Preparations: On Friday, I did a bit of surgery on the Tasco's
objective hoping to improve on the image's quality a bit, but it turned
out to be unsuccessful. I spaced out the two elements using paper clips
at 120 degree angles but the image showed several distortions and
annoying ghosts at the places where the clips were placed and
tried a star test which failed miserably, as it showed double stars,
similar to when a close binary barely resolves. I then
removed the clips returning the objective to its original state and a
new star test showed again traces of misalignment.
Turns out the objective was slightly pinched. I rotated it and loosened
the retainer a bit and after a bit of tinkering it returned to its
initial semi-acceptable state. The 45 degree Apogee diagonal was of
course a disaster, as it is meant for terrestrial viewing and I didn't
know this when I ordered it. Stars WITH this diagonal, simply fail to
show decent diffraction rings. The two elements of the diagonal somehow
screw the image exactly in the middle, showing intense flares exactly
aligned with the diagonal's horizontal axis cut. So much for star image
quality.
First day on Friday, I aligned the 20x100/Tasco pair using a distant
sailboat and carried the 25lbs tripod out at around 22:00. I checked
out
a couple of objects before the moon came out. First, my favorite
obligatory ones, so I could
quickly compare the two bino pairs.
M22: I can't even begin to describe
how
this monster looks with the
20x100. It's huge and of the same order of brightness as the core of
M31. It might even be brighter. Uniform spherical glow, with several
cutoff areas around the left and bottom sides, but it did not resolve.
I kept returning to it again and again, simply because it is so
mesmerizing. Looking at it with the Tasco on the side at 35x, only a
fraction of its glory was visible and of course, it did not resolve
with the Tasco either. On Saturday it was even brighter than on Friday.
Fascinating object. For me, much more impressive than M13. This object
still gives me the creeps. I cannot even start to imagine what lurks in
there.
M8: (Lagoon). From the Antiparos dark
skies, I was able to clearly and
with direct vision make out the shape of the entire nebula. The 20x100
shows it as a black and white reproduction of the more famous H
photos, that show so many details. The dark lane that separates M8 from
NGC 6530 was easily visible and the boundaries of the entire object
were
distinct, sharp and visible with direct vision. The sketch from "Turn
Left at Orion" is almost a joke compared to what I see with the
binoculars. I'd say the sketch probably resembles more of what the
Tasco
is able to show on M8. With the Tasco at 35x, all the nebulae stars
except the 3-4 big ones require averted vision. With the 20x100 pair,
around 2 dozen are visible directly. The nebulosity is
extensive and covers around 10% of the Apogee's field.
Moving a bit north, I tried to locate M20 (Trifid), which gave me lots
of trouble two years ago with the 11x80. With the later pair, two years
ago, I had trouble locating it, but I suspect that this trouble came
predominantly because I had never seen it before and because it was
relatively low on the horizon. On Saturday I waited until it reached
all the way above the sea to its highest location (which was roughly
30-40 degrees above the horizon) and I
moved about a field north of Lagoon with the 20x100 and there it was:
Obviously discernible, with direct vision and quite bright. Two
distinct nebulous patches, of almost equal intensity. The southern
(pink) part showed traces of dark lanes with averted vision and the
central star was easily visible. The northern (blue) part (which I hear
is independent of the Trifid) was almost as thick as the Trifid. CD22
and CD23 clearly visible and almost of the same magnitude. Using the
aligned Tasco on it, at 35x, I was baffled even more, as it was visible
on it as well! The Tasco showed the two stars (CD22/23) well, but the
nebulosity around both required some averted vision. It's definitely
within the capabilities of a 60mm lens if one knows where to look. Then
I aimed the 11x80 at it and my suspicions were vindicated: It is
visible alright, but the blue part hinges on the verge of visibility of
the later pair, whereas with the 20x100 it is visible using direct
vision. That's why I had trouble seeing it two years ago. On the same
field of view M21 also visible, and very bright with the 20x100 pair.
