ETX-90 OBSERVATIONS Last updated: 26 June 2002

Observations with the ETX-90

Subject:	ETX 90 RA CAN...
Sent:	Sunday, June 23, 2002 9:58:07
From:	martyn@starmail.co.za (martyn)
...do the things below.

Hello all,


Below follows just a quick bunch of observations I made recently with
the ETX90RA.

M57:...17 June 2002 00:30h UT,
Seeing very good, a very slight haze in the sky and on the ground,
skybackground not particularly dark.
The SP26mm, SP15mm, SP9.7mm and UWA 4.7mm ep's all showed the hole.
The SP9.7mm seemed to give the best image, as it nicely showed the
inside of the ring being brighter than outside the ring.
The UWA4.7mm also showed this but the ring was a bit dimmer at 266X.
In this eyepiece the 13th magnitude star just outside the ring showed
up in moments as well, with averted vision. There were clearly some
slow and gentle aircurrents high up.....parts of the ring brightened
in moments (not scintillating).


M13:...17 June 2002 00:45h - 01:00h UT, altitude about 64 degrees.
Seeing very good, a very slight haze in the sky and on the ground,
skybackground not particularly dark. Nearing 3 o'clock local daylight
savings time, the sky started to brighten again as dawn was on the
way.
The SP15mm shows a good hint of stars resolved in the fringes of the
globular...a coarse-sugar look. Averted vision starts to show quite a
number of resolved stars.
Pop in the SP9.7mm - 129X. Oh WOW!!! The core is unresolved(bit grainy
though) but around that, and especially with averted vision A MASS of
resolved stars is seen surrounding the core. The core is not centred
in this mass of stars. This mass of stars is seen mainly around the
north and west of the core. In the background of these resolved stars
there seem to be many unresolved stars as that background is quite
bright.
Powers of 195X and 266X only made the image mushy. Back to the
SP9.7mm, several "strings" of stars can be picked up. The distribution
of this resolved mass of stars can clearly be observed. I could not
study it any longer as at 01:00h UT the sky became clearly brighter
and the glob became slowly washed out.
Next time I will want to spend 1/2 hour or (much)longer only on M13.


EPSILON	 Lyrae, the Double-Double:...17 June 2002 01:00h - 01:15h UT,
altitude about 70 degrees, Azimuth 190 degrees (just past south).
Seeing very good, a very slight haze in the sky, skybackground not
particularly dark, certainly now as dawn is just around the corner.
The UWA4.7mm very cleanly splits both pairs, they each look quite wide
at 266X. Both pairs fit in the same fov at 266X. Too blown up for my
taste.
The SP6.4mm at 195X splits both pairs easily and cleanly and also the
"composition" looks a bit more pleasing.
AT 129X with the SP9.7mm both pairs split easily also, with clean
black space between. I feel this ep gives me the most pleasing
"composition". It shows both pairs explicitly as two very close
doubles, very pretty.
The SP15mm split both pairs as well at 83X!!! EPS 1 Lyrae (northern
component) was continuously split, whereas EPS 2 Lyrae (southern
component) was not continuously split. In moments it would appear
rod-like. But in other moments it was split and then looked very,
very, very close. Too close for my likings.
This night I have copied this observation several times, but also the
next evening at 21:38h UT at 266X.
The double-double clearly is no challenge for the ETX90, it's only an
appetizer for this wonderful little scope.


Lunar occultaion of NU-Virginis/SAO119035:...17 June 2002 19:04h UT.
Very clear, seeing, well let's say not too bad. Lunar-phase=0.48+,
alt=34 degrees.
The occultation of this 4th magnitude star by the moon happened in a
blue sky, just-just after sunset(20:00h UT). The setting sun was
blocked by clouds.
At 48X I found the star near the moon at 19:55h UT (21:55h local
daylight-savings time), it was quite easily seen. The dark limb of the
moon was completely invisible meaning I could not watch the dark limb
approach the star. So I fixed my gaze on the star. After 20:00h UT the
dark limb of the moon was still completely invisible, now I
permanently kept the star in sight. And then...at 20:04h UT, suddenly
the star went out. As if it instantly ceased to exist. It seemed to
vanish amidst "just blue sky". Beautiful!!!!


Rima Hadley, on the Moon:...18 June 2002 21:00h - 21:30h UT. Seeing
very good, a bit of haze in front of the moon. Lunar-phase=0.60+,
alt=28 degrees.
Took a stroll around the Apollo 15 landing site, the light there was
very nice. In the SP9.7mm, at 129X the area looked very smooth.
Walking due south I passed Hadley crater which was clearly defined,
clean and round. Then I stumbled upon a section of Rima Hadley. I
could follow it swirling until it met with the Apennines. I than ran
back to the other side of Hadley crater to go look for the rille
section north of this little crater, but I could not find it. The
UWA4.7mm brought me back to the rille-section south-west of Hadley
crater, but it failed to take me to the "northern" section of Rima
Hadley.
Low altitude and haze dimmed the image of the moon in the UWA4.7mm
considerably.
This Rima Hadley is only about 1 mile wide, not bad going for the ETX
90 I'd say.

Regards,
martyn
observing from the Netherlands
52 29.49 N
 6 23.22 E

Subject:	Izar's little friend....
Sent:	Tuesday, June 25, 2002 15:08:32
From:	martyn@starmail.co.za (martyn)
Here's an observation of Izar I made recently:

Epsilon Bootis (Izar):...22 June 2002 22:12h UT, Transparancy was quite
good. Seeing, well, Arcturus was twinkling just a bit but the limb of
the moon at much lower altitude was boiling rather rapidly. I observed
with the Meade ETX90RA and a UWA4.7mm eyepiece and a SP6.4mm eyepiece.
Both eyepieces showed the companion squatting right on the first
diffraction-ring of the main star. The UWA4.7mm at 266X only showed it
only bigger than with the SP6.4mm at 195X. Atmospheric- and telescopic
seeing were not perfect so the companion was flamed out now and then.
But in between(most of the time really)...it was there, clearly!

Recently I found a post from Joe McGerald (hello Joe)in the Greater San
Diego area reporting seeing this double so nicely, almost exactly a year
ago. His post prompted me to check how my etx would show this. Well, the
same magnificent thing.

Regards,
martyn

observing from the Netherlands
52 29.49 N
 6 23.22 E

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