First Light (sort of), Vixen VMC200L

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I've always wanted a medium sized scope to image through with my DSLR as well as to use for general observation. Hearing about the mirror flop, dewing issues with SCTs, I decided that I might want something other than the ubiquitous C8, especially since it might not fully illuminate the DSLR sensor.
Happily, along came a very nice, slightly used VMC200L on Cloudynights by a guy who already has a stable of imaging refractors, selling for a very nice price. Order placed, paid more than 25% of its cost for shipping (ouch!) and it finally arrived in Singapore! Hooray! Then 3 months of cloudy weather.........
Finally, 2 nights ago the weather cleared very nicely enough to bring it out for a real test drive! Hooray!

Setup was done in a dark parking lot although unfortunately the bright lights of a very nearby LRT station were distracting, to say the least. However, it was located next to a nursery so the pleasant scent of pine trees (Christmas trees!) made for a very nice observing session. The scope was mounted on a Vixen SXW, roughly levelled and aligned with a compass. Next, the finderscope was attached and the whole assembly pointed at a very co-operative HDB window to zero the finderscope to the main scope. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get the finder crosshairs to exactly match the centre of the telescope's field of view but close enough that I could compensate slightly.

On to the first target of the night, Sirius! This was located pretty high up near zenith but being the brightest object, I thought it would be easier to find than a dimmer object for the first zero-ing.
The GOTO of the SXW brought it well within half of the FOV of my finderscope although outside that of my Nagler 20, the widest in my EP collection so far. However, defocusing the telescope made a bright flash visible at 11 o'clock, slewing the scope in that direction resulted in a large, unfocussed Sirius being brought into view. Very handy, this de-focussing technique. It also revealed slight miscollimation - defocused stars were just very slightly asymmetrical - which I figured "Observe first, technical fixes later".
Although Sirius is a very bright star, the diffraction spikes from that thick spider were dim at best, and I had to tell myself to look for them before I became aware of their presence. I'm sure they'll be bright on photos, but otherwise they're a non-issue. in fact for the remaining part of the session, I never thought about them at all.

After alignment using Sirius and Betelgeuse, on to that famous DSO, the Great Nebula in Orion (or M42 for the astro-geeks). The Trapezium was clearly defined in 4 stars and the bat-wing shape was clearly visible. Strangely, the nebula appeared dimmer than in my ED80 refractor but it was certainly better defined. I'm guessing this is probably due to the lower contrast thanks to that 40% obstruction and thick spiders.
Unfortunately, I couldn't tease the other 2 stars out of the Trapezium that evening. In fact, no matter how I tried, the stars wouldn't come to pin-point focus, like in my ED80. After a while it dawned on me: I think I'm seeing diffraction rings at focus, not faulty focussing. I think I now understand the phrase "refractor-like views".

Next I attempted to find the Cone nebula and Flame nebula. No luck. GOTO was very accurate by this time with stars landing inside 50% of my Nagler 20's FOV but no amount of averted vision brought out any nebulosity, with and without a Lumicon Deep Sky filter. However, it must be said that my site was far from a "dark site". In fact, the fluorescent lights of the nearby LRT station proved so distracting that I could not see the lens opening of my Nagler 9 or Ortho7mm at all without shielding my eyes from the glare so I'm sure that went a long way in ruining my night vision!

The next half-hour or so was spent in re-collimating (and partially un-collimating!) my scope, resulting in.....slight miscollimation again! I think I'll bring it down to a star party for some expert help!
By this time my knees and thighs were really hurting from kneeling down on asphalt or doing half squats so I decided to lie down flat on the ground. (a stool or kneeling carpet will be a REALLY good idea) It was a really lovely night and it was a pleasure looking up into the sky and seeing a few stars looking down. I wonder which two are Tristan and Yvaine.......

Finally for a last target it was on to the moon. It was well past 3am now and the moon had risen significantly in the eastern horizon so out came the sunglasses (yep, still haven't gotten my moon filter). Views through the 9mm were quite stunning, with craters large and impressive. Some shimmering noted (seeing conditions) but altogether very nice.
After a very nice evening out, a quick pack-up and final check to make sure I didn't leave any Naglers behind on the ground to get squished by traffic in the morning and then off to bed and apply cream on my insect bites *grin*

Extra note: A few weeks ago I managed to get the VMC out for just a short while to check collimation on a star (Sirius). Despite the night being so foggy that blocks 1km away were barely visible, the OTA resisted dewing completely. The outside of the tube was wet, my car windscreens and body were completely wet from condensation but the mirror and optics remained dew-free. I'm very impressed with the dew resistance of this scope.

[rcj]

Nice astrograph u have there. Used to have the VC200L variant. Certainly a better choice for imaging than the usual C8s. No mirror flop, little coma and cooled quickly. Might want to consider the F6.4 reducer...

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6.4 reducer costs USD300 and no one seems to have a spare one lying around to sell! You have lobang? *grin*