Tom Frayne wrote:
Saturday at Pacheco, I was using my Ultima 2000 driven by TheSky on the grass by the fence. It was also my first try at a marathon, and I came to the conclusion that all galaxies are "hard", at least for me.
Friday night I took my 1992 vintage 8" LX200 out to Anza CA about 30 miles from Polomar and played with my new toys; A 2 inch star diagonal along with 27mm and 22mm Panoptics and a used 16mm UO Widescan. Hunting around for M95 and M96 in Leo I got my first views of them using the 27mm panoptic. Tom, they are quite viewable in the 8 inch. (Dew not withstanding. That was not a problem down here Friday night.)
However in a well collimated 8" SCT they are "fuzzy stars". Don't expect M31 at all. Once you know what to expect, well you know what to look for. ;) Identify the field of view using as wide a field of view as you can get with your eyepieces. Make little wire rings that match 1 and 5 degree circles at the same scale as your atlas. I use those all the time to get a feel for the 'scale' and to star hop by sliding them along. When I do see the galaxy I am after I am usually surprised as to how small and "nebulous" they look. Stellar nuclei with fuzz around them. That's it. When others say they "boy that's big", they mean in comparison to the really tiny ones. 8)
Now get this!:
I was already to return the 22mm Panoptic as it gave awful images. I mean terrible! No contrast and no obvious focus as I was attempting to use it on M95, M96, M105 as well as around M65, M66, and 3628. I star tested it and found it to have distorted and misshapen out of focus images. Nothing like the nice concentric circles I saw with the 27mm. Saturday morning I emailed Oceanside Photo telling them I am returning it. Last night as I removed it from my eyepiece case and went to put it in it's original box, it dawned on me. I stared at it in disbelief! I realized, I had not taken off the "clear" plastic dust cap on the 1.25 inch barrel!!! Remember I was using it in the dark and in a 2 inch diagonal so it fit with the capo on! In the dark I had not noticed the cap was on! Yet, I observed M95, M96, M105, M65, and M66 with it!! Not very well mind you, but I did see them! So chin up Tom! If I can see them with the dust cap on, I am sure you'll see them!
Yes I am a dummy!
Jeff Gortatowsky
Fullerton CA
PS. I tried the 22mm in the alleyway behind my condo last night, and yes, it's sharp with the dust cover!!