by Shneor Sherman
| Equipment | 18" f/4.5 dob+platform
30mm Widescan II+visual paracorr 20mm Nagler 13mm Nagler Type 1 5-8mm Speers-Waler zoom 7mm UO Orthoscopic 6mm Pro-Optic Ultrawide Lumicon OIII, Hydrogen Beta filters Sirius Optics Neb1 filter Orion Ultrablock 1.25" filter |
|---|---|
| Conditions | seeing 5-8 depending on the time and area of the sky
Transparency - 5-7 ditto |
I just purchased the 6mm Pro-Optic Ultrawide, and it arrived on Wednesday. I wanted to check it's performance and hoped for the presence of other observers to get other opinions.
Just after dusk, after setting up and eating some leftovers for dinner, I focused on my usual first targer wheneverit's at a resonable position in the sky - M57. I began with the Widescan, then went right to the Ultrawide (65 degree AFOV). This eyepiece yields 343x in my 18". The image of M57 was stunning, even though it was not completely dark. Mottling was visibie in the ring, the image was reasonably sharp and relatively bright with good contrast. I was pretty amazed at this kind of performance from a $49 eyepiece (I'm planning to buy the 9mm now.).
I moved to M31/32/110 with the Widescan. The dust lane in M31 was easily visible. I moved the telescope to M110, and used the Ultrawide to see a hint of structure. Nest, I checked out M15, which the Ultrawide resolved almost to the core (seeing could have been better).
I then turned to N7331 and Stephan's Quintet. It was necessary to use averted vision to see all the quintet in my 13mm Nagler; the Ultrawide showed just a couple of members. I went on to view the Veil with my Widescan and an OIII. I'm always amazed by the feathery, lacy appearance of this object. From there I moved to M27, and using the Ultrawide with an Ultrablock, patterns were visible in the nebulosity.
I took a break and brought the Ultrawide to Jim. We put it his 20" and looked at M57. We then put Jim's 7mm Nagler into the focuser, and compared the views. Bot of us could not see a difference in the sharpness, brightness or contrast. Oc course, the Nagler had a wider field of view, but otherise, the images were practically indistinguishable (except for the slightly lower magnification of the Nagler).
I then viewed M33. Tried to see N604, so I used the H-Beta in the Widescan. This improved the view a bit, and 604 was visible.
I now began to look to the south, which seemed to have cleared up. First up was N1535, an interesting nebula in Eridanus, that has a double shell and central star, a very pretty object. With the Ultrawide, the double shell was wuite distinct, and the central star appeared like a gem in a setting. I moved N1531 and N1532, two galaxies close together. 1532 is a cigar-shaped galaxu with a prominent central bulge, while 1531 is a smaller elliptical with a core. They both looked so nice in the Ultrawide that I invited Jim and Cheryl over for a wiew (these were 10-15 degrees above the horizon). Next up were N1400 and N1407, another pretty view in the Widescan. I moved to Gemini, and of course the Eskimo was very nice in a series of eyepieces. I compared the view in my 7mm Orthoscopic and S-W zoom to the view in the Ultrawide. The views were pretty comparable in terms of sharpness and contrast, although the view may have been a bit less bright in the S-W.
I then moved to N2371-2, a nebula that really does look like a peanut (and it should be called the Peanut Nebula). Both lobes are quite distinct, and the Ultrawide revealed some shading and detail. I formally name this object the Peanut Nebula.
I viewed Saturn several times during the evening. I had an excellent view at one point with a steady sky and good transparency, where the A ring appeared to have lanes, using the Ultrawide. I also viewed Jupiter once, but the seeing was poorer, and only a few bands were visible. (One view of Saturn revealed multiple bands on the planet for a momemt.) Jupiter's 3 visible moons showed disks in the Ultrawide.
I turned to M42 toward the latter part of the night. It looked quite colorful in my Widescan and 20mm Nagler, with the pinkish southers and eastern portions distinctly different fromthe greenish-blue of the central portion. I put the Neb1 filter into the Paracorr (+Widescan) and was amazed to see that the natural colors were enhanced. That was quite a view! It's certainly an interesting filter, thogh I suspect it performs well for only a few objects. I also viewed M43 with the OIII and H-Beta, but unless I'm viewing at high power, I think I prefer the view with the Neb1.
I also viewed M81/82, and M82 in particular with the Ultrawide. It showed as much detail as my 7mm Orthoscopic, with a vertical dust lane clearly visible among the carnage.
About 1:30, a good part of the sky clouded over, so I moved East and viewed three trios in Leo before deciding to pack it in at 1:50 a.m. (Jim and Cheryl had gone to sleep before midnight). I left at about 3:40 and made it home in record time of an hour and ten minutes. Of course, by the time I left, the sky was perfectly clear, but the moon was rising.