Thursday, February 20, 2014

20140220 M42

I was both a bit too busy and too tired physically to go out tonight.  But it was a bit too bad if I didn't observe with better sky, so why not just to have some simple observation from inside my home?

M42 was my target.

I pulled out my Ranger, with my 20mm widescan, it's quite easy to see.  Even the trapezium could be resolved at this magnification.  Jumping with a 2x barlows, the view is better for sure.  Then I pulled out my 4mm TMB planetary, and it becomes a bit too dim to view with direction vision.  Averted vision does help a lot and this is by far the best view of the night.

The chromatic aberration was not a problem for deep sky observation, even at higher magnification.  I was thinking whether I might go for a bigger achromat?  But that won't help on solar imaging...

Anyway, it's so nice tonight since I can concentrate myself on a single target visually.

Monday, February 17, 2014

20140217 Sun

The new H-alpha filter is still pending, the dealer is having problem with the supplier.  It has been several months already, so I've to stick with my white light filter.

Moving cloud today with high humidity, transparency so so as a result.  Seeing not good as well, so I only tried with my 2x barlows.

Prime focus, 1437 (GMT+8):-

With 2x barlows, 1443 (GMT+8):-


From low left to upper right, AR1977, AR1980 and then AR1974.