This page is dedicated to observations made with a 120mm refractor.  The observing reports shown below should give you a flavour of what you can see with this type of instrument.

Observer: Bob Bowen
E-mail address: RBOWEN8684@AOL.COM
Date and time of Observation: 1/20/00 9PM EST
Observing Location: My backyard in Clio Mich USA
Object Observed: Open Clusters M1
Viewing conditions: Transparent but some turbulence at higher powers
Telescope Skywatcher 120 GP Mount
Eyepiece 26mm Meade 4000 Plossel 12.4mm & 6.4mm (Same type)
Observing notes:

This is the first time for me to use the 120. I got it the day after Christmas and have been waiting for clear sky's since. It was very cold, a little above zero. Had trouble handling the eps. Thoughts of trying to screw on a filter went out the window rather quickly. I was delighted to see how much more light the 120 gathered over my ST90 and the views were very crisp. When I turned the tube towards M1 it was pretty easy to locate. I use the 26mm to center it and switched to the 12.4mm and tried my narrow band filter on it. The filter didn't help as much as increasing the power. Put the 6.4 in and it showed better. The crab had a vague oval shape with the edges tapering off indistinctly. Then I zeroed in on M35 and bumped the power to 80x and studied it for a little while. I saw a dog-like shape revealed by the dark zones in the middle of the cluster. I turned to M41 in canis major using the 26mm (40x) and the more I studied this magnificent object, the more the patterns changed, similar to looking at the shape of a cloud. Then I turned to M43. This is one of my favorite subjects because the seeing and the type of instrument I use, with or without a filter appears differently but its always superb viewing. By now my hands were nearing the frostbite stage and my dog was whining to get out of the cold, so I folded up shop for the night.

This is the first t Comment: I was quite happy with the performance of the new 120, and the GP mount does a great job with the load of the scope, my dew prevention, and the Orion easyfinder I use along with the 6x30 finder. Now, if it would just warm up a bit....

Observer: Paul Hennay
E-mail address: Paul.J.Henney@btinternet.com
Date and time of Observation: 8 June 2000 8:30pm GMT
Object Observed: Mercury
Viewing conditions: Mod - Poor
Telescope 20 x 80 Bino's and 120mm f/8.3 achromat Refractor
Eyepiece 12.5 & 7.5mm Plossl's
Observing notes:

With a clear WNW horizon again tonight, I decided to try and track down Mercury once more.

I started early an ca. 20:30ish UT just immediately after sundown and managed to pick the planet up in 10 x50's and then tripod mounted 20 x 80's. Normally I'm restricted to using bino's from my back garden due to the difficulty of getting a clear run past the roofs, satellite dishes, trees etc which litter the relevant skyline. However tonight I saw that I would have a pretty clear shot for a short while so dragged out my 120mm refractor and quickly set it up. I immediately acquired Mercury using a 25mm EP and then switched up to a 12.5mm. Bingo, there its was, a slightly fat 1/2 phase! A bright golden yellow with a slight ?salmon pink tinge at times. Switched up to the 7.5mm and got more of the same. A clear phase but absolutely no features except a probably imagined slightly darker patch by the terminator, near the equator.

Despite not really being able to see much I just gawked for 30 or so minutes until it set below a rooftop. The seeing noticeably dropped off as the planet dropped in altitude.

I take my hat off to those that can map features on the disk.. They must have excellent seeing and big scopes :-)

Now if the clouds keep clear. Onwards to the galaxies!

pj

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