Buttercup Observes Moon and Planets at 117x

After reflecting on my earlier post about a certain 60mm achromat I got to thinking about my own words and concluded that it would probably be good to be able to up the magnification a bit. So I got to work on the new project. A 6mm orthoscopic eyepiece was chosen for conversion from 1.25� to a 1.25� - 0.965� hybrid. All went well and tonight I got to try out Buttercup with the 'new' 117x eyepiece.

My first target was the Aristarchus – Herodotus region on the moon. I sketched this fascinating region of the moon using Buttercup's 700mm focal length 60mm achromatic objective in its original OTA (only slightly modified), on its original tripod and alt-az mount. Included in the sketch was Vallis Schroteri, Montes Agricola, Raman, and the 8km crater Valsala along with a few other landforms. Valsala's two smaller neighbors (craters), one to the west and one to the east were also noted and sketched.

After a short break and some freshly baked cookies it was time for Saturn. Cassini's Division could be made out along the eastern and western extremities of the ring system. The A-ring was less bright than the B-ring. The C-ring was evident where it crossed in front of the planet. The shadow of the planet on the rings was visible. Saturn's North Equatorial Belt was visible and included in the sketch. Titan was visible west-southwest of the planet. A 9th magnitude field star was visible further eastward from Saturn.

On Sunday, July 17, 2016 at 12:59:19 AM UTC-7, Sketcher wrote:
After reflecting on my earlier post about a certain 60mm achromat I got to thinking about my own words and concluded that it would probably be good to be able to up the magnification a bit. So I got to work on the new project. A 6mm orthoscopic eyepiece was chosen for conversion from 1.25� to a 1.25� - 0.965� hybrid. All went well and tonight I got to try out Buttercup with the 'new' 117x eyepiece.

My first target was the Aristarchus – Herodotus region on the moon. I sketched this fascinating region of the moon using Buttercup's 700mm focal length 60mm achromatic objective in its original OTA (only slightly modified), on its original tripod and alt-az mount. Included in the sketch was Vallis Schroteri, Montes Agricola, Raman, and the 8km crater Valsala along with a few other landforms. Valsala's two smaller neighbors (craters), one to the west and one to the east were also noted and sketched.

After a short break and some freshly baked cookies it was time for Saturn.. Cassini's Division could be made out along the eastern and western extremities of the ring system. The A-ring was less bright than the B-ring. The C-ring was evident where it crossed in front of the planet. The shadow of the planet on the rings was visible. Saturn's North Equatorial Belt was visible and included in the sketch. Titan was visible west-southwest of the planet. A 9th magnitude field star was visible further eastward from Saturn.

A tree blocked Jupiter from view, but Mars was doable. I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. The gibbous phase of the planet was immediately evident. Some large-scale albedo features were visible. Brighter regions were seen on the northern limb of the planet, the preceding limb (a yellowish area) and a rather small patch along the south following limb.. Darker areas were noted in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Sketcher,
To sketch is to see.

Buttercup and freshly baked cookies? (o:
Back to your chilled hood again, eh?