An unlikely night for me to go out as the weather turned bitter cold with strong winds and there was even snow and light hailstones earlier in the evening but there were two reasons for me wanting to go out. First was that in the morning I had a eureka moment for a solution to a small issue I've been having with the secondary mirror in my 10" Orion Europa 250. It took me 6 years for this moment to arrive but it was worth the wait. I was able to correct my mirror woes in less than 10 minutes so I was really excited about getting the scope out for a test.
The issue I would have is during the scopes cool down time I would see a lot of ghosting or comet like tails coming out of the side of stars. I put this down to the secondary mirror not being set at the correct angle or position.
The second reason was to observing some double stars of the list I have compiled for my coming talk this May.
I was very well sheltered from the wind, most of the time I was unaware that on the other side of my house there was a strong wind with gale force winds at times.
I was very happy with the results of my fix for my secondary mirror but upon observing Regulus, as my first alignment star, the comet effect was still there but not as prominently. I discovered a short time later that my Crayford focuser was now to blame. I noticed that as the tube changed position the focuser also moves slightly, thus knocking collimation slightly off. I suppose this wouldn't be noticed in most reflectors but having a fast F4.5 scope it is awful unless collimation is perfect.
I may invest in a Moonlight Crayford in the future as I would like this scope to become my primary imaging scope because of the superb quality of the optics.
Location = Home
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion Europa 250
Start Time = 21:47
Algieba - A beautiful golden pair, with the secondary star quite close to the parent and about half the visual size.
6 Leo - Well split in 8mm (175x) with a nice red primary and the secondary a smaller star with a diamond blue appearance.
93 Leo - Easily split with a white/yellow primary and the secondary a small pale star.
24 Com - Nicely split in the 8mm. Crisp red primary with a deep blue secondary, a very nice pair indeed.
35 Com - Somewhat similar to 24 Com but the secondary is much smaller and several magnitudes fainter.
Cor Coroli - Truly a stunning pain and I rarely observe it for reasons that are unknown to me. Both stars a brilliant white with the secondary smaller and several magnitudes fainