As I mentioned in a previous post, it looks like the DewBuster temperature sensor is busted after all these years of non-use.
After following the troubleshooting instructions at the DewBuster site, I contacted Ron about the issue. He quickly provided three possible causes of the issue, one of which was "The contacts inside the sensor jack is oxidized. Try putting a few drops of alcohol on the sensor plug and plugging/unplugging repeatedly to wipe the contacts clean.".
Being the easiest to test, I immediately tried it and indeed, this resolved the issue! The telescope/ambient temperature sensor operation is back to normal. Ron made my day.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Nagler
Today I received the 7mm TeleVue Nagler, which gives me 86x with the 80mm refractor and 357x with the 254mm SCT. The seeing was once again excellent, but I only observed for about an hour this time, with the 80mm refractor and mostly the same objects as I did for the past couple of nights. With this eyepiece the Lumicon UHC filter is actually useful on M57 at 86x. I could clearly see the darkening in the center of this planetary nebula.
I could also split Epsilon Lyrae at 86x, and at 171x using the 2x barlow it's a beauty.
I also looked at Polaris this evening, which is a binary star with magnitude 2.0 and 8.2 stars separated by 18.4". The glare introduced by the barlow made it actually easier to observe the secondary at 86x than at 171x. Because I use the Meade 4000 series 2x Apochromatic Barlow (#140) also for planetary imaging, I wonder how much contrast I loose for that.
Although I find barlows rather clumsy for visual observing, maybe I should try to sell it and get a TeleVue 2x Powermate instead. The barlow doesn't have any obvious poor baffling or paint. It's just that its coating is quite reflective in comparison to my TeleVue eyepieces.
I could also split Epsilon Lyrae at 86x, and at 171x using the 2x barlow it's a beauty.
I also looked at Polaris this evening, which is a binary star with magnitude 2.0 and 8.2 stars separated by 18.4". The glare introduced by the barlow made it actually easier to observe the secondary at 86x than at 171x. Because I use the Meade 4000 series 2x Apochromatic Barlow (#140) also for planetary imaging, I wonder how much contrast I loose for that.
Although I find barlows rather clumsy for visual observing, maybe I should try to sell it and get a TeleVue 2x Powermate instead. The barlow doesn't have any obvious poor baffling or paint. It's just that its coating is quite reflective in comparison to my TeleVue eyepieces.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Neighbor
Tonight my neighbor Rafael joined me and my 80mm refractor with his Celestron AstroMaster 90AZ telescope. I first showed him M57, Epsilon Lyrae and Albireo with my refractor before we tried to use his 90mm refractor.
I found it impossible to adjust the finder correctly, and the mount was difficult to handle. Possibly it can be improved by rebalancing the telescope somewhat, but we didn't try. Both eyepieces were ok (40mm and 20mm, Plossls I guess), but the telescope's collimation seems way off, as all stars looked like comets even with my 19mm Panoptic. Like with my 80ED, collimation seems to be done through adjustment of the focuser, so we'll have to try to fix it.
We also observed M31 and the double cluster using the 70mm binoculars.
After Rafael went home, I observed Globular Cluster M56 in Lyra. I could only find it by star hopping, although I found out later that I was pretty close with my initial Rigel Quick Finder method . It's just that M56 is much dimmer in the 80mm than I had expected. It looked like a faint fuzzy ball.
I really ought to start making some drawings.
I found it impossible to adjust the finder correctly, and the mount was difficult to handle. Possibly it can be improved by rebalancing the telescope somewhat, but we didn't try. Both eyepieces were ok (40mm and 20mm, Plossls I guess), but the telescope's collimation seems way off, as all stars looked like comets even with my 19mm Panoptic. Like with my 80ED, collimation seems to be done through adjustment of the focuser, so we'll have to try to fix it.
We also observed M31 and the double cluster using the 70mm binoculars.
After Rafael went home, I observed Globular Cluster M56 in Lyra. I could only find it by star hopping, although I found out later that I was pretty close with my initial Rigel Quick Finder method . It's just that M56 is much dimmer in the 80mm than I had expected. It looked like a faint fuzzy ball.
