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Finally the skies cleared tonight! The new scope is everything I had hoped it would be. The finder is actually very usable and the mount (in alt/az
mode) is great. Once aligned, the GOTO pointing accuracy is amazing. Seeing the R.A. / DEC. readout update in real time as you slew around is also very nice. There is a noticable difference
in image brightness with the 10" as compared to my 8". Images of the moon were incredible sharp and detailed. Focusing the scope is very easy and much better than the old scope.
I'm very pleased.
Since you can't use GOTO when working towards an Astronomical League Messier Certificate, I starhopped my way to two new globular clusters tonight.
First, I just had to
play with the GOTO capabilities so I had the scope slew automatically to M3. It put the globular dead center in the field of view of the 55mm plossl. After that, I starhopped my way to M5 and M53. M5 was the best globular of the night. It was partially resolved and stars were everywhere. M3 was a close second. M53 wasn't nearly as interesting. I wasn't able to resolve any of the stars so it just remained a fuzzy blob. It will really be interesting to compare these backyard light polluted views to views from a dark sky. I bet M53 will look better from a dark site.
After globular hunting, I decided to look for some other objects. I had the scope GOTO the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). It showed up as two fuzzy blobs. No
connecting arm was seen. I bet a dark sky view of this will be incredible. I've got to get the scope out to Baylor soon. Baylor is a MAS dark-sky location where the Onan Observatory is located.
Finally it was planet hunting time. I first tried for Pluto. The scope slewed automatically right to the spot where Pluto should be. I drew a quick
sketch of the field and compared it to the Deepsky 2000 charted location for Pluto.
Mars had risen by now but was still very low and behind my neighbor's garage. The original plan was to just wander the galaxy a bit looking at whatever
I felt like until it
was high enough in the sky and far enough above the horizon to get a stable view. However, the clouds had a different plan. They started racing across the sky and I was forced to move the scope to a different location in the backyard to get a view of the red planet. I was rewarded with the largest Martian disk I've ever seen (19" according to Sky & Telescope). But since it was so low, the planet looked more like a boiling orange ball than anything else. The atmosphere was distorting the view so much that no detail could be seen. I just have to be more patient and stay up later to get a good view. Of course, these darn clouds have to leave me alone too.
It was a good night. Two more Messier objects down, 62 to go...
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