 40x magnification did not help either. From experience the best views I have gotten of M8 is at very low magnifications, even better if you can get both the Lagoon and Trifid nebula in the same view. Also had a good look at the Sagittarius starcloud and the false comet cluster at the tail of Scorpius. No luck with M17, the swan nebula as yet. Will try for it and have another write up when I do.

Fastforward to the 23^rd of June. We had a huge downpour in the morning, leading to gloriously clear skies, the best I have seen since coming back! I estimated the magnitude limit at zenith to be 4.5 or better. This was the make or break night seeing how I will be leaving for the northern hemisphere in a couple of days time. Both Omega Centauri and the jewel box looked spectacular tonight (well still nowhere near as nice as what you would see from a dark sky). I think I have finally mastered the mount! I find I can now push the magnification higher. Plus it helps when you elevate the mount to eye level (what was I thinking duh!).  I guess bending over to look in the eyepiece makes it harder to make out detail, or very faint objects! Omega once again looked “peppery” with stars winking in and out at 50x magnification. I generally find the best views of Omega come at about 50 or 60x magnification.

Seeing how good the skies were, I decided to go for broke and hunt some of the objects I failed to see the nights before. M104, the sombrero galaxy was “glimpsed” barely at 80x magnification (skies in LA a definitely better as it was much easier to see in LA). More like a smudge with no detail with averted vision. I tried for M83 at the head of Centaurus with no success. I was hoping to at least see the core of the galaxy.  I then moved over to the Sagittarius-Scorpius region. The first stop was M4. I know its crazy but I have not had any luck finding this bright globular on previous occasions. Not today. It was faint but definitely visible. The bar of stars going through the middle of the cluster was definitely visible at even 50x magnification.

M6 and M7 were glorious tonight. At least the skies did not appear as grey (must be all the dust and moisture in the air on the previous nights). Both filled the eyepiece with sparkling diamonds, with the butterfly cluster’s shape standing out.  The false comet cluster looked great tonight too. Seems like all the open clusters were showing off (even the ones around Eta Carina were visible earlier on while scanning, with the glow of KSL towers not far off!). The next logical target was the bug nebula. This was a no show a couple of nights ago too. Tonight, using the blinking method, I finally confirmed that I was indeed seeing it. Again unspectacular, looking like an unfocussed elongated star.

By now the whole constellation of Sagittarius was easily visible. Started off at M22. Big cotton ball with only a slight hint of resolution. I felt I needed more magnification on this one, so I popped in the 2x Orion Shorty Barlow. The views were only marginally better. M8 and M20, the Lagoon and the Trifid looked heaps better tonight though. The views of the Lagoon tonight sans the NPB filter looked just like what I saw a couple of nights earlier with the NPB on! Niceeee. Tonight the dark lane that gives the Lagoon its name was clearly visible, as well as some of it outer wisps. Even the Trifid was visible tonight. No details were visible though, just some faint nebulosity surrounding a star.

Emboldened by my success, I set out to see if I could find M17, the Swan Nebula. No luck there as well…what gives. My final two objects of the night were bright objects, a globular in Hercules and a planetary in Lyra. M13 was a nice concentrated ball of unresolved stars. The core looked starlike with no resolution. M13 appeared brighter than Omega and M22, probably due to its compactness. And M57, good old M57 the Ring Nebula, my old nemesis. Was never certain I ever saw this object from JB skies. I caught glimpses of it in my CO40, but was never certain. Looked like an out of focused star. But tonight I finally saw its ring shaped visage at 80x with the NPB filter in place. Guess my observing career in JB has come full circle with me spying M57!

The moral of the story is stargazing and DSO observing is possible even from the worst locations. One just has to be very persistent and have sufficient light gathering power (nothing smaller than a 4.5” in my opinion). Oh and I forgot to mention my most valuable tool to combat light pollution, my ever trusty dark monks hood cloak. Never leave home without it!!!!

Blast from the past....my writeup for Orion Show and Tel......Stragazing Downunder

It has been a while since my last sidewalk astronomy experience. Seeing how I was going to write up an abbreviated version for Orion Telescopes Show and Tel contest, I decided to put up the full version of my prose here on my blog. I do enjoy the occasional “street” session to educate the masses about our fantastic hobby. So without further ado, here is the full version….

