By Kerry
I had a great short night out last night with the C6 SCT. I had a hard day at work and was really tired and not in the mood to set up…. but I am glad that I changed my mind. My observations will be old news to many of you more experienced types but I just wanted to share.
Last night my site conditions were mag 5.5 (LVM) with some thin cirrus towards the east and it was also a bit breezy. I was set up on my front/side porch with the lights of Grimsby seen below (I’m on the escarpment).
Anyway, I used Mike’s 32mm the most, then the 25mm that came with the scope.
M1- I was so surprised with how bright and big it appeared. For years
I couldn’t even find it in my 4.5 in newt. GOTO is awesome!
M42- so much detail. Almost like a photograph but without the colour.
the 4 stars in the trapezium were sharp and easily seen but a few times
appeared to have lost focus. Not sure what was up with that. Maybe it
is the SCT focuser???
M82- bright elongation with a dark patch/slant almost half way across
it’s length. The dark area was easily visible with slightly averted vision
M81- nice bright core with oval shaped fuzziness around it. I was
expecting that an increase in power (10mm sirius plossl) would cause
it to be very faded but it was still nice and bright.
M96 and M95 could see the shapes but could not make out any detail… Anyway, my toes were really freezing so I didn’t spend much more time trying.
My favorite open cluster for the night was M38. I could not get over the
number of stars that I could see in the 35mm EP. It just filled the
field and was very beautiful.
Saturn – I finally saw a hint of the Cassini Division with the shadow
from the rings. I could make out 2 bands on the planet… it was
pretty breezy so Saturn was not crisp most of the time. I used the
10mm plossl.
Anyway I guess that’s it. I have to say I’m not dissapointed in this 6in. I can’t wait to go to a darker site (Binbrook). I wonder how much more detail I’d be able to see in the galaxies. As for Astrophotography… well of course I can’t wait to get more into that. I’m still waiting for a piggy back bracket and I will need an illuminated Reticle to try my hand at manual guiding. Oh ya someone has to show me how to collimate.
Take care for now and clear skies to all,
KerryLH