Saturday I fired up Cartes du Ciel on the porch and I looked
around M8
to see if I could locate any of the closer objects. I spotted M28
relatively easily with the Apogee pair, but although clearly visible,
it was much less impressive than M22. The Apogee did not resolve this
either. I also spotted NGC6544 easily. This one was not an easy target
for the 11x80. The 20x100 showed a distinct nebulosity there, albeit
small. The 11x80 showed something there, but I couldn't tell what I was
seeing.
Next I moved to M17 (Swan) and my jaw almost dropped on the porch. The
"checkmark" was extremely bright and the rest of the nebula was also
visible with direct vision. Several distinct absorption regions were
visible, with the one defining the back of the swan's "neck" being the
most prominent. The sketch on "Turn Left at Orion" is but a joke
compared to what the Apogee pair shows. Around two dozen stars were
visible interspersed in the nebula. Of course, at the time of
observation, the entire Sagittarius region was as high as
it could be above the horizon.
Next I momentarily used Antares to re-align the Tasco/Apogee pair and
looked at M4. Beautiful, just beautiful. Although not as bright as M22,
this one definitely shows several (I'd say around a dozen) stars
resolved, with the 20x100. There are continuous sparkling stars
blinking on and off everywhere inside the cluster! Both near the center
and near the edges. The Tasco played dumb on it. Although easily
visible, no traces of resolving individuals inside it. The resolving
limit of M4 appears to be somewhere between 80mm and 100mm. With the
11x80 there's only a vague hint of resolving. I couldn't tell for sure,
but I did detect what seemed to be momentary starlike bursts inside the
cluster with the later pair.
Next I moved on the back side of the house and located M31 which was
just rising against the northern mountain of Antiparos. Needless to say
the Andromeda galaxy is probably one of the best sights with giant
binoculars. The Tasco simply doesn't do this galaxy justice. Although
two years ago I was able to see traces of the main dark lane with the
Tasco, Friday I could not detect any such thing, even with the new
Apogee EP at 35x. I pointed both the 11x80 and the 20x100 sets against
it as I was determined to nail the two companions M32 and M110. Two
years ago with the 11x80 I kept looking and looking until my eyes
popped out, but could not find them. So Saturday I zoomed in with CDC
and recorded their locations against M31's main figure. As soon as I
mentally recorded their locations, I immediately spotted them. With the
20x100, M110 shows as a relatively
bright elliptical nebulosity above
M31's main body, quite far off, but inside the same field of view when
I positioned M31 on the bottom of the field. M32 still has a starlike
appearance, but it's obvious that whatever this object is, it's not
just a star. I'd say that M32 is on the very edge of M31, almost inside
M31's haze. Curious about how fast I located them, I checked them with
the 11x80. Yeap, the Chinons show them as well. M110 is probably a
little faint, but it shows clearly with averted vision. Having the
Apogee/Tasco pair aligned, I also saw M32 with the Tasco. It clearly
shows a starlike object, nowhere as bright as with the Apogee, but
definitely inside the same field of view that includes the galaxy core,
at 35x. Shows how important having a good astronomy program is. I would
never have located the companions if it wasn't for CDC. As far as M31
itself: The object is simply glorious with the Apogee pair: On Saturday
I could not see any dark lanes, because the coming moon's haze
obstructed part
of it, as it was close to rising behind the mountain. The core is so
bright that my impression is that it becomes distinctly point-like. The
haze from the galaxy edges fills half the field of the Apogee pair.
Seeing this object is almost worth the money paid for the Apogee pair.