I have always tried to promote our hobby of stargazing to the masses. I have a couple of colleague that have more than a passing interest in looking up. Being in Brisbane, QLD, Australia has its perks. I have been stargazing here since the late 90’s and have seen the sky get progressively worse. The milky-way used to be a lot more structured, even from my apartment balcony in suburbia. Back then I could go down to magnitude 5.7 easy and hunt galaxies brighter than magnitude 10 with my C6. I have even spied M33 in my 15x70 on excellent transparency winter nights. These days the best I can manage is 5.5 under similar conditions (still much better than at my current abode in Culver City, CA where the best I can manage is 5.2). The milky-way is still visible in the direction of Sagittarius-Scorpius region, although devoid of all structure, and the SMC and LMC can barely be made out. One has to know where to look.

I have organized several sessions in the past, mostly using my Orion 80ST on a photo tripod, and my old beat up Celestron C6 6”f/5 newtonian (mostly involving two or three close friends). I usually organize such sessions closer to the southern austral winter as there are many brighter things to look at. Also I usually choose public parks such as Robertson’s Park in Indooroopilly, a site also used by the Brisbane’s Suburban Astronomers group, and Mount Cootha, used by the Brisbane Astronomical Society. I have successfully “infected” two of my non astronomer friends to take up the hobby, with one getting just a 76mm Alt-Az scope not unlike the 3” Orion Spaceprobe, and the other a 6” f/5 Eq Newtonian.  Both have just a passing interest and occasionally look up at the planets. Guess you have to start them somewhere right?

This time however I had a much bigger group, approximately 10 people in total. I put a note up on the whiteboard at work and have been talking it up all week!!!!! Everyone knows I am the labs astro geek. I chose a site not too far from home and work, a site used frequently by my then lab for Melbourne Cup day picnics, Perrin Park in Taringa, Brisbane, QLD. I have also used that site extensively since moving to Taringa on nights I want to use the 10” f/5, and I am not at my society’s dark sky site in Leyburn. The dob is way to big to be carried up three flights of stairs or to be used in my apartment balcony. My target this time was to get the 10” f/5 GS out, in addition to my trusty C6 6” f/5, Orion StarBlast 4.5” f/4 and my 20x80.

This time of the year (mid September) Orion is still up for a bit, and the winter milky way rises not much later. First up was the seven sisters in Taurus. I think everyone agreed that the views were much better in the 20x80’s, with the StarBlast coming a close second. I challenged them to visual test to see how many Pleiads they could spot with the naked eye. Most could see 6.  Then we moved onto M42, the Orion Nebula. This one drew gasp through the 10” with many commenting that the nebula looked distinctly “greenish”. They also liked the open flower impression. This also allowed me a chance to start explaining about young open clusters (i.e. the Pleiades) and how stars form from collapsing gas in nebulae (they also liked how nebulae is the latin word for cloud ;)

Taking it from the top, I began talking about forming stars, galaxies (sadly the skies were not nearly good enough to show them any bright galaxies…I did try NGC 5128, Centaurus A later but no one could see it…I find beginners generally find it hard to see galaxies, even the brighter ones!!!), globulars (everyone was impressed with Omega Centauri, M22 and all could make out individual stars in the 10” and the 6” at high magnification). It was also a good time to explain the difference in light gathering since I had a good representation of scopes (4.5”, 6”, 10”) as well as the effects of light pollution and the use of ultra high contrast (UHC) nebula filters. Most liked the views of open clusters better in the StarBlast and in the 20x80 (especially views of open clusters such as the Pleiades, M6 and M7 in Scorpius…they commented that they could make out the butterfly shape better in these) and the numerous star spangled fields around Eta Carina Nebula.

