by Mike Conley
I picked up the scope Saturday afternoon and by the time my brother and I made it back to Elk Grove it was already getting dark. We set it up in front of his house and even with the streetlights managed to have a good time viewing. The only problem with the scope is that the finder was broken so we had to improvise a way to aim it and ended up using a cassette tape case, which actually worked. The scope movement was very smooth and stable and the DX2 focuser worked flawlessly. I added a Telrad the next day which made aiming much, much easier
The conditions were clear with transparency in the middle of the range according to Clear Sky Clock. Due to light pollution the faintest stars visible to the unaided eye were mag 3.5 which made aiming with a cassette case even more challenging.
With my brother and his family wanting to take a look we stuck to the usual eye candy and started with M42/M43, which showed up nicely in the 27mm Panoptic, and with the 9mm Nagler we had no trouble seeing 5 stars with the 6th a little more difficult. The Skyglow filter helped with seeing more of the nebulosity and even my brothers 2 ½ year daughter learned to say Orion Nebula ;) were starting her out young.
Jupiter revealed a lot of detail and was best viewed with the 9mm Nagler. The seeing seemed soft but we still could see much more detail beyond the 2 primary bands NEB and SEB. SEBZ, NTB and occasionally additional bands showed up along with festoons as the seeing permitted. As we started viewing, Ganymede was beginning to move behind Jupiter.
Saturn was a favorite with the others and we could easily see the Cassini Division, the C Ring and occasionally the Encke Division but you had to be patient for that one.
Christmas Tree Cluster – This wasn't too difficult to find but due to the light pollution I wasn't able to see any nebulosity with it.
M44 Beehive Cluster – This was a spectacular view of lots of stars with the faintest stars visible at Mag 12.5 according to Starry Night Pro I expect another 2 to 3 mag at a dark sky site.
M41 Open Cluster – Not to difficult to find with Sirius near by and looked best with the 19mm Panoptic.
M45 Pleiades – Very spectacular open cluster with nebulosity visible using the skyglow filter on the 27mm Panoptic.
On Sunday after getting the Telrad I showed the same sights to my kids and their friends.
I added M81 and M82 as well which showed up very well considering mag 3.5 skies. All in all I am very happy with my 16"
Now I ready for Dark Skies and it's starting to rain ……..