Last year I had trouble with M51 as
well, so I tried this one with the
new pair. Wow! The 11x80 just barely shows the second nucleus and I
needed lots of averted vision for the core of the main galaxy. This one
is on the limits of the Chinon pair, but with the Apogee pair I got a
huge bang! Both cores are visible with direct vision, the main core
slightly brighter than that of the companion. The full extent of both
galaxies is clearly visible, and although no details are discernible,
the overall nebulosity is quite large and bright with hints of its
shape. Glimpsing it with the Tasco, only a hint of haze from the main
galaxy is visible, requiring averted vision at 35x. The Tasco does this
(but not the companion), but one would have to be a masochist trying to
locate it with a small scope without a good finder.
Next I picked M81 and M82 in
Ursa Major. The difference here between
the Chinon and the Apogee is quite noticeable: With the 11x80, M81 is
an
easy target, but M82 (the irregular cigar shaped one) is a challenge,
and the shape is not evident, except on exceptional nights and with
averted vision. Contrast this with the Apogee, where not only the shape
of M82 is visible with direct vision, but also around 3-4 stars on or
around the galaxy itself. It was my impression that there were contrast
and luminosity differences within the shape itself, probably towards
the center where there is this unexplained bulge, but it might have
been my imagination. However, the image of M82 is definitely not
uniform in terms of brightness. M81 is superb on both pairs. The
Chinons show hints of dark lanes and an elliptical patch, but with the
Apogee the elliptical patch becomes much more pronounced, fading non
uniformly around the spiral edges. On Saturday, the upper and lower
arms were visible with the 20x100 pair. At 20x this one was quite a
large sight. The Tasco showed M81 if I covered all traces of incoming
light from the edges of the EP and M82 was at the Tasco's limits. It
shows something there, but nothing more. Occasionally, with averted
vision I glimpsed a hint of a stick-like shape, but that was about it.
At around 23:30 for a change I thought it would be nice to chase a bit
after Uranus, to see what the Tasco could do with it. I first had to
identify Capricornus and Aquarius which were a first for me, since I
wasn't familiar with either constellation. With my Presario and CDC on
the porch, after about 10 minutes I located both constellations.
Drawing a line between lambda Aqr and delta Cap, I was able to locate
sigma Aqr, above which sits Uranus. Both bino pairs showed the newly
seen (for me) planet easily. The disappointment came when I tried to
discern a disk with the Tasco. A disaster. Uranus' color can be easily
seen, as blue green, but otherwise no disk. I upped the magnification
to 60x and then to 90x, but no disk, just a very faint blue blur.
Checking with CDC, I read a 3.6" diameter, too close for comfort for
the junky Tasco. I'd say that on the best nights the Tasco won't
separate much lower than 4.5". To conclude, I was happy that I saw
Uranus
for the first time, but I'd probably have to wait till December to
check it out with my new 10 inch Dobsonian. Till then, no disk.
On Sunday I
tried hunting down M33. I targeted
Andromeda for one quick look and
sweeped
south a distance equal to that between Mirach and M31. Bang, there it
was: The Chinons showed a quite obvious oval nebulosity with a tendency
to be brighter towards the center. Clearly visible on a dark sky and
quite large. Only the Apogee did this object justice, however. The
shape became evident, there were hints of dark lanes and the core of
the galaxy became more pronounced and visible with direct vision. It
did
resemble an oval S-curled snake, with hints of some of the spiral arms.
Very large and extended. The core was not visible with the 11x80,
except via averted vision. With the Apogee, the object filled roughly
40% of
the binocular view and the core was visible with direct vision. My
impression is that this was the second largest object (after M31) I've
ever seen with binos. The Tasco only showed the core with averted
vision and with great difficulty. The arms were not visible.
Fascinating object. I'd say probably one of the best sights on dark
nights with giant binos. I will return again and check it out.
Being in the area, I also bagged M34. This one was exceedingly pretty,
resembling another little jewel box of the north. With the 11x80 pair
all the individuals stars required some peripheral vision. With the
20x100 all were visible directly and made a beautiful collection of
jewels.
