St. Patrick's Day with the Telescope

I decided to take advantage of the clear night to test out the new gear.  In addition to the new Antares finder scope (#1 in the picture) and 2" diagonal (#2), I had also picked up a slightly used Hyperion click-stop zoom eyepiece (8mm-24mm, #3) a JMI "wing thing" holder for my hand controller (#5) and some Earthshine port plugs to keep dust and grime out of my unused AUX ports (#4).

The hand controller holder worked perfectly - easy to install/remove and the height is adjustable.  It holds the controller exactly where you want it, freeing up your hands to focus, change a magnification, hold a flashlight, etc.  A very good investment!

The plugs are also perfect, and I've never seen them anywhere else.  They are just plastic covers for RJ11 phone jacks, but they are well made and easy to use.  Worth every cent :)

The new diagonal performed well, even if it was rotated slightly off center.  I'll see what I can do about that for the next session.  It is very well made, and the compression rings do a great job of holding eyepieces without marring them.

Once I got the Antares finder aligned, it too performed well.  Very nice optics - and at 50mm, it can almost be used as a wide-field scope.  Almost :)  The Pleiades fit nicely inside the field of view, as did the sword of Orion.  Made finding those objects (and others, like M44, the "Beehive") a cake walk.  SO much better than a red dot finder.

The only issue that I had that night was with the new Hyperion eyepiece.  It just didn't provide pin-point stars, regardless of the magnification.  Sure, the conditions weren't perfect, so I'll blame that for part of it.  And I guarantee that my scope is not perfectly collimated (but it's close - I tested it on Sirius and got a pretty good set of concentric circles when defocused).  I compared the views in the Hyperion to my 25mm plossl, and the plossl was better.  I need to have a better look at the EP in the light - maybe it's dirty...

I decided to take a few quick views of Orion, looking at Rigel and M42.  The Hyperion could not split the stars of the Trapezium at all, while I know that I've done it with my plossls.  Hmmm.

I hovered around Canis Major, Gemini and Monoceros as well, finding some nice Messier objects in their midst.  I love me some star clusters :)

I called it a night when the combination of cold air and the neighbor's driveway lights (never usually a problem) made observing too difficult.  I hope to get another shot when I get back from my business trip to Tennessee and Georgia next week.

Clear Skies,

Todd

Building a new Eyepiece Case

With my recent purchase of another eyepiece (a 9mm Super Plossl), I am slowly building up a collection of gear that is no longer fit for a shoebox ;) I decided to look at eyepiece cases, and found quite a few. Most are expensive, and I'm a cheapskate. I decided to take the advice of several online write-ups and bought a case at Lowes that should do the trick.

It's a tool case, but comes with an insert made of the "diced" foam - this allows for easy customization. I should be able to get all of my eyepieces (32mm, 25mm, 9mm, 2x barlow) into the case, with plenty of room left over for my LED flashlight.

I'll take pictures of the final case, but here's a picture of the Lowes case from their website. Should be around $25 in the stores (maybe less, maybe more, depending on sales).

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.