Celestron scopes galore: C8, NexStar 102 GT and Powerseeker 114
The winds of change are here. The days have been warmer of late (don't ask me why seeing that summer is now fading and fall is here). Warmer day weather (and warmer nights) is usually better for stargazing as we don't get much of that marine layer crap hovering around and spoiling the views later on the the arvo and evening. It looks like we will get to go back to our fave observing spot more often starting from now, Solstice Canyon in Malibu. The last trip there, about a month ago wasn't that good as the transparency was pretty abysmal, even though the skies were clear. All that lingering moisture in the air can be pretty bad for transparency. It does not help that the droplets also reflect light pollution, adding to the overall general skyglow. Tonight the milky way actually looked structured towards the Sagittarius-Scorpius region (which is fast sinking into the horizon when we got there after 9.30pm) and was visible as a band all the way across the summer triangle in the Cygnus-Lyra area. A good omen. The plan for tonight (Terry was with me and had his Powerseeker 114mm on Orion VersaGo II mount and his freshly collimated 70mm Celestron Powerseeker alt az) was to compare view between the 114mm Powerseeker long focal length newtonian (910mm focal length) and the 102GT (1000mm focal length), image some of the larger fall galaxies (M31, M33, NGC253, NGC55, M74, etc etc.) and to test out my newly minted new-old stock Celestron C8 with StarBright coatings on my Vixen Porta Mount.
Did not realize..all scopes in attendance were Celestron scopes
I was actually planning to do some visual observations early in the night and then switch gears midway through the night and do some astrophotography with my 102GT and Meade DSI CCD cam, and then go back to visual. As it turned out, I pretty much followed my plan, but got into CCD camming a little earlier than I wanted to because Terry pointed out that M55 (Sagittarius) and M30 (Capricornus) will be lost to us earlier in the night. After aligning the 102GT, I pointed both my scopes at M57, the Ring Nebula. Nice wide views in the 102GT, but much brighter high magnification views in the C8 at 82x in the 24.5mm Meade SWA ep, my lower possible magnification in this scope (just received a used Meade f/6.3 focal reducer so that will bring the lowest magnification down to my 10" dobbie levels (52x)). We also compared the views of M57 in Terry's 114mm Powerseeker and the 102GT and both views looked identical at similar magnifications. After that we pointed the scopes briefly to M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. Again the C8 gave nice bright detailed views and framed the planetaries at a higher magnification (80x'ish seems to be a good framing magnification for planetaries!).
M2 globular in Aquarius
Next stop for us was M55, a nice loose globular in Sagittarius which is hard to locate as it is found in a star poor region. After Terry got M55 in the Powerseeker 114mm, I pointed my 102GT at it too. Here were our impressions. Brightness seemed just a little bit better in the 114mm and I though resolution was easier to hold with direct vision with the Powerseeker in comparison to the 102GT. Also there seemed more stars resolved in the 114mm powerseeker. This was the same case for M2 in Aquarius. We both got the impression that the Powerseeker's extra 14mm made a difference in resolution between the two scopes.
M27, The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula
It was then that I decided to start my astroimaging session for the night. First stop was of course M55 in Sagittarius. Nicely resolved with even a 11 second exposure so I started stacking images at different exposures. Throughout the night I had issues with the focusing. For some strange reason the focal point kept on changing (between the two marked focal planes I had previously marked on the focuser drawtube). This ruined M30 for me as it was resolved, but the stars were not sharp...ah bugger. maybe re-image the next time.
M31, The great Andromeda Galaxy
Next I went for M2. So many more stars resolved from dark skies in comparison to LA's light polluted skies. Moving at a steady imaging pace now, I tried to get the Helix Nebula to no success. Might need to use a wider scope to image this. The narrow 500mm FOV (1000mm focal length with a 0.5x focal reducer in the 102GT). Next up M31, the great galaxy in Andromeda. Of course due to the narrow FOV, only the core was imageable. Still I could descern the dust lanes. Got a couple of good shots of this, then moved onto M32, its satellite galaxy (which by the way was not in the FOV with M31 due to the narrow field). It was then that the software hung.......so I took a break from astroimaging and went back to visual stargazing with my C8.
M32, M31's companion in Andromeda
Everything I looked at tonight was reminiscent of the views in my 10" dobbie, but at a much higher magnification (could only manage the core of M31 at 82x). What I do like about the C8 in comparison to my 10" dobbie.....sit down observing. Everything I looked at I could sit comfortably in my camping chair. No bending over due to weird height differences. No eye strain. My only beef with the C8. Due to the position of the dovetail bracket for my 8x50mm finder, I had to move the slow motion barrel knob to the other side of the mount. Due to this I had to stretch and fumble in the dark to move the scope in slow mo. Will have to try and figure out a better place to mount the dovetail shoe. Also I am still getting used to the SCT focuser. Again I detected no image shift when focusing......but I am so used to rack and pinion type focusers, I felt funny using this type of focuser. My fave view of the night in the C8 would be seeing mottling in NGC 253, the silver coin galaxy in Sculptor. the only other time I have seen such detail in this galaxy was at Pinos with the 10" dobbie last year (at around the same time of the year).
M55 globular in Sagittarius
The last objects I imaged before the laptop battery died was M76, the Little Dumbbell in Perseus (got a good shot too...niceeee). Colors were faithfully preserved. I was bummed that I did not get M33 (well I got a blurry pic before the battery died so it is definately imageable (next time!!!!)), or NGC 253 (tried to locate NGC 55 but it was a little too faint and in the not so good area of the sky...so probably not the best object to image).
M76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula in Perseus
Spent the last hour or so casually stargazing with the 70mm Celestron Travelscope on the GT mount (yes I took the 102mm OTA off and used the wide field scope on the NexStar GT mount. Got gorgeous super wide field views of the double cluster in Perseus and M45, the Pleiades. Some wispy high level clouds started moving in at about 12am, but dissipated...and then came back with vengence at close to 3am.........it was then that we started packing and getting ready to hit the road to go back home.......
Okay so my small Celestron 70mm Travelscope completes the Celestron scope night out...and did I mention that Terry had his 70mm Celestron Powerseeker with him too...he just did not get it out...
So overall we had a blast of a night. Terry too agreed it was a great night as it was so relaxed. He revisited a lot of faves that night so we could do a scope comparison between the Powerseeker 114mm and the 102GT. Till the next time......
Do not disturb...imager at work...lol!!!!!!