For a break I checked Almack with the Tasco and it resolved nicely at
~10", showing the beautiful contrast between reddish and blue even at
35x. Upping the magnification to 90x, the Tasco surprisingly performed
well and the pair showed perfect Airy disks with a couple of rings
around them. That's the first indication I've had that the Tasco
was somehow ok after the surgery I performed on its objective.
Then M. wanted to see C4/2003 K4 LINEAR, so I turned the Apogee
towards Arcturus. It formed an upside down isosceles triangle with
Arcrurus and
eta, and I spotted it easily. With the Chinon pair it looked roughly as
bright as M13. There was a hint of tail, pointing at 11 o'clock, but
this became obvious only once I turned the Apogee pair on it. It looked
like M13 but the core was much brighter. Then I tried to hunt C/2001 Q4
NEAT in Ursa Major, but I could not locate anything, after looking for
about 10 minutes. Will try again Monday.
Being in UMa, I thought I'd also bag a couple of M objects that I had
never seen, so I looked around CDC and mentally checked M97(Owl), M108
and M109. I didn't even bother with the 11x80, as I knew these were
hard. They indeed were. They were all marginal even on the 20x100 pair.
The easiest was the Owl nebula, which was somehow circular with averted
vision, but both M108 and M109 were on the verge of peripheral vision
even for the giant pair. After holding my breath and performing various
vision tricks, I saw both, but I'd say that these would have to be real
challenges for anything smaller than 100mm. M108 was almost impossible.
I THINK I saw it, but it might have been my imagination. No wonder they
are not so famous in small scopes.
Then M. wanted to see C4 K4 LINEAR again, so we returned to
Arcturus. I grabbed the chance to show her M5, which was in the
vicinity. What a nice surprise! This is definitely nice in all three
scopes, the Tasco showing even glimpses of resolving some individuals
at 50x. There's definitely resolution with the Apogee pair and this
cluster competes favorably with M3 and M13.
On Sunday M51 was even brighter, because there was a North breeze in
the morning which seems to have cleared the atmosphere more. This time
I clearly saw the overall shape of the main component with the 20x100,
which extended all the way to the companion. The two cores were quite
bright.
On Monday I decided to bag some objects in Ophiuchus. I
familiarized
myself with the constellation as it was the first time I had seen it in
detail and moved to lambda, thinking of turning left to spot M12 and
M10. These two were absolutely stunning. Both were very bright. M12
resolved in the 20x100 and I saw about a dozen individuals blinking on
and off inside. On the Tasco at 35x, there were still sparks flying on
and off inside the cluster, but it required averted vision for more to
be seen. From all the globulars I've seen, this has got to be the most
easily resolvable. The Chinons showed some hints of resolution as well,
but the best view was with the Apogee pair. I spent half an hour on M12
and it went into my list of favorites. M10 was also quite bright, with
a hint of some darkness in the middle of it, but I just am not
absolutely sure my eyes were not playing tricks. I easily spot M14 as
well and quickly located IC 4665 and Cr 350, using CDC. I then headed
for NGC 6366, which was just above HR 6493. The only scope that showed
this was the Apogee pair. This object was on the limits of visibility
of the 20x100. There was something there, but I couldn't tell that it
was a globular. No way. Too faint. Moving south of zeta, I located M107
relatively easily as well. This one was small, but definitely within
the light grasp of the Apogee pair. It was barely visible with the
Chinon pair.
Taking a small break, I fired up Bach's Chaccone on the laptop and
waited some because the neighbor turned on the garage lights. Oh, the
horror of it. Out in the dark for 3 hours and suddenly 3x100 Watt
lightbulbs being turned on. So I gave Ras Algheti a try with the Tasco,
only to be disappointed by this darn 45 degree diagonal I ordered from
Apogee. Horrible. I could not even focus exactly. This kind of diagonal
is meant for terrestrial viewing, but I had no idea it would be so
useless for star splitting. I kept getting two images which would not
merge. I moved the objective, thinking it might be pinched, I unscrewed
the retainer some, and the image got fixed some. Then, after 10 minutes
Ras Algheti doubled again. I don't know exactly what's the deal here,
but I suspect that the air played tricks on me and somehow the
atmospheric turbulence affected the focus. After an hour of tinkering,
I was able to bring the star into perfect focus and saw the blue
companion at 90x. So much for 45degree diagonals.