Throughout the night, I showed them more examples of gaseous nebulae. They got to compare and contrast M42, the Orion Nebula versus Eta Carina Nebula. Most of them agreed that Orion was easier to look at, but Eta Carina showed more character due to dark lanes, that were emphasized much better with the UHC filter. But it wasn’t these two celestial showpieces that stole the show, it was  the swan/omega nebula (M17) in the northern reaches of Sagittarius. When some could not quite make out the shape, one of my female colleagues dropped onto the grass scrunched herself up to make a swan shape……definitely the highlight of the night!!!!!!  Finished off the night right at the end of a stars life and showed them examples of some of the skies best planetary nebulae, M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra and M27, the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula. My colleagues loved my association of M57 to Homer’s doughnut, but they could not quite understand why M27 was called the Dumbbell Nebula. Apple-core or football nebula was more appropriate ;) As some of them put it, without the UHC filter, it looked like someone took two bites on either side of the football. Overall a fantastic night out with great company. Although I really enjoy my quiet moments under pitch black skies, I occasionally yearn for the companionship that only sharing the universe with some other like people can provide. This is also a good way to educate people on why we must preserve our night skies for future generations to come…….

Visiting SoCal's temple to the stars...Mount Pinos

I was stoked...and I mean stoked! Have not been out under dark, transparent skies in more than a year. Given our huge move from the southern skies in Brisbane, Australia to its northern counterpart in Los Angeles, California, the birth of our firstborn, my lil angel in June, I guess I can be excused for not being able to get out a whole heap sooner. Now I have checked out some of the northern sights that I have been itching to see, but under less than dark suburban skies. So this was a treat for me. I initially had apprehensions going there by myself, but as it turned out, my fears were unfounded. I met some wonderful and friendly neighbourhood SoCal astronomers :) And the site, Mount Pinos was every bit as good as my southern dark sky site in Leyburn, save maybe the tall pine trees that obscured much of the southern horizon...well they pretty much obscured all horizons. Was also worried about the temperatures this time of the year as it got down to below freezing the weekend before, and the weekend after I went. As it turns out, Pinos really is that cold at night. Imagine my surprise seeing snow on my drive up. Yup there was still snow up on Mount Pinos....in early May! Oh well.

Arrived at the parking lot in Pinos relatively early as I was worried the area used by a whole heap of astronomers in summer would be there. As it turned out, I was the first one there (most people started pulling up at 6pm...and there weren't even that many of them 5 groups to be precise, some of them campers and only one serious amateur). Scopes in attendance included a Meade 12" goto SCT, a 5" Celestron Nexstar goto and a 8" Orion SkyQuest dob. Since I got there early, and I had never been to Pinos, I decided to do some bushwalking to the summit of Mount Pinos, which was only about a 2 mile walk one way. Needless to say it did not take me very long to walk to the summit. The views were breathtaking. The walk up was okay. Had to stomp my way through some pretty thick snow (and got my hiking boots wet in the process). It was not as cold as I thought it would be (I only had a single thermal layer on and a long sleeve tee and jeans!). Saw some chipmunks and squirrels on the way up. Totally worth the walk up.

Astronomical twilight only descended on us closer to 9pm. We kept ourselves busy looking at the rather new moon (took some afocal shots but my steady pix mount kept unscrewing itself...sheesh!) and Saturn. I only had with me my C6 f/5, my 20x80's on my Orion Paragon tripod and my 76mm Celestron Firstscope (first maiden dark sky voyage for the baby dob, which I used on my car boot and bonnet ;) Once the skies got dark enough, I pushed forward onto the realm of Ursa Major's galaxies. This is one of the constellation that was too far south in good old oz to explore. Galaxies galore...and big and bright ones too. First stop M81, Bode's galaxy and M82. I have seen this pair of galaxies from suburbia, but the views from Pinos were heaps better. M82 showed intense mottling and the dark rift down the middle. Not that much structure in M81, but I though I could make out traces of its spiral arms. Next stop M97, the owl nebula and M108. Both were easy catches as they are close to the bottom of the panhandle. At high mag I started making out traces of the dark owl eyes, with one more prominent than the other. Then it was onto more galaxies. M51 the whirlpool easily reveled its spiral arms as well as traces of the bridge in my C6, appearing much more detailed than I have ever seen, even when viewed in my 10" f/5 from oz. I guess its much higher elevation in the skies made the difference. My final stop was M101, the huge face on spiral in Ursa Major. This galaxy is an impossible catch from bright suburban locations due to its large size and low surface brightness. But it is a sight to behold under dark, transparent skies. Again spiral arms were pretty obvious in the C6.