I really ought to start making some drawings.
Monday, September 10, 2012
O∑403 Cyg
I only just had moved the 80ED outside when I checked the seeing this evening, so even though it looked a little worse then yesterday's, it may actually have been similar.
This evening I set up the 10" LX200GPS telescope to further explore the seeing. I had it cool down for at least 1.5 hours. I tweaked the collimation slightly, but it still isn't spot on.
I observed M13, resolving it for a large part, M57, in which I could not detect the central star, but only the one just outside the nebula and Epsilon Lyrae, which as expected could be resolved without problems.
Pushing the 10" using the SR4mm to a magnification of 625x, with ease it cleanly resolved both 0.8" separated magnitude 7.4 and magnitude 7.6 components of O∑403 Cyg. There was a third dimmer star approximately 10 arc seconds from this tight double star, which I later realized to be the magnitude 10.0 ∑2657 Cyg (separation 11.6"). No doubt I could have resolved double stars separated at the SCT's Dawes limit of 0.5" this evening.
Although the seeing was excellent, the star images did wobble around a bit, which I suspect was caused by the ALT-AZ tracking of the telescope and not by movement of the deck. I have to investigate that further.
I also experimented with the Barlow today. Using it behind the diagonal works for both the 80ED and the SCT. The 80ED setup becomes somewhat unstable with it though. Also with both telescopes it makes the view dimmer than expected, and I suspect significant light loss when using it (vignetting or reflections).
Incidentally the LX200GPS initially misbehaved this evening for the first time ever. With one of the two Pyramid power supplies its controller lighted up without displaying any text, but seemingly operating. Then when I switched to the other power supply, the Dec motor ran away at full speed upon initialization. Luckily I managed to turn off the telescope before damage occurred. After that the telescope behaved normal again, albeit the pointing accuracy was poor even after I had just aligned it using automatic alignment. Hence I didn't use the GOTO functionality this evening.
This evening also demonstrated that I like the quick grab-and-go setup of the 80ED really a lot more than the lug-and-slow setup of the LX200GPS. The LX200GPS really ought to be used with a permanent setup.
This evening I set up the 10" LX200GPS telescope to further explore the seeing. I had it cool down for at least 1.5 hours. I tweaked the collimation slightly, but it still isn't spot on.
I observed M13, resolving it for a large part, M57, in which I could not detect the central star, but only the one just outside the nebula and Epsilon Lyrae, which as expected could be resolved without problems.
Pushing the 10" using the SR4mm to a magnification of 625x, with ease it cleanly resolved both 0.8" separated magnitude 7.4 and magnitude 7.6 components of O∑403 Cyg. There was a third dimmer star approximately 10 arc seconds from this tight double star, which I later realized to be the magnitude 10.0 ∑2657 Cyg (separation 11.6"). No doubt I could have resolved double stars separated at the SCT's Dawes limit of 0.5" this evening.
Although the seeing was excellent, the star images did wobble around a bit, which I suspect was caused by the ALT-AZ tracking of the telescope and not by movement of the deck. I have to investigate that further.
I also experimented with the Barlow today. Using it behind the diagonal works for both the 80ED and the SCT. The 80ED setup becomes somewhat unstable with it though. Also with both telescopes it makes the view dimmer than expected, and I suspect significant light loss when using it (vignetting or reflections).
Incidentally the LX200GPS initially misbehaved this evening for the first time ever. With one of the two Pyramid power supplies its controller lighted up without displaying any text, but seemingly operating. Then when I switched to the other power supply, the Dec motor ran away at full speed upon initialization. Luckily I managed to turn off the telescope before damage occurred. After that the telescope behaved normal again, albeit the pointing accuracy was poor even after I had just aligned it using automatic alignment. Hence I didn't use the GOTO functionality this evening.