I took a quick look at M13 and examined it carefully with the 20x100
pair. This thing definitely has at least 3 different brightness layers
and is huge. Then I moved onto M92
and my jaw dropped again. Not
as large as M13, but its core is the densest and brightest I've seen.
Even the Tasco showed the bright core with direct vision and it
resembled a very bright hazy star. The core was so bright with either
equipment, that my brain was looking for an excuse to resolve it.
Definitely one of the best to look at with small equipment.
I then tried to split Izar, but no matter what kind of trick I used,
the Tasco couldn't do it. Makes sense too, since the Tasco won't even
show Uranus' disk, so I quickly abandoned it.
I momentarily moved back to Sagittarius and took another look at the
Swan nebula. Fantastic. Monday was clearer than Sunday (I'd say around
6.5+) and the entire swan body was visible upside down. By that time my
laptop's batteries were close to 15%, so I bagged everything and went
inside.
On Tuesday we went for a drink downtown and returned around
1:30am. I was quite buzzed from two screwdrivers, but I still felt like
bagging a couple of objects. M. went to sleep so I took the
laptop and the equipment out. This time I checked M55 and M75 in
Sagittarius and M72, M73 and M30 in Capricornus. The former were easy
and bright targets, but M72 and M73 were somewhat faint. It took me a
while to spot, using the little star triangle formed by SD-14 5908,
SD-13 5813 and SD-13 5807 as a guide. Once I located the little
triangle, I saw two tiny nebulous congregations to its right, which I
immediately recognized. I did not view these with the 11x80 pair,
because they were quite faint. On the Tasco, they weren't visible, or
perhaps they were so faint that the alcohol in my system did not allow
me to see them at 35x.
Being in Capricornus and scanning left with CDC, I saw NGC 7293 on the
chart in Aquarius, so I thought I'd try that one as well. CDC lists
this as "Helical Nebula", but my mind did not go to "Helix". I thought
it was just another "helical" nebula. Targeting Upsilon Aqr, I saw a
huge patch of light to the right. Wow! It must have been almost twice
as large as the full moon! What a wonderful surprise! It indeed has
quite a low surface brightness, but the shape was unmistakenly visible.
There were at least 7-9 individual stars on it blinking on and off, but
at the time I was not aware that I was looking at the Helix nebula, so
I did not try to discern details. I'd say that with the 20x100 it is
just a tad brighter than M33. It was
so beautiful, I spent around half
an hour on it, without knowing what it was. The Tasco barely showed
some very dim nebulosity there, but otherwise quite dim for a 60mm
lens. I will return today, Wednesday, and examine it in detail.
By then it was 1:50, so I moved the equipment to the back of the house
to take a look at the Pleiades. Here, a strange thing happened: The
Pleiades, is of course THE object to view with large binoculars. There
was a thread in sci.astro.amateur, some time ago, asking whether
nebulosity is visible around the group. The strange thing is that the
nebulosity was visible, but with the Tasco, instead of the 20x100! The
Tasco definitely showed haze around the brightest members, but with the
Apogee pair, it wasn't as prominent as with the crappy 60mm scope.
There was some haze in the field of view, but not as pronounced as with
the Tasco at 35x. I really bugged my eyes trying to see it with the
Apogee, but I am not sure I saw it.
Then I briefly went over the double Perseus cluster. With the 20x100 it
is simply stunning. There is definitely some nebulosity around there,
visible with the giant pair. The two components barely fit inside the
same field. This is also on my list of favorites.
