This page is dedicated to observations made with a 203mm (8") Schmidt Cassegrain. The observing reports shown below should give you a flavour of what you can see with this type of instrument.
| Observer: | Jasem Mutlaq |
| E-mail address: | joe19@sunflower.com |
| Web site: | www.sunflower.com/~joe19 |
| Date and time of Observation: | June 16th 2001. 12:00 am - 2:30 am |
| Observing Location: | Lawrence, KS. |
| Object Observed: | M13, M51, M57, Mars |
| Viewing conditions: | Excellent. Some overcast from the city near the horizon |
| Telescope | Meade's LX-90 |
| Eyepiece | 26mm, 6.4mm, 18mm SWA, 2x barlow |
| Observing notes: |
I was at the site at 12:05 am, and it was
such a beautiful night with clear
skies. It took me quite a while to setup my LX-90, and I started with
Mars
at 300x, a very remarkable sight. It was very bright but I was not able
to attain any details, it is a probably a good idea to have planetary filters next time I observe. I was very excited then to try some DSOs,
so I tried M13 using the 18mm SWA, the scope slewed high in the sky and
I had M13 in the FOV!!
At first it seemed like a globular cluster of "dust", I had to fine
tune the
focus to sharpen the image and then it was a truly amazing globular
cluster
of stars. M13 is my first DSO ever!
I swapped eye pieces and took another look, a very amazing sight. I
then
tried Autostar's "guided tour: Tonight's best". The 1st candidate was
Mars,
and then a host of other DSOs. One was M31: Andromeda. Even though I
was
under relatively good dark skies, the glare or overcast from the city
made
the sky a bit gray for 10-20 degrees off horizontal. So when it slewed
to M31, which wasn't very low at 1:15 am, I wasn't able to recognize
anything.
Of course, it is probably that the scope did not have it in the FOV (my
setup was far from perfect). I searched around but there was nothing. I
then tried M51, this time the telescope had something unusual in the FOV. I
was using 18mm SWA EP and I saw two closely "dusty" balls. Since I saw
pictures for M51 before, I know I was on the right target. Unfortunately, I
wasn't able to attain any details of the galaxy structure.
I browsed through the tour and was able to locate more DSOs, mostly
clusters. I was able to get the Ring Nebula (M57) in the FOV. Even
though there
was no detail at all, I recognized the ring structure. I was expecting
more, but today was already full of success, at least compared with my
previous attempts.
The wind wasn't as calm as I hoped but the tripod was very stable. It
was getting chilly at 2:30 am when I decided to leave. I am very pleased of
my trip... Clear skies!!
|
| Observer: | BOB BOWEN |
| E-mail address: | RBOWEN8684@AOL.COM |
| Date and time of Observation: | 11/3/00 9:30 PM EST |
| Observing Location: | BACKYARD CLIO, MI |
| Object Observed: | M1 |
| Viewing conditions: | TRANSPARENT BUT TURBULENT |
| Telescope | 203MM SCT...10X50 BINOS |
| Eyepiece | 17MM |
| Observing notes: |
I OBSERVED MANY OBJECTS LAST NITE BUT THE
MOON WAS ALMOST AT 1ST 1/4 AND
WAS VERY BRIGHT. I WANTED TO SHARE HOW I FOUND M1. EVEN WITH AN 8"
SCT I
COULD'T LOCATE IT UNTILL I PUT A LPR FILTER ON MY 17MM. IT SNAPPED
INTO
VIEW EVEN WITH THE MOON SO BRIGHT. I USED CELESTRONS LPR FILTER. ONCE
I
FOUND IT WITH THE FILTER I WAS ABLE TO SEE IT WITHOUT THE FILTER BUT
THE
DIFFERENCE WAS NOT SUBTLE. THE TEMP WAS WELL BELOW FREEZING AND A
BREEZE
PICKED UP JUST A LITTLE LATER MAKING IT TO COLD TO STAY OUT LONGER. I
WANTED TO SHARE HOW THE FILTER HELPED ME FIND M1 EVEN WITH THE MOON SO
BRIGHT. IT ALSO GIVES ORION'S NEBULA SOME SERIOUS DEFINITION TOO!
GOOD SEEING |
Add your own observation | Back home | Back to the Observations index page