Observing reports - Schmidt Cassegrain

Here are observing reports made with 3" Newtonian Reflector telescopes. The reports below give a flavour of what can be seen with this type of telescope.

Observer: Darren Wong

E-mail address: dhumpie@hotmail.com

Observing Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Object Observed: general

Viewing conditions: good transparency magnitude 5 skies

Telescope 3 inch newtonian reflector

Eyepiece 20mm (35x), 12.5mm (56x), 6mm (117x) SMA

Observing notes:
This is a summary of what I have seen through my 3" newt. Its a Synta scope (similar to the one Orion Telescopes USA carries). I have logged countless of hour's looking at different objects with this scope. It's good for both "within the solar system and beyond" objects. The best objects to look at within the solar system are Jupiter (4 bands plus some ruffling in the SEB and its 4 roving moons...have yet to see the great red spot...wonder if that is at all possible in a scope of this aperture), Saturn (thought I caught a glimpse of its most prominent equatorial band, plus two moons with the high power eyepiece operating at about 117x) and Mars (during the recent opposition, I saw one polar ice cap and some surface features..but nothing to really shout about). And the moon looks excellent with its craters, etc etc.
Plus this scope works rather well for deep sky objects (DSO). I mated the low power eyepiece with Orion's excellent "SkyGlow" filter. Planetary nebula's jump out at you...M57, the Ring Nebula is a nice "ghostly doughnut", even at low power (35x); M27, the Dumbbell Nebula appears as a and dumbbell shaped greenish glow (best seen at 56x) and NGC 7009, the Saturn Nebula is a greenish disc at high powers (several others also look excellent like NGC 3132, the Eight Burst Nebula..looking something like the ring nebula only much smaller and without the hole in the middle!). Several globular's are partially resolved with pinpricks of stars scattered across its face. The views at high power (117x) rivals the view of globulars at low mag in my 6 inch newtonian with just slightly less resolution (i.e less pinpricks of stars). Better examples include M22 (very nicely resolved...one of the best in my opinion), M4, 47 Tucana, Omega Centauri and M13. All these show some resolution. Turn your! sight's to nebulae and you will be blown away (with the "SkyGlow" of course. Without the filter, the images are only less contrasty with less detail visible)...the Orion Nebula shows greenish wisps of nebulae (with its wings extended!!!) covering a ridiculous extent of the field of view under low mag (and the trapezium, plus nebulosity in M43), M17, the Omega Nebula's omega shaped nebulosity can be glimpsed, the dark rifts in M8 (the Lagoon Nebula) and M20, the Trifid Nebula can be glimpsed. The dark tendrils surrounding the Tarantula Nebula can be seen with difficulty (only with "SkyGlow" in place). M1, the Crab Nebula was faint but definitely present with averted vision (only with "SkyGlow" inplace). Heck, even some nebulosity was seen surrounding the faint cluster in M16, the Eagle Nebula. This scope also fares modestly for galaxies. I have seen the spindly shape of M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, the Great Andromeda Galaxy M31 and its companion galaxies and NGC 253, the great ! spiral in Sculptor. But the 6 inch is more suitable for galaxy hunting so I will limit my discussion to these few....
My next report will be observations at the 6 inch.....
Comment: Never underestimate what can be seen in a small scope and never give up searching for the object until you find it!

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Observer:	Darren Wong
E-mail address:	dhumpie@hotmail.com
Observing Location:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Object Observed:	general
Viewing conditions:	good transparency magnitude 5 skies
Telescope	3 inch newtonian reflector
Eyepiece	20mm (35x), 12.5mm (56x), 6mm (117x) SMA
Observing notes:	This is a summary of what I have seen through my 3" newt. Its a Synta scope (similar to the one Orion Telescopes USA carries). I have logged countless of hour's looking at different objects with this scope. It's good for both "within the solar system and beyond" objects. The best objects to look at within the solar system are Jupiter (4 bands plus some ruffling in the SEB and its 4 roving moons...have yet to see the great red spot...wonder if that is at all possible in a scope of this aperture), Saturn (thought I caught a glimpse of its most prominent equatorial band, plus two moons with the high power eyepiece operating at about 117x) and Mars (during the recent opposition, I saw one polar ice cap and some surface features..but nothing to really shout about). And the moon looks excellent with its craters, etc etc. Plus this scope works rather well for deep sky objects (DSO). I mated the low power eyepiece with Orion's excellent "SkyGlow" filter. Planetary nebula's jump out at you...M57, the Ring Nebula is a nice "ghostly doughnut", even at low power (35x); M27, the Dumbbell Nebula appears as a and dumbbell shaped greenish glow (best seen at 56x) and NGC 7009, the Saturn Nebula is a greenish disc at high powers (several others also look excellent like NGC 3132, the Eight Burst Nebula..looking something like the ring nebula only much smaller and without the hole in the middle!). Several globular's are partially resolved with pinpricks of stars scattered across its face. The views at high power (117x) rivals the view of globulars at low mag in my 6 inch newtonian with just slightly less resolution (i.e less pinpricks of stars). Better examples include M22 (very nicely resolved...one of the best in my opinion), M4, 47 Tucana, Omega Centauri and M13. All these show some resolution. Turn your! sight's to nebulae and you will be blown away (with the "SkyGlow" of course. Without the filter, the images are only less contrasty with less detail visible)...the Orion Nebula shows greenish wisps of nebulae (with its wings extended!!!) covering a ridiculous extent of the field of view under low mag (and the trapezium, plus nebulosity in M43), M17, the Omega Nebula's omega shaped nebulosity can be glimpsed, the dark rifts in M8 (the Lagoon Nebula) and M20, the Trifid Nebula can be glimpsed. The dark tendrils surrounding the Tarantula Nebula can be seen with difficulty (only with "SkyGlow" in place). M1, the Crab Nebula was faint but definitely present with averted vision (only with "SkyGlow" inplace). Heck, even some nebulosity was seen surrounding the faint cluster in M16, the Eagle Nebula. This scope also fares modestly for galaxies. I have seen the spindly shape of M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, the Great Andromeda Galaxy M31 and its companion galaxies and NGC 253, the great ! spiral in Sculptor. But the 6 inch is more suitable for galaxy hunting so I will limit my discussion to these few.... My next report will be observations at the 6 inch..... Comment: Never underestimate what can be seen in a small scope and never give up searching for the object until you find it!