This evening also demonstrated that I like the quick grab-and-go setup of the 80ED really a lot more than the lug-and-slow setup of the LX200GPS. The LX200GPS really ought to be used with a permanent setup.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Seeing Surprise
Tonight I took the 80ED for another ride on the PORTA II. Because I was curious about the collimation of the telescope, I also used the 31 years old SR 4mm for a 150x magnification, and boy was I in for a surprise.
Not only was the telescope's collimation still spot on, but the seeing produced a textbook diffraction pattern! A 10 on the pickering scale (10/10).
I really ought to get some extra eyepieces, and put that LX200GPS to some use as well!
Not only was the telescope's collimation still spot on, but the seeing produced a textbook diffraction pattern! A 10 on the pickering scale (10/10).
- Globular Cluster M13 in Hercules: Even at 31x this fuzzy ball is clearly brighter towards its center, but at 150x it became somewhat mottled, hinting that it indeed consists of stars.
- Double Star Albireo: The 4mm only made the colors duller, so it wasn't a good match for this one.
- Planetary Nebula M57 in Lyra: This time I also tried the nebula filter with the 9mm, which led to a better contrast and stronger hints of darkening in the center. This object requires a higher magnification than 31x of course.
- Quadruple Star Epsilon Lyrae: I could split all four members with easy at 150x. The view was tack sharp with diffraction patterns.
- Open Cluster M29 in Cygnus. At 150x, I could see the magnitude 12 stars inside the quadrilateral formed by the four brightest stars. This bodes well for the limiting magnitude near zenith, regardless the light pollution.
I really ought to get some extra eyepieces, and put that LX200GPS to some use as well!
Friday, September 7, 2012
The New Deck
After many years of low observing activity, I recently decided to get back to visual observing. Instead of having to lug out the LX200GPS and wait for it to cool down, I figured a grab-and-go set-up using my 80ED would likely be more successful.
Because I had bought that telescope as a wide field imaging telescope mounted on top of the LX200GPS, and the Orion Paragon-Plus XHD tripod that I originally had purchased as an alternative mount many years ago has been a huge disappointment, I purchased a Vixen PORTA II mount. Now that is a nice mount for this telescope!
With ease I observed the following objects this evening, all found within seconds after pointing the Rigel Quick Finder in the expected direction:
Now it helps that my 19mm Panoptic results in a 2.2° field of view with this telescope, but at 31x the magnification and contrast is rather low for a full enjoyment of the view, so I am really tempted now to buy a few extra eyepieces.
Note that it could be the low magnification, but the seeing looked considerably better than I expected from the DC area. I really ought to get out more often, and try the LX200GPS as well!
The setup used this evening was:
The DewBuster was turned off though, because it looks like its temperature sensor is busted after all these years of non-use. I still have to investigate that further.
Because I had bought that telescope as a wide field imaging telescope mounted on top of the LX200GPS, and the Orion Paragon-Plus XHD tripod that I originally had purchased as an alternative mount many years ago has been a huge disappointment, I purchased a Vixen PORTA II mount. Now that is a nice mount for this telescope!
With ease I observed the following objects this evening, all found within seconds after pointing the Rigel Quick Finder in the expected direction:
- Double Star Mizar
- Quadruple Star Epsilon Lyrae
- Globular Cluster M13
- Globular Cluster M92
- Planetary Nebula M57
- Double Star Albireo
Now it helps that my 19mm Panoptic results in a 2.2° field of view with this telescope, but at 31x the magnification and contrast is rather low for a full enjoyment of the view, so I am really tempted now to buy a few extra eyepieces.
Note that it could be the low magnification, but the seeing looked considerably better than I expected from the DC area. I really ought to get out more often, and try the LX200GPS as well!
The setup used this evening was:
- Orion 80ED
- Vixen PORTA II Mount
- ScopeStuff dovetail bar and cradle rings
- Dew Buster with Dew-Not dew removers for the objective and eyepiece
- William Optics 2" Diagonal
- Televue Panoptic 19mm
- Rigel Quick Finder
- Pyramid PS9KX 5A/7A Power Supply
The DewBuster was turned off though, because it looks like its temperature sensor is busted after all these years of non-use. I still have to investigate that further.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)