Mersing Trip on CNY
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Canopus Lim
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starfinder
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"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 
brief report from me:
- absolutely no dew for the whole night (don't even need dewshield)
- sky was not the best mersing can offer, but when the clouds cleared up, the view was pretty good
- highlights of the evening is orion region (m43,m42,m78,barnard33,rosette,witchhead,ngc1975,m1,flame), sombrero, m81, m83 galaxies, and eta carinae region
- our first time catching a glimpse of the horsehead nebula
- comparing my m603 to my previous C8s, the view is more pleasing due to better contrast and better optics (in and out focus of the airy disk pattern is almost identical), this makes up the 2" aperture difference.
- did a lot of eyepiece comparison on my f/10 scope:
-- 40mm XL vs 40mm XW vs 40mm MK70: the view is almost the same, XW slightly better in contrast
-- 21mm XL vs 20mm XW vs 22mm Pan: i can't see much difference, will keep my Pano :-)
-- 11mm Nagler vs 14mm XL vs 14mm XW: i think it's a tie. has better widefield view on the Nagler, but the XL/XW is slightly better in contrast.
- absolutely no dew for the whole night (don't even need dewshield)
- sky was not the best mersing can offer, but when the clouds cleared up, the view was pretty good
- highlights of the evening is orion region (m43,m42,m78,barnard33,rosette,witchhead,ngc1975,m1,flame), sombrero, m81, m83 galaxies, and eta carinae region
- our first time catching a glimpse of the horsehead nebula
- comparing my m603 to my previous C8s, the view is more pleasing due to better contrast and better optics (in and out focus of the airy disk pattern is almost identical), this makes up the 2" aperture difference.
- did a lot of eyepiece comparison on my f/10 scope:
-- 40mm XL vs 40mm XW vs 40mm MK70: the view is almost the same, XW slightly better in contrast
-- 21mm XL vs 20mm XW vs 22mm Pan: i can't see much difference, will keep my Pano :-)
-- 11mm Nagler vs 14mm XL vs 14mm XW: i think it's a tie. has better widefield view on the Nagler, but the XL/XW is slightly better in contrast.
Last edited by ariefm71 on Wed Feb 01, 2006 12:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
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starfinder
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ok, thanks for the report Arief, wish I had been there! The horsehead visually!? wow.
BTW, I too saw the Sombrero galaxy (M104), in Singapore on either Sat or Sun night from my home near town. I was quite surprised to be able to see it. Its central region was obvious in the LX-90 8" SCT at 100x without having to use averted vision. With averted vision, I sensed a length-wise elongation, and perhaps a dark lane. (Of course, the view I had of it at Mersing was much better.)
I then did some experiments to see which was the faintest star I could see in the LX-90. By comparing a number of stars in a planetarium software with what I could and could not detect around M104, I would say the faintest star that was visible that night was about mag 12. Mag 13 stars were not visible even with averted vision. That would seem to rule out seeing Pluto visually in Singapore in 8" scopes, unless perhaps in exceptionally clear nights.
BTW, I too saw the Sombrero galaxy (M104), in Singapore on either Sat or Sun night from my home near town. I was quite surprised to be able to see it. Its central region was obvious in the LX-90 8" SCT at 100x without having to use averted vision. With averted vision, I sensed a length-wise elongation, and perhaps a dark lane. (Of course, the view I had of it at Mersing was much better.)
I then did some experiments to see which was the faintest star I could see in the LX-90. By comparing a number of stars in a planetarium software with what I could and could not detect around M104, I would say the faintest star that was visible that night was about mag 12. Mag 13 stars were not visible even with averted vision. That would seem to rule out seeing Pluto visually in Singapore in 8" scopes, unless perhaps in exceptionally clear nights.
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Canopus Lim
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Sombrero galaxy (M104) was easy on the Teleport. I could make out the whole shape, the core and the long dustlane that stretched from end to end. I have finished scanning the only sketch (which took half the night due to the fast moving clouds) there which is M44 and Saturn in the FOV. Any links for me to post my pictures to so that it can be seen on Singastro?
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Airconvent
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Hi Canopus,Canopus Lim wrote:Sombrero galaxy (M104) was easy on the Teleport. I could make out the whole shape, the core and the long dustlane that stretched from end to end. I have finished scanning the only sketch (which took half the night due to the fast moving clouds) there which is M44 and Saturn in the FOV. Any links for me to post my pictures to so that it can be seen on Singastro?
Simply save the attachment as a small jpg file and attach it to your post using the "attach" function. The system will reject big files (keep it less than 50K) and use only jpg format.
rich
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
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Canopus Lim
- Posts: 1144
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 12:46 pm
- Location: Macpherson
My first outdoor sketch of M44 and Saturn together. The bigger dots are the brighter stars. It may not be that clear as the resolution is not enough. Also, Saturn's orientation may not be that exact as I drew it after the observation. The size of Saturn could be slightly smaller than the sketch. For the stars in M44, the position, brightness and orientation is quite accurate when I compared with my astronomy software.
M44 and Saturn sketch
M44 and Saturn sketch
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Adding on to Arief's report :
- M65, M66 + 1 more galaxy in the same field
- M81 and M82 in the same field -- viewing big galaxies in the same field is always fun
- flame nebula (near horsehead) -- with the Hb, takes on the texture of flames. Without Hb, looks more like hazy patches
- Centaurus A galaxy NGC 5128 -- if Sombero is a hamburger, then this is a Carl's Jr burger. Very unique and qutie big, looks like in pictures
- M1 -- never saw this in mersing before. In Sg, it looks like a ball of cotton wool. In Mersing, the tiny embedded stars begin to show and the texture becomes more "crabby".
- Antenna / Comma galaxy -- cute
- Eskimo planetary at 250x -- not much different from in Sg, just a bright nucleus with a furry coat
- Eta carina looks like in pictures with numerous dark lanes
About the ep comparisons, do note that f10 is rather forgiving. However, f5 is a different animal especially at very wide fields. For example, I seldom used the 40XL on the teleport because of poor off-axis images. With the 40XW, it was pin point sharp across 95% of the field and even sharper and more contrasty than the "sharp" areas in the 40XL.
- M65, M66 + 1 more galaxy in the same field
- M81 and M82 in the same field -- viewing big galaxies in the same field is always fun
- flame nebula (near horsehead) -- with the Hb, takes on the texture of flames. Without Hb, looks more like hazy patches
- Centaurus A galaxy NGC 5128 -- if Sombero is a hamburger, then this is a Carl's Jr burger. Very unique and qutie big, looks like in pictures
- M1 -- never saw this in mersing before. In Sg, it looks like a ball of cotton wool. In Mersing, the tiny embedded stars begin to show and the texture becomes more "crabby".
- Antenna / Comma galaxy -- cute
- Eskimo planetary at 250x -- not much different from in Sg, just a bright nucleus with a furry coat
- Eta carina looks like in pictures with numerous dark lanes
About the ep comparisons, do note that f10 is rather forgiving. However, f5 is a different animal especially at very wide fields. For example, I seldom used the 40XL on the teleport because of poor off-axis images. With the 40XW, it was pin point sharp across 95% of the field and even sharper and more contrasty than the "sharp" areas in the 40XL.