After tackling target objects (and sketching them), I slowed down my pace and leisurely took a stroll through some of the more famillar constellations. Starting in Corvus, I revisited some old friends like M104, the sombrero galaxy (dust lane obvious at high mag), the Corvus planetary NGC4361. Moving onto Leo, I scrutinized the Leo trio M65, M66 and NGC3628, then moved onto M95, M96. This wetted my appetite for the multitude of galaxies Virgo-Coma cluster. Started my journey in Virgo, first port of call M59 and M60, and then worked my way past M87 and into the markarian chain (M84, M86, etc.). After taking some time to soak in some faint galaxy photons, I moved into the Coma area and began my tour of this region, starting with the pencil thin edge on NGC4565, appearing as a thin needle of light bisected by an even thinner dust lane. Also the black eye galaxy, M64, showed its dark eye.

Now the temperature was dropping rapidly, to the point that I started to shiver. Also as it was getting later, people started going home. David, the first astronomer I met, who owns a Meade 12" SCT, came over and we chatted a bit and we decided to look at some stuff using his goto mount. Revisited some of the galaxies I mentioned earlier. Also took a look at the cat's eye planetary (never seen this one) NGC6543. Nice envelope within envelope detail. He wasn't using a very short focal length eyepiece, but I guess SCT's have a much longer focal length so no worries there.

Now the winds that were strong earlier on seemed to be getting stronger. David was packing up and then finally left at 11.30pm. As the summer milky way was rising, I decided to stay a little longer (original plans were to stay all night...but then with the dropping temps, the howling winds, and me being there by myself...I decided to drive home that same night...not a very long drive from LA, approximately 1 1/2 hours drive). Went back to the C6 and had a good look at the globular M13 in Hercules. Propelar effect was very obvious in Dave's 12", and definately visible in my C6 too. The ring nebula (M57) in Lyra was awesome as was M27 the dumbbell nebula. These are my two absolute fave planetaries. They look good even from light polluted skies! That was when I realized there was a still another couple around. They came over and I showed them some of the sights. Started packing up the scope at 12.30am, and then used the 20x80's and the Firstscope 76 to look at the wonderful sights in the Sagittarius-Scorpius region (M6, M7, M8 the Lagoon Nebula, M17 the swan nebula and M22 the crackerjack globular). Started driving down the mountain at about 1am. All in all an excellent night. Will I be back in the summer? Most definately.......but I will be driving home ;)

The simple joys in life......relaxing stargazing on the fly

What could be more enjoyable than observing on the fly, whenever you want, even when the skies are not the best. I have in the past maintained that large binoculars are the best for these sorts of observing, but have always yearned for a more in depth look at some objects, some which require UHC type filters. I used to have the Orion StarBlast, which I am sure would have served a similar function. Alas I had to let it go when I moved from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. I should have never let it go. It now goes for a whopping $199, not inclusive of taxes. I am not inclined to go out and buy another one, seeing how I got mine for $139 (it was a floor model). The Astroscan is even worse as they are now selling them for over $200! And the Astroscan is not even nearly half as good as the Starblast as it cannot be user collimated!

Enter the realm of the table top scopes from Orion and Celestron. These scopes, the Celestron Firstscope 76mm, Orion Fun Scope 76mm, Orion SkyScanner 100mm and the Orion GoScope 80mm and Orion StarMax90mm scopes all have one thing in common...they are extremely light (all under 6.5lbs), rather well equipped (with the exception of the Celestron that does not come with a finder but otherwise they all come with two eyepieces), come on super stable mini dobsonian mounts, are super small and are all under $100 (with the exception of the Orion Go Scope 90mm which retails for $199). Gone are the days of rickety tripods and handknobs. Well these scopes still do exist, but for the absolute beginner and for the time pressed advanced astronomer, the mini dobs are a whole heap better. I have gone through so many grab and go scopes, 80mm and 100mm short tube achromatic refractors on fluid pan head tripods (I much prefer large binocs on such tripods compared to these scopes) and find these mini dobs to be heaps better. And for the price who can fault them. These are the "throw in your car boot/bag" scopes.