I also took a close look at Polaris with the Tasco and the new EP. The
main difficulty with Polaris B is that it is magnitude 9.0, and I am
not even sure the 60mm lens of the Tasco has enough light gathering
power to even show it, particularly against the blaze of the primary.
Two years ago I easily saw the bluish companion in a neighbor's Meade
ETX 125, at 40x. So I carefully positioned the Tasco against it and
waited, watching intermittently for about half an hour. The atmosphere
was decent. I was seing a single Airy disk at 70x, surrounded by one
ring, which at times momentarily flared up. I played with the zoom
magnification, going all the way to 92x and at certain moments of
extreme air stillness, I did detect a very faint blink southwest of the
main star, but only for a fraction of a second. I'd say this binary
needs at least 100mm's for comfort. Trying to see the companion with a
60mm scope is like driving a VW beetle at 120km/hr.
Although the moon was about to rise, Lyra was now in the West, so I
thought I'd give M57 a try with the
new binoculars. The sheer weight of
the entire system of the Tasco and the Apogee, prevents me from viewing
at angles higher than about 60 degrees, so I had to wait until Vega
came down a bit. Pointing between Sheliak and Sulafat, bang, it's
exactly in the middle. The Apogee 20x100 pair shows it easily, as a
bright non-stellar object. As with the 11x80 pair, the shape is not
visible, but it definitely looks like a little hazy button, distinctly
different from the surrounding stars. Very bright, but again, 20x is
not enough to give away essential details about its ringness, nor make
the darker central part visible against the ring itself. Looking
through the Tasco at 35x, there was a hint of ovalness, which became
more pronounced as I was using peripheral vision. Looking at it as
such, it resembles a smokey oval, but no dark central part. Upping the
magnification to 60x, I could still see the smokey oval shape using
peripheral vision, but otherwise no difference in its central part. Of
course, I couldn't be asking more from the junky Tasco, even with the
new zoom EP. The important thing here is that M57 is NOT visible using
direct vision on the Tasco, even at 35x. The 60mm simply does not
collect enough light to allow a direct view. With the Apogee pair, it
is visible directly, but no details are visible, because of the low
magnification.
By then, the crescent moon was out, so I packed everything and went
inside.
Thursday was one of those rare days when the sky is extremely luminous
and clear. I figured that it would be a great day since the morning
hours, because there was a strong Northern breeze, which lasted all the
way into the afternoon. Three of the neighboring islands to Antiparos
were visible clearly in the horizon at distances of over 35, 40 and 60
km's respectively. Normally these islands are not visible, except on
very cool winter days after a rainfall.
My suspicions were vindicated around 22:00 when the Milky Way came out
in Sagittarius. I don't know if you can believe this, but the Milky
Way's reflection was visible against the sea.
I understood this to be a day to look for some new faint objects and to
check some of the known ones, to make out additional details. I went
over to M81 and M82, only to not
believe my own eyes. The Apogee pair
showed the nucleus of M81 clearly, with direct vision, having a point
like appearance. Averted vision revealed the galaxy's exact shape, with
the pronounced ellipse and with the northern and southern arms readily
visible. M82's curved cigar shape was easily visible and 5 stars were
blinking in its vicinity. I called M. out and showed her M81 and
she remarked that this was the brightest she'd seen this galaxy during
our stay here.
C4 K4 LINEAR was extremely bright. Probably as bright as M13. M.
saw it and remarked that she could not see a tail Thursday, which she
saw on Tuesday. Truth is, I could not discern a tail either.
Then I quickly went over to M51 and
again, and I was pleasantly
surprised by the clarity of the night: The cores were visible using
direct vision and the shape of the main component was easily
discernible. Averted vision provided for incredible views of the
overall nebulous shape of both members, with the connection between the
two components visible as a very thin vaporous streamer. The two
components on Thursday were visible with the Tasco as well!
