by David Windstrom
I'm the "DL" you referred to in Matt's report, but it's "DW" for David Windstrom. Tbanks for your detailed observing report. I enjoyed those last few hours though I didn't get to bed until 6:30 am. I definitely intend to be a regular participant at LS, though I have already caught a serious case of "aperture envy", even though I think my little NS5i does very well considering it's size. In several cases, the amount of resolution of globulars and nebula detail was not as different as I expected, between the 5" and 8". What I DID notice is a significant difference in brightness and light pass through, making nebula filters of limited use in my scope.
I went back up several days later and ran into Norman and Linda from Marin and was able to try their Lumicon O-III filter. Definitely too much light restriction for my scope. The Lumicon UHC filter, however, looked like it might be a possibility, and more effective for looking at emission nebelua than the Celestron LPR filter I already have.
I'm fighting fantasies of selling the N5i (which is in high demand right now) and upgrading to an N8i, which uses the same controller and tripod. After talking to Robert Leyland however, it may make more sense to just wait, and make my next scope a bigger upgrade...like 9 or 10". Maybe even an Orion dob, like the XT10. Then I could have the joys of goto's AND pushing big tubes around.
See you next month perhaps.