Seeing how I could purchase a used Celestron Firstscope with the full accessory kit for less than the whole scope new, I jumped at the chance. And boy did I not regret it! I have now had several "on the fly" grab and go sessions. In the beginning I had problems finding a suitable place to sit to observe, seeing how I had to dodge the light fittings in my compound, as well as find a bench to sit on. The benches get moved all the time depending on where the trees lie. I had major problems finding and bech that did not have an obstructed sky. Plus I did not want to buy a plastic table and chair. That would just defeat the whole grab and go concept! Enter the playground castle/slide, whatever. I found I could use my lil baby scope on the highest level where the slides start and sit one of two steps down so the scope would be at a comfortable height. While using the straight through finder was literally a pain in the neck, I found that by getting the scope in the general region, I could find stuff as the scope can do very very low magnifications. With this setup I can just scan the skies and then zoom in using higher powered eyepieces. I get the best views of M42, the Orion Nebula, M45, The Pleiades Cluster and double cluster using my 6mm Radian giving 50X. Plus the scope has enough in the way of light gathering to use the NPB filter effectively....can you tell I am so loving my newest grab and go setup ;)

Of light pollution and aperture...when aperture is not always king

Just one of my random musing about observing and light pollution. I have been living in the gated university apartments for about 10 months now and have always been curious as to how my 10" f/5 dob would pull in the photons as opposed to my smaller grab and go scopes. The major hurdle (and it still is!) has been the two sets of stairs I have to navigate. As they say the bigger and heavier the scope, the less likely you would have the inclination to want to use the scope as often. That rings so true in the context. Therefore other than using my 10" GS dob once my my bro in law was visiting from Perth in Australia, I have never had the motivation to use the scope. Well the big scope bug hit me hard one Friday night and I decided to give the lugging a go. Would I do it again...not a chance in hell. I had to firstly carry the OTA to the top of the stairs, then go back for the dob mount that I carried all the way to the bottom of the stairs and into the playground. Then I went back for the OTA. All it all it took like almost 4 trips to get the whole scope down. If only I had a secure lockup garage that I did not have to share with some other resident ;P

And now for the acid test. was all this lugging worth the effort. My answer is a resounding NO. While views were brighter and slightly more detailed than in my C6, the improvement was just marginal. While the 10" went deeper, there was also another unfortunate side effect, its big 10" mirror also collected stray light from the numerous light fittings around the playground and from the sky glow. As a result the views were all washed out. And this coming from a scope that has been optimized by flocking with flock paper. Maybe I need to extend out the tube so the stray light does not hit the secondary mirror. Or maybe a more permanent solution is to take out all the lights in the compound with a sling shot ;) Don't you just hate light pollution.

But in all seriousness I find the 6" f/5 to be the best balance between seeing detail in DSO's and brighter solar system fare. Its light enough to be carried with one hand down two flights of stairs and gives enough in the way of detail to make observing sessions worth the effort. This scope shows abundant detail on planets and can resolve globular clusters quite readily. I have also in my arsenal several "grab and go" scopes, my 20x80's mounted on an Orion Paragon, a Celestron Firstscope 76mm and a Celestron Cometron CO60. All scopes are great on the fly, but for more serious observations, I still go to my C6. Good examples where the C6 shines includes the galaxy pairing in Ursa Major, M81 and M82. I could make out M81, but not M82 in my tripod mounted 20x80's (will have to try this again). The galaxy pairing was very obvious in the 10" f/5 but the views were less pleasing due to the grayish background. The views in the C6 were dimmer but the darker background made up for this. Details like mottling the galaxies, etc, well that will have to wait till I get to darker skies. All these observations were performed at similar magnifications.

So yes and there you have my verdict.....aperture is king...but only till some point....

