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by Jay Reynolds Freeman
On the evening of June 9, 1999, I drove into the hills southwest of Palo Alto, California, for a close-in mid-week observing session. I took my 1987 model 6-inch f/8 Astro-Physics refractor, for its third outing since I bought it used last winter.
I am so used to using my C-14 on my Losmandy G-11 that I forget just how easy it is to deal with a less massive telescope on the same mount. With only one counterweight required, and with a far less ponderous tube than the 52-pound lift of the big Celestron, I started setup somewhat after sunset, and was ready to go well before any stars were visible.
Seeing was poor, and transparency was none too good, which with so many city lights nearby meant bright sky and limited deep-sky viewing. No matter, I worked on a Messier survey, using a 12 mm Brandon eyepiece, whose 1.5 mm exit pupil (103x) darkened the sky considerably, though not quite to blackness.
I have commented before how much more capable this telescope seems than six-inch Maksutovs or Newtonians, and I continue to think so. With no central obstruction and no possibly less-than-bright coatings on primary and secondary, the increased light grasp of the big refractor was noticeable at a glance. Of course, you pay for that performance -- even old Astro-Physics refractors are not cheap, nor are G-11s. Even so, I had pleasant viewing. At 103x, M13, M92, M10, M12, M3 and M4 all showed at least partial resolution. Several other globulars, such as M53, M107, M9, M19, M62, and M80, did not. M14 was granular, but I was not convinced that I could really see individual stars. Near M13, NGC 6207 was easy, and was obviously elongated.
I could not see the "black eye" of M64. M97 hinted of detail. The ring of M57 was of course obvious. Most Messier galaxies showed something interesting to distinguish themselves -- M82 and M108 were elongated and mottled, M106 and M94 showed prominent condensed nuclei, M51's companion, NGC 5195, was easily visible, and all the others in Ursa Major and Canes Venatici had either non-round shape or central brightening. I could see a hint of bright nodules in the face-on blur of M101; perhaps I was seeing HII regions in this galaxy -- some are prominent enough to have their own NGC numbers.
I had to get up relatively early the next morning, so could not stay long enough for the summer Milky Way to rise high enough above the city glow to see well. I drove down the hill after little more than an hour's observing, pleased that the refractor had proven so amenable to a short session. Perhaps I shall take it to more close-in star parties.