Saturn's Disappearing Rings

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Partly cloudy
-Location : East Coast Park


Tracking Saturn with my 50mm refractor (above)

Decided to head down to east coast park (ECP) for a
glimpse of Saturn's thinning rings. I'm still able to see the rings with 
my 50mm scope at 90x with a 4mm eyepiece. Saturn will retrograde
from Dec 2008 through May 2009, during this period, the rings
will open up slightly before reaching the thinnest again in Sep 4 2009.

Known as ring plane crossing, it occurs periodically when
the tilt and position of Saturn's orbit allows a view as
if the rings are disappearing. You have to view this
occurrence as it happens only once in 14 to 15 years, don't miss it!

Caldwell 41 - The Hyades Cluster

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Clear & Windy

This is the nearest Open Cluster to us, can easily be mistaken
for a star field as its quite scattered. Easy target for a 50mm.
This cluster almost fills the FOV of my 25mm eyepiece at 15x.

Do note that the bright star Aldebaran is not part of this cluster.

Double Star - Gamma Ari (Aries)

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Clear & Windy


Double star at Aries (Mesarthim), just able to split this double stars with 8mm eyepiece (45x). Appears to be of same magnitude, colours not apparent through a 50mm scope.

*On closer inspection with a 4mm at 90x, the yellow double is evident if observed carefully! The challenge now is to see if you're able to observe the colours for this double with your 50mm or 60mm scope. Have fun..

===========

Info from web: 

-The system is 204 light years distant and composed of a binary star with components separated with an angular distance of 7.5 arcseconds (separable in small telescopes). Both components are white A-type main sequence stars and have apparent magnitudes of +4.52 and +4.58. The brighter is known as γ2 Arietis and the dimmer γ1 Arietis. The orbital period of the binary is greater than 5000 years.

-Although they were very closely spaced, with the 26mm (48x) eyepiece in the ETX-90, I could split this double. In the 17mm (74x) eyepiece, Gam Ari appears as a closely spaced pair of stars of equal magnitude. The primary is a yellow color and the secondary is a contrasting bright blue color. The contrasting colors resemble the double star Alberio (Bet Cyg) in the constellation Cygnus. (ETX90)

Venus

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Clear

Venus is currently in its crescent phase (which means its closer to earth as compared to gibbous phase). Easily visible with my 50mm scope & a 4mm (90x) eyepiece,using a 12mm (30x) eyepiece, the phase is also detectable.

My 50mm on Nexstar mount tracking Venus thru my window

Lunar 100 Card Log (8,90)

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Waxing Crescent 43% full (6 days old)
-Condition Clear

8 Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catharina - Crater sequence illustrating stages
of degradation.
11 May-Very easy to spot chain of craters


90 Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins - Small craters near the Apollo 11
landing site (small craters cannot be seen)
11 May-Apollo 11 landed near Armstrong crater.
Try to spot the two craters, Ritter B & C (above Ritter), both can be
seen in a 50mm refractor if you look carefully as they are only 14km
wide.

15 May-Correction!! Apollo 11 landed nearer to Collins.
Will not be adding this item to the 100 Object List as the
small craters (3km wide!) couldn't be spotted with my
50mm scope.

Lunar 100 Card Log (7)

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Waxing Crescent 33% full (5 days old)
-Condition Partly cloudy

7 Altai Scarp - Nectaris basin rim

Lunar 100 Card Log (10,16)

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Waxing Crescent 13% full (3 days old)
-Condition Partly cloudy

10 Mare Crisium - Mare contained in large circular basin


16 Petavius - Crater with domed and fractured floor
8 May-Can't make out the convex floor (domed) or the fractured floor
Multiple peaks sighted as well as the double rim walls

Semakau visit report...

Tasos scope..an old & reliable friend

Back from a very fun & fruitful trip from Semakau with TASOS!
here's a long list of objects compiled by my friend (FL, thanks!) n
observed during this trip. I personally only observed about 80%
from this list as in the early morning I spend time lazing around
in my cosy tent...(see pic below)

Cosy corner..living on the edge.. (Pic by FL)

Me here, ready to start up the scope for a night of viewing, Albert and gang are sitting watching

(Pic by Tasos, Albert Lim) 

The first few objects..
Moon
Saturn
M41
M42
Pollux double star

Southern Sky
NGC4755 Jewel Box aka Toolbox :p
IC2602 Southern Pleiades
NGC5139 Omega Centauri Globular
NGC3372 Carina nebula
NGC3532
NGC3766
NGC5128 Peculiar galaxy
α Centauri double star

Before the clouds came in..
M104 Sombrero galaxy
M65 spiral galaxy
M66 spiral galaxy
M3 Globular
M5 Globular

Scorpius
M6 Butterfly cluster
M7 Ptolemy’s cluster
M4 Gloubular
M80 Globular
NGC 6231
NGC6124

Sagittarius 
Jupiter
M22 Globular
M8 Lagoon nebula
M16 Eagle nebula
M17 Omega aka Swan nebula

Other objects observed in early morning..
Coathanger asterism 
e Lyra Double double
M57 Ring planetary nebula
M27 Dumbell planetary Neubula
M11 Wild Duck Cluster (an open cluster that looks like globular at low magnification)
M13 Globular
Neptune
NGC6543 Cat’s eye planetary nebula
Venus

Rising sun! (yawn..I'm awake now..did I miss anything?)