I love tinkering.....with my uber portable Celestron 76mm Firstscope dobbie

There is only one other thing other than observing DSO's under a dark pristine skies that get my adrenaline pumping and that is trying out a new scope for the first time. Since moving to my second storey dwelling in the UCLA university apartments in Los Angeles, I have been trying to find the perfect "grab and go" scope. There are many perfect "grab and go" scopes out there, and probably the best by far is the Orion StarBlast 4.5" f/4. But the asking price of $199 (not including taxes and postage) was a bit much seeing how many scopes I currently have in my menagerie. Its old price of $149 was in my opinion a much better price point than the current price Orion sells it for seeing that it is primarily a rich field telescope (RFT). The views of planets were only eh! I considered the Orion SkyScanner 100mm f/4 (and I am not ruling out that one seeing that it has a parabolic mirror and it is only 2 lbs heavier than the Celestron Firstscope IYA), but in the end I  got the Celestron Firstscope 76mm f/3 instead. I just could not pass it up for the price. Brand new the scope can now be had for as low as about $35-$40USD with postage from Amazon. That is a pretty crazy price seeing that in the past you could not even get an eyepiece for the price! As usual I went the used route and got the Firstscope and the accessory kit (two extra eyepieces and a dinky lil plastic 5x20 finder, minus the Celestron carry bag...no biggie) for $40USD plus postage off e bay. So what are my thoughts on this uber portable and small scope...well read on!!!!

Well the scope, mini dob mount, 4 eyepieces, 5x20 finder and software arrived in a brown box, which I had to pick up from my local USPS office. Seeing that it was used, it did not come with the original box. Firstly when I picked the box up at my local USPS office, I was struck by how light the whole thing was, being used to my light but not overly light 13 lb StarBlast. This weighs next to nothing (and I am sure this will follow me on my many travels abroad in the future). Well the OTA and mount, which comes pre-assembled out of the box only weights 4 lbs (about 1.8 kgs!), as opposed to StarBlast 5.9 kg...still light in any case but not nearly super portable as it will NOT fit in an overhead luggage compartment on an aircraft. Also when turned down, the OTA does not occupy that much space on the mount, seeing that it is probably only slightly taller than 12 inches. If you look at the piccy's, the scope is about the same height as my 20x80's ;) Cool or what......plus weight wise it is really comparable to the binocs too. But I guess in the end its the viewing which count. The scope can be cheap, light and small, but if it has a lemon for a mirror then it means nothing. So how does this cute lil scope perform? Well read on and find out. I have even had it go mano el mano with my Celestron Cometron CO60 refractor. Testing was performed over several nights to take into account seeing conditions.

Well the scope performed...drumroll....rather well for a scope with a very short focal length spherical mirror. I was half expecting the images to be crap and the collimation to be out whack as I used to own a dog of a scope...one of them barlow in the focuser ones with a spherical mirror. Now don't get me wrong this scope is still a wide field RFT and it was never meant to be used as a high powered instrument for planetary and moon gazing (Heck even my old Orion StarBlast did not fare too well in the high power department and views broke down over 100x magnification) . But if you keep within reasonable limits, the scope performs remarkably well. Putting the scope side by side with the CO60 refractor for instance, the refractor clearly trounced the Firstscope in this respect. The views or the moon and Jupiter were way contrastier and showed more detail at magnifications over 100x. In fact I did not like using the scope for magnifications over 100x. My personal opinion...views of the moon and planet was the best at 50x with spherical aberration blurring the views about 100x mag. Now stars were also not as tight as the refractor, and the Firstscope had some real issues when the objects were not in the centre of the field of view. Well I was using my SWA eyepieces so I guess that was the problem too with its super wide field views.