Aiming at Alkaid and Mizar, I moved north trying to spot M101. Easy,
extended target. I'd say its luminosity was a tad lower than that of
M33. The 20x100 pair immediately
spotted it. With averted vision hints
of the shape were there, but I did not spend too much time on it. The
Tasco showed the core with averted vision.
Backing up against Ophiuchus, I rechecked NGC 6366, which was picked up
by the Apogee pair relatively easily, next to HR 6493. CDC lists this
as magnitude 10 and of dimensions 5.8"x5.8". Would not be picked up if
I didn't know where to look exactly. This
was just too faint for the Tasco. I reviewed M10 and M12 which under
those skies were fabulous: M12 was resolvable and both cores were very
bright.
Turning over to Sagittarius, I viewed M8,
M20, M28 and M22 again, as
the night demanded it. Yeap, Thursday, M22
partially resolved. The damn
bugger resolved with the Apogee pair, so you can expect the object to
resolve only under 6+ skies and >=4" lenses. It was just fascinating
and huge. M8 was blindingly bright. I
counted 17 stars inside it, using
direct vision. M. could not believe her eyes. She remarked that
this has got to be the most fascinating object after Andromeda and the
Orion nebula.
Checking the Andromeda galaxy under 6.7+ skies, is probably very close
to a mystical experience: The main dark lane was visible, and the
entire object was two entire full binocular fields in width. The dark
lane was visible with the Tasco as well.
Then I went over and familiarized myself with Cetus. After I located
most of the constellation stars, I pointed the Tasco against Mira and
upped the magnification to 60x. This was the first time I saw the
little red star. Been hunting it down since age 23. Southeast of delta
Cet, there was M77 which was an easy target at magnitude 8.9. Inside
the same field of view I located stars BD-00 410 and BD-00 411, south
of which lied NGC 1055 an edge on spiral. At magnitude 10.6, this
required averted vision, but I saw it. No details, just a very faint
buzz, too faint to be picked up with either the 11x80 pair or the Tasco.
Then I reworked M92 a bit. The core
was so bright Thursday, that it was
able to withstand 92x on the Tasco. Absolutely stunning and quite
resolvable. On the Tasco I clearly saw around 4-5 sparks inside the
core at 60x.
By 3:30am Aquila had turned down a bit, so I hunted down M27. In
passing, I quickly glimpsed M71 in Sagitta, which was absolutely
obvious and quite bright and finally landed on the Dumbbell after
sweeping the area. M27 was so bright
that the bowtie shape almost gave
way to an almost circular nebulosity, with extra bright "wings" on
either side. The sketch in "Turn Left at Orion", denotes almost half
the glory of this object in 6.5+ skies and with 20x100 binos. I kept
staring at it for over 20 minutes, using both direct and peripheral
vision trying to make out details. Very impressive. Admittedly one of
the most beautiful objects I've ever seen.
Went back to M57 after that, and
tried to discern more details. I don't
know why this object fascinates me so much. So I aim the 20x100 pair
against it: Very bright and distinctly non-stellar. I tried upping the
magnification on the Tasco, to see how much it could take. Yesterday it
could stand up to 92x, easily. However, after around 50x, it required
averted vision. This was the first time I was able to detect a "smoke
ring", at around 60x, after about 4 years of looking at it. At 92x it
was almost obvious, but only using averted viewing. The "smoke ring" in
this case, is a misnomer for the fact that the central part basically
faded faster than the boundary when I upped the magnification. I spent
45 minutes on it, trying to convince myself that I was seeing a "ring".
Conclusion is that for non-stellar or extended objects, the Apogee 20x100 will easily pick up anything brighter than ~10.6. It can pick up fainter objects as well, but with averted vision and if one knows where to look exactly. I will make a measurement tonite on how faint stars the pair can pick.
At around 3:30, my waist could not stand it anymore, so I moved
inside. What an incredible gift to be able to watch the skies from such
a location!
For digital sketches, consult this page.