Packing up..

Semakau Landfill

The Astronomical Society of Singapore (TASOS) will be
organising an outing  to the Semakau Landfill this saturday. 
The response for this trip is very encouraging!

My previous trip in Jun 2007 was quite enjoyable, brought
my Nexstar5 there, but will not be bringing my Nexstar5 this
time, most probably will be bringing my short tube 80mm
refractor.


Jun 2007 trip to Semakau Landfill, getting ready
to load up and transfer to the other end of the island

Observing aids for small to medium telescopes

The Lunar 100 card and the DeepMap600 (revised edition)
was recently purchased from Astrobargains.
The Lunar card list 100 features of our Moon in increasing
level of difficulty to explore with most scopes. Although some
may have questioned Charles A. Wood's choice of the 100 features,
nonetheless its still an interesting project to tick off all 100 features
listed on the card. The first item on the list is 1) The Moon!
This should be an easy target to start with, 1 down....99 to go
For a complete list, click here.

I got my first experience of the DeepMap600 was about 10 years
ago but lost the map. Finally ordered another one and this is a
revised edition, have no idea where's the revision but it sure
bring back memories of those starhopping days. Great map by
Wil Tirion, very easy to use as its all in one map when unfolded,
but for those in the southern hemisphere, the DeepMap600 only
shows stars to -60 degree declination. Waterproof plastic so dew
is not a problem, can be use as a scope cover if you're taking a break..

My small eyepiece collections

Just got some more 0.96" Huygen eyepieces from Surplus Shed.
So here's a pic of the whole family of small eyepieces together.
Most are Orthoscorpics and a lone Vixen 10mm plossl (w/eyecup)
I just got a vintage Meade Research Grade eyepiece recently,
very sharp! On the left is my work-horse zoom Celestron
eyepiece. All stored in a small plastic tool kit box ready for a
night of planetary observing.


The Giant and the dwaft size comparison!
Left: Pentax 14XL Right: Vixen 6mm Plossl


Just for fun...Pentax 14XL on my tiny 50mm refractor, the
cost of the eyepiece is about 8 times more than the scope!

0.965" focuser issue

Dismantled the the edu-sci scope and attempt to shim
the focuser tube because of the slop/play when using 1.25"
accessories.

I added 3 pieces of black strip paper to the internal
focuser housing, friction is not a problem as one side
of the black paper in contact with the drawtube is
smoothen with cold laminate.

Finally the slop are almost eliminated! And now with
1.25" accessories there is negligible movement of the
drawtube. Picture above shows the hybrid diagonal from Scopestuff.

Tasco 10VR (Article)

Spotted this Tasco on ebay! Complete with case and tripod!
Its a 80mm f/5 refractor. This is a Vixen-made scope for
Tasco. Astromart has one listed on Apr 2007 and selling for
$130 without case & accs. Hmm.. wonder how much this ebay
scope will fetch since its complete with all accessories.

Added: Auction ended with a winning bid at $263.88!!

Packed and ready to go

My edu-science 50mm refractor all packed up in my
Lowepro mini-trekker all ready to go for a quick ob.
Items inside is a red dot finder, a 8x42 bino, vibration
suppression pads, eyepiece box. Not in photo, my benro/
manfrotto tripod and geared head combination.

Tonight's full moon, and skies pretty much clouded up.
Manage only a glimpse of Saturn.

Below pic shows my ST80 refractor all packed in a compact
airline portable aluminium case.

Clear skies & a quick peek..

Clear skies tonight.

A quick peek at the moon
-Scope: Edu-science 50mm refractor
-Waxing Gibbous 87% full

Gassendi with its adjoining crater "Gassendi A"
looks spectacular at 90x with its odd central peak.
These two craters together looks like a diamond ring.
Gassendi was one of the landing sites considered
for Apollo 17 mission. 


Gassendi with its odd peak near Mare Humorum

Able to detect about 4 very very small craters at the
surface of Mare Humorum. Check if your 50/60mm
scopes are able to detect these small craters!

====================================
Vintage telescopes on ebay..
Carton Optical Co. Vintage Telescope
D=60MM F=910MM

  

Vintage ATCO No.1253 Astronomical Telescope
D60mm F910mm

Hybrid Diagonal 0.96" to 1.25"

The hybrid diagonal I ordered from ScopeStuff is here,
now I can use my 1.25" eyepieces on the edu-science's
0.96" barrel!