Now for the part where the Firstscope performs way better than the CO60...well of course deep sky. 76mm is 76mm and it collects much more light than a mere 60mm. DSO's all look way better in the Firstscope than in the CO60. Well the CO60 gave more pleasing views as the background was much darker, partly due to the increase contrast, but more so due to its smaller aperture. M42, the Orion Nebula looked remarkable. Best combo for the scope is my 20mm Expanse and the Orion Shorty Plus 2x Barlow for about 30x magnification (Note that the H20 ep that came with the scope was also okay...but all of them had ridiculous FOV and eye relieve...but for the price, $40 scope with 4 ep's who can complain!). The Meade 24.5mm with the barlow at 24x also gave pretty good views...but I liked the added magnification. The un-barlowed Televue Radian at 50x also gave very good views...but I liked the views at 30x better. And yes the added aperture allowed me to use my NPB filter to good effect, teasing out details in the nebula. I never liked using my filters in the CO60 as the views were way too dark! Observing open star clusters was also a treat as I got great views of M45, the Pleiades Cluster in Taurus. Hell even the Taurus star cluster,usually hard to enjoy in scopes as it is so spread out looked good in the Firstscope. I can't wait to test the scope out on the northern summer sky, i.e. M57, M27, M17, M22 and all those wonderful objects in Sagittarius-Scorpius.

Any negatives? Well scopes, like gold clubs all serve specific purposes. That is why we astronomers have so many scopes in our menagerie ;) A scope that does well for deep sky might not be the best scope for planetary and vice versa. The Firstscope serves as an intermediate between binocular views of the night sky (rich field viewing) and slightly higher powered views of deep sky objects. For that purpose the scope fulfil's its purpose. Planetary views are fine if you are not going to push the scope to its theoretical max limit (a 3" scope has a theoretical max limit of 150x). In fact I would NOT recommend using this scope above say 50x since it has a non diffraction limited short focal length spherical mirror. You are going to be hard pressed in that department even with a parabolic mirror. My old StarBlast, while theoretically capable of 225x max magnification also did not do well in that department. So yes this is NOT a high powered planetary scope. Also the scope is very short so adults will have to find some platform to elevate the scope for use. Due to its relatively light weight, views also suffer if you place it on a non too sturdy support. So make sure you have a nice sturdy support for it. The other thing that I really found annoying was the placement of the focuser right on the top of the scope. I loved the ability to rotate the OTA of my StarBlast to a comfortable viewing position when seated. There was no way to do this for the Firstscope. Also the placement of the finder to the left of the focuser was weird for me as I am used to having my finders on the right of the focuser. Oh well small problem there. Most people found the dinky lil finder that came with the accessory kit to be stupid as it is one of them plastic 5x20 with stoppered down optics finder. I found it usesable for the Firstscope as the scope has such a wide field of view, it served as its own finder. All you had to do was get the scope pointing approximately at the right position, then drop in a low powered ep. No worries there.

So in summary I really like this super uber portable RFT. While not in the same league as my old StarBlast, which I might repurchase at some stage, it serves its purpose in the grand scheme of things. I can almost envision popping the whole shebang into my luggage bag for travel on board a plane and not having to worry about it breaking (it is so cheap and easily replaceable!). All I need is a car bonnet or a picnic table (or even sitting on a mat with a small stool!) and away I go. Plus it has a much wider range of magnifications than say my 20x80 so I can get some closeups of globulars and planetaries with the NPB and Skyglow filters in place. On top of it all its has a smooth dobsonian mount. Just look how small it is next to my 10" GS ;) Nuff said.....

A Long overdued update...Night of the Crab Nebula

The long festive season has come and gone. Weather has not been the best for observing as we have been getting heaps of rains and clouds. But on frigid wintery evenings/nights, where the skies have been clear, the transparency is usually phenomenal. And phenomenal it was. Limiting magnitudes have gone up and DSO's that look eh in my 6" f/5 scope now look ooohhhh. M42, the Orion Nebula even looked superb without the NPB filter in place. So yes it was time to try and see if I could bag M1, the Crab Nebula in Taurus. Well prior to this, I revisited M78, the reflection nebula in Orion and found it easily so my guess was that M1 would reveal itself. I could make out more of M78 than on previous occasions. And yes it did reveal itself, even without the Orion SkyGlow filter in place. Of course the Crab resembled a smudge of light, not unlike an oil slick on the surface of a lens without any detail whatsoever...but to be able to even see its ghostly visage from light polluted Los Angeles was a feat in itself. So for those of you who think DSO's are impossible from light polluted suburban skies, I say try harder. The skies the limit (no pun intended) literally. The next time I am out, I am going to try and bag me some galaxies in the Leo-Ursa Major-Virgo region......