Friday Night at Mingo Star Party

I journeyed out to Mingo park again on Friday, where the AAAP was holding another weekend of star parties. I meant to go Saturday, but Friday was looking good and my kids somehow got to bed early. Go figure!

I brought my usual gear, but this was the first time with the new eyepieces and case (pics coming soon). I setup my tripod, for the camera and binoculars, my scope (‘ol Blue), my beach chair and the small equipment table. The table is actually a kids folding table that I steal from my 6 year old. Remind me to get a real observing table.

Venus and Saturn were close together, but setting fast. I used the barlowed 9mm to view them both at 155x, which was a treat. It’s the largest I’ve seen either in this scope, and they both looked great. They moved fast, so I decided to try Jupiter for a while.

Jupiter stayed out all night, and Mingo has a GREAT view of the southern sky. I saw more in the south tonight than I ever have before. Jupiter and the 4 main moons barely fit into the eyepiece view at 155x, but I got them. Better detail than I expected, including 2 cloud bands and possibly the red spot (I may have seen it, or I may have wanted to see it so badly that I faked my own eyes out ;-)). At that magnification, it moved out of view FAST. Tracking would be a good thing to have on the next scope, so maybe the Dob is out after all.

By far, my favorites of the night came from Sagittarius, where I was able to see several Messier objects with just the binoculars. I spotted M8 (Lagoon Nebula), M20 (Trifid Nebula), and M21 in what has to be the prettiest binocular-ready section of the sky. The Milky Way was “flowing” right out of the teapot of Sagittarius, and made my night. I can only imagine what darker sites would do for this part of the sky.

I also spent some time on Antares in Scorpius, and again used binoculars to find M4. By this point, I was also viewing M4 and M25 through the 24” reflector Mingo’s observatory, so I was getting a little spoiled. This scope now features a rotating turret of eyepieces, so changing between the 5 or 6 magnifications was perfectly simple. A great star party addition, especially since those eyepieces were all Tele-Vue Naglers. What I’d give to have a set of those in my eyepiece arsenal! Someday!

I started packing up at about 12:45, just as a lovely reddish-brown moon rose behind me. I took several shots of the moon, none of which really worked. Ah well.

Overall, a great night! I met several new people, and I’m sure I’ll even remember their names someday (I’m terrible with names!).

Bought some new eyepieces

I found some inexpensive eyepieces on Ebay (SmartAstronomy's store, ebay id Ruby123) and decided to give them a try on 'ol Blue (the Bushnell 3" reflector). These are Guan Sheng eyepieces, rebranded for SmartAstronomy. As far as I can tell, there are others (including Celestron) that offer the same ones with different branding.

I bought a 32mm Super Plossl and a 2x Barlow (both 1 1/4" and fully multicoated). They arrived in only 2 days, were packed very well, and came with dust caps. They were further wrapped in small baggies and placed inside nice little boxes. The 32mm also has fold-down rubber eye guard. Nice touch.

The 32mm preformed well - nice eye relief, wide view (52 degrees, according to the specs), and good overall contrast and darkness of the sky. Stars appeared sharp to the edges of the field as well.

The barlow also worked well, but the focuser in 'ol Blue has a rivet inside that doesn't allow easy insert of longer eyepieces. Thank you Bushnell. I did get it in, but it isn't easy. Not the way to go when you're trying to do a simple swap to get a little closer to a DSO.

I did manage to get a nice view of M13, easy to pick out now that I'm learning my way around the sky. It was late when I tested, so the planets were out of view (behind trees or already set). I'll try the planets again soon.

Overall, a great deal at under $50 for both. I'll likely pick up a 9mm to go with the set, since the price is right and the company is SUPER easy to deal with.