Here's a closer look at the well machined metal 0.96"
to 1.25" adapter which can be unscrewed to 3 separate
parts, and can be adapted to any diagonals. I have
to flock the internal barrel to remove some glare.

The edu-science cannot come into focus with this
hybrid mirror diagonal as the scope does not have
enough in focus travel because of the added '1.25" step'
in the adapter.

I removed the metal adapter and use an old celestron
prism diagonal and the scope comes into focus this
time. However, the collimation seems a bit out as I can't
get the image to come into clean focus with the various
eyepieces (including UO orthos).

I switch between the stock/cheap edu-science's diagonal
and the 4mm, 20mm huygen eyepieces and it is sharper
than the hybrid celestron prism/UO ortho eyepieces combination!



I dismantled the old celestron prism diagonal and try
to clean it up and attempt to realign the prism into the
plastic diagonal case. Will see if it works later
tonight. If it doesn't then i may have to try and
get another diagonal to try out or just stick to the
old 0.96" format..ha.

I'm still trying to improve this cheap little 50mm toy scope
from Toy r us! See below photo which i took through the eyepiece
with this little 50mm scope and a 26mm plossl.

Added: The plastic focuser of the edu-science scope is unable to
take the total weight of the 1.25" diagonal & eyepiece causing the
focuser tube to bend causing some collimation problems in the
upper half of the FOV. No wonder the image could not come
into a clean focus.

Have to stick to using the 0.96 accesories for now until i find
a way to shim the focuser tube.

A quick peek..

(pic taken through the edu science 50mm refractor)

A quick peek at the moon
-Scope: Edu-science 50mm refractor
-Waxing Crescent 33% full

The above pic was taken through the eyepiece, the
chromatic aberration (CA) is not as prominent as shown
in the pic when viewed visually through a 4mm huygen
eyepiece.

The three main craters, near Mare Nectaris, Theophilus,
Cyrillus & Catharina can easily be seen.
The peak inside Theophilus is visible, the small crater Madleris is also visible at about 90x through the 50mm.

Tasco 999VR (Article)

I'm looking for more info on this interesting classic Tasco telescope, model 999VR. Was made probably in the 80's by Vixen for Tasco. Uses 0.96" eyepeices and the views are supposely very crisp for a Tasco! This is a 60mm refractor with a focal length of 300mm, f/5. 
This will make a great grab and go setup and can be packed up in a briefcase!




Moon with Tasco 999VR at 300mm


Added: There seems to be two more variants of this scope, there's
also the 9vr and a 99vr. The 9vr/99vr was supposed to be the best
of the bunch with better glass and a effective 60mm objective. The
999vr still has a 60mm lens but is stop down midway making it
effectively a 40-45mm scope.

In fact daytimes views are sharper in the 999vr with a more pleasing
image, but it is comparatively dimmer during astro use due to the
stop down baffle midway in the tube. It is not advisable to remove
the baffle to counter the stop down problem as it will greatly degrade
the image as reported by Jae from cloudynights forum.

Jae has also mentioned a Meade Cometseeker Model 227(?) which
may be better than the Tascos.

Astronomy With Small Telescopes (An Introduction)

(click to see a larger pic)

This site is dedicated to anyone who enjoys using small telescopes.
I currently have a Celestron Short Tube 80 (ST80) refractor
and a recently bought tiny 50mm refractor by Edu-Science from
Toys r Us!

This toy r us scope has surprisingly (!) decent optics for its
price. It has a cemented doublet achromatic objectives, and
looks to me like a single layer coating on the objectives, not
sure if its on both air to glass surface, and has an aluminium
tube, albeit very thin, but nicely metallic painted.

The pic shows my ST80 (top) and my edu-science 50mm
(below), both are hideously stickered over by some fake
'carbon fibre' look-alike decal sheet bought for about S$12.

My interest in astronomy started many years back. These are
some of the scopes I've owned, and eventually sold over the years.

-Celestron C5 (vintage orange tube!) (Sold)
-Celestron C80 f/11 refractor (current scope)
-Celestron C5 (white & black tubes, i got at least 3 of these over the years)
-Celestron C8 (Sold)
-Meade ETX RA (Sold)
-Takahashi FS78 (Sold)
-Pentax 75SDHF (Sold)
-Skywatcher 150 mm f/5 refractor (Sold)
-Celestron SLT 102 refractor (Sold)
-Celestron ShortTube80 (current scope)
-Vixen A80SS (Sold)
-Edu-Science 50mm (this is a fun little toy scope..) (current scope)
-Celestron Nexstar 5SE (current scope)


Price: S$36.90!! Land & Sky Telescope by Edu-Science
At least the box didn't show some silly high 545x magnification!

Welcome aboard!
Jeffrey
SINGAPORE
1 22 N, 103 48 E