Aperture fever

Wow! I don't know if this qualifies as a Messier marathon, but this was
the longest I've spent in my life observing.

Came to Antiparos on the 6th, will be leaving tomorrow for Athens. I've
probably observed all the M objects that are out this season, plus 2-3
dozen of NGC objects, two comets and Uranus and Neptune.

All this, made possible by Cartes du Ciel, which I have to commend for
its tremendous flexibility and usefulness. CDC coupled with my laptop on
the yard at night with Tycho 2 installed and a couple of EP circles, can
really do miracles!

What I was really worried about was "aperture fever" which might have
shown up after I've observed with the 20x100 for a while. Not a fat
chance! I would gladly spend 2 more years at least checking stuff with
the giant binos, not to mention winter constellations and nebulae, which
I did not see.

A new batch of 6-12" Celestron Dobsonians is arriving in Greece anytime
now, and I've already back ordered mine, but I really cannot imagine how
much greater the observations may look under a 10" Dob.

This doesn't mean that I am not anticipating my 10"s arrival, but I'll
tell you, even my crappy Tasco coupled with the Apogee, makes for a
great tool, under 6+ magnitude skies. I was lucky to have ONE night of
6.5+ visibility here, and this, really is all an amateur could ever want.

The joy of seeing a faint NGC object! The joy!
--
I. N. Galidakis
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/jgal/
------------------------------------------
Eventually, _everything_ is understandable

This doesn't mean that I am not anticipating my 10"s arrival, but I'll
tell you, even my crappy Tasco coupled with the Apogee, makes for a
great tool, under 6+ magnitude skies.

Glad you are happy with your 60mm scope. I figure some folks are happy with
just about anything, some are unhappy with just about anything.


That 10 incher should be a real treat. Consider that it gathers about 18 as
much light as a 60mm scope and has 4 times the resolving power.

on

Ioannis wrote in message news:1093371099.41420@athnrd02...

Wow! I don't know if this qualifies as a Messier marathon, but this was
the longest I've spent in my life observing.

By the way, thanks for posting your observing reports. They were fun
to read--almost like being there. And congratulations on seeing M57's
"smoke ring" shape; it's not easy with limited aperture and
magnification.

Came to Antiparos on the 6th, will be leaving tomorrow for Athens. I've
probably observed all the M objects that are out this season, plus 2-3
dozen of NGC objects, two comets and Uranus and Neptune.

Did you observe M16? For some reason, it looks fairly bright in my
binocular and finder, but relatively dim in my telescope, while M17 is
the exact opposite.

All this, made possible by Cartes du Ciel, which I have to commend for
its tremendous flexibility and usefulness. CDC coupled with my laptop on
the yard at night with Tycho 2 installed and a couple of EP circles, can
really do miracles!

I totally agree--overall, it's my favorite sky simulation software.

What I was really worried about was "aperture fever" which might have
shown up after I've observed with the 20x100 for a while. Not a fat
chance! I would gladly spend 2 more years at least checking stuff with
the giant binos, not to mention winter constellations and nebulae, which
I did not see.

What I like to do with nearly everything is gradually work my way up
from the bottom, enjoying each new experience, because each is
different, whether it's "better" or "worse." If I had simply jumped
to the top at the beginning, concerning equipment, I honestly believe
that I would have deprived myself. However, most people aren't like
this, which is why I always suggest a good-sized telescope for
beginners--I'm just explaining my apparent hypocrisy here.... ;-)

A new batch of 6-12" Celestron Dobsonians is arriving in Greece anytime
now, and I've already back ordered mine, but I really cannot imagine how
much greater the observations may look under a 10" Dob.

It will be very different from your binoculars, but I think that
you'll like what you'll see in your 10" Dob.

I was lucky to have ONE night of
6.5+ visibility here, and this, really is all an amateur could ever want.

You are indeed fortunate, as most people in the "civilized" world have
no idea what the night sky really looks like...and probably never
will....

The joy of seeing a faint NGC object! The joy!

I've always said that this hobby is like fishing in many ways, except
that we tend to get more excited when we catch the small fish. :-)


- Robert Cook

Robert Cook wrote:

[snip]
By the way, thanks for posting your observing reports.

You are welcome :-)

They were fun
to read--almost like being there. And congratulations on seeing M57's
"smoke ring" shape; it's not easy with limited aperture and
magnification.

If the 20x100 had higher magnification, it would be really easy. With
the Tasco it's just a little oval patch with peripheral vision. I've
observed it again 2 hours ago and there is a hint of ovalness with the
binoculars as well.

[snip]

Did you observe M16? For some reason, it looks fairly bright in my
binocular and finder, but relatively dim in my telescope, while M17 is
the exact opposite.

Yeap, saw it. If I were to haphazard a guess, I'd say that the faintest
M object I picked, probably has to be M74, in Pisces. In general, any M
objects that were brighter than 10.6 were easily visible with the 20x100
pair. The Apogee pair starts bending its knees on NGC objects around
11.0 or when the surface brightness is less than 13-14. I tried picking
up UGC 10822 in Draco two hours ago, but the binos could not pick it up,
although extended.

[snip]
What I like to do with nearly everything is gradually work my way up
from the bottom, enjoying each new experience, because each is
different, whether it's "better" or "worse." If I had simply jumped
to the top at the beginning, concerning equipment, I honestly believe
that I would have deprived myself. However, most people aren't like
this, which is why I always suggest a good-sized telescope for
beginners--I'm just explaining my apparent hypocrisy here.... ;-)

Same here. I believe the trait of a good amateur is to completely
exhaust all possibilities, even with small scopes.

[snip]
I was lucky to have ONE night of
6.5+ visibility here, and this, really is all an amateur could ever want.


You are indeed fortunate, as most people in the "civilized" world have
no idea what the night sky really looks like...and probably never
will....


The joy of seeing a faint NGC object! The joy!


I've always said that this hobby is like fishing in many ways, except
that we tend to get more excited when we catch the small fish. :-)

Exactly. If I only had one more year of free time :-)

- Robert Cook
--
I. N. Galidakis
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/jgal/
------------------------------------------
Eventually, _everything_ is understandable

(Jon Isaacs) wrote in message ...

That 10 incher should be a real treat. Consider that it gathers about 18 as
much light as a 60mm scope and has 4 times the resolving power.

From a slightly different perspective, a 10" Newtonian's central
obstruction blocks about as much light as a 60mm scope is able to
gather in toto, yet this is usually considered insignificant. :-)


- Robert Cook