This page is dedicated to observations made with a 150mm refractor. The observing reports shown below should give you a flavour of what you can see with this type of instrument.
| Observer: | Fred Meyer |
| E-mail address: | patriciameyer@world.att.net |
| Date and time of Observation: | 6-2-03 , 9:30pm |
| Observing Location: | Eastern Long Island, NewYork |
| Object Observed: | M65,M66,M5 |
| Viewing conditions: | good,some light clouds |
| Telescope | Celestron cr150hd |
| Eyepiece | University mk-70 25mm |
| Observing notes: |
THIS ISN'T ONE OF THE DARKEST SIGHTS TO WORK FROM BUT IT'S OK. M65 AND M66 LOOKED PRETTY COOL ,TWO PUFFS OF LIGHT HANGING IN SPACE NO DETAILS CAN BE SEEN.DIDN'T REALLY CRANK THE POWER UP BECAUSE I WANTED TO USE MY WIDE ANGLE TO KEEP BOTH IN THE SAME VIEW . M5 LOOKED LIKE A BRIGHT COTTON BALL WITH A FEW STARS VISIBLE AROUND THE EDGES. TRIED TOO USE HIGHER POWER BUT IT JUST DIDN'T SHOW ANY MORE STARS. |
| Observer: | Steve Sheriff |
| E-mail address: | fsanta@arrakis.es |
| Web site: | www.arrakis.es/~fsanta/astro |
| Date and time of Observation: | Easter week 2001 |
| Observing Location: | Guadalajara, Espaņa |
| Object Observed: | M81 M82 M101 |
| Viewing conditions: | good |
| Telescope | celestron 6" refractor |
| Eyepiece | 32mm and 20mm Pl. |
| Observing notes: |
Hi. Don't know whether refractors are
allowed on this site but I had some good views of M81. After about 20
minutes observing you can see the core and some whisps of spiral arms with
averted vision. M82 is just about in the same field of view as is a
fainter NGC object visible as a fuzzy patch (can't remember its number). It
is worth getting really dark eye ready for the 20mm eyepiece on M81 as
then you can pick out the spiral nicely. M101 is much harder and it
took me several nights to get the hang of it. I still could not see any
detail in it apart from a brightening towards the core.
Comment: Nice idea to have the observations from like minded people
with similar telescopes. Has anyone had a go at any of the Virgo galaxies?
|
| Observer: | Bob Derouin |
| E-mail address: | BOBCATH28@email.msn.com |
| Date and time of Observation: | 8:30 - 9:15 pm; Feb '01 |
| Observing Location: | Johnston,RI |
| Object Observed: | planet Saturn |
| Viewing conditions: | good |
| Telescope | 6"f/12 AstroPhysics superplanetary apo refractor |
| Eyepiece | 2" TeleVue Nagler 13mm |
| Observing notes: |
Very windy that night. Sky was
clear. Expected to get much atmospheric turbulence, but didn't. I likened my view of
Saturn to that given by Brown University's 12" Brashear
refractor, located at Ladd Observatory on the historic east side of Providence.The image
showed 4 moons,including Titan. The color of the ball of the planet was
a distinct 'golden'color with a grayish cloud belt/polar hood. The rings
glistened whitish and there was no mistaking the Cassini
division. However, no ring spokes or other details were visible. No Encke gap either! It
was a smaller scaled version of the best images from the 12" Brashear.
Comment: The wind drove me in early. Jupiter was too bright and I would
have liked to use a lt.green or lt. blue filter for fine details.Perhaps
for the next session! |
| Observer: | Colin Butler |
| E-mail address: | starzisme@aol.com |
| Date and time of Observation: | Oct 25 10:30PM MST |
| Observing Location: | Flagstaff Arizona |
| Object Observed: | NGCs 253, 288, 300. |
| Viewing conditions: | Excellent |
| Telescope | 6" Celestron CR-150 refractor |
| Eyepiece | 16mm Tel-Vue Nagler |
| Observing notes: |
On a night of near perfect seeing the
following objects were observed with a 6" Celestron refractor. Useing a 16mm
Tel-Vue nagler, NGC 253 in Sculptor was an easy target for the 6". The
view showed a very long, highly inclined galaxy with obvious spiril
structure and motteling.Within the arms this motteling was easy to pick
out as were severl field stars.
NGC 288 to the southeast of NGC 253 proved easy with the 6" as well. In
fact, it appared larger then I had thought it would in the refractor.
With the 16mm I saw it as quite large, with the outside stars easy to
tell from the fuzzy core section. With an 8.8mm Meade Ultra wide the glob
grew in size with a couple dozen fainter stars pooping in and out of
sight.
NGC 300 proved alittle tougher. Its low surface brightness causes this
southern face-on to be tricky to see in conditions are not right. In
the clear skies of Flagstaff at 7,000 I had very little trouble finding
this "clone" of the larger M-33 to the north. NGC 300 has a few field
stars superimposed over its face and these may interfear with
observations. In the 6" I saw it as quite large, faint yet much brighter at the
core. Hints of soft glowing arms always present.
NGC 55. Another southern edge-on showed very nice in the 6" though you
cant really get the " full " lengh in a 6" scope. The brighter mid
section of the galaxy showed itself well against a black Arizona sky. All
nice views, and all well with in range of any good 6" scope.
Colin Butler |
| Observer: | Colin Butler |
| E-mail address: | starzisme@Aol.com |
| Date and time of Observation: | 6 - 8 - 2000 |
| Object Observed: | NGC 6781 |
| Viewing conditions: | Seeing 7 / 10, Trans 9 / 10 |
| Telescope | 6" Celestron Refractor, model CR-150 |
| Eyepiece | Tel-Vue 19mm Wide Angle ( no longer made ) |
| Observing notes: |
Just to show that 6" scopes can move beyond
the Messiers, I made a quick observation last night of the planetary
nebula NGC 6781 in Aquila the eagle. Useing a Tel-Vue 19mm giving me 63X,
and an Orion UHC filter, the PN was easy. I saw it as "small, round,
a little darker to one side, and with a slight gray-ish tint to it.
Pumping the power up to 136X with a Meade 8.8mm Ultra Wide, gave it the
appearance of the Owl Nebula, M-97 in UM. Nice view. My skies are quite dark
with highest mag stars visible at about 6. Milkyway is easy most of the
time.
Colin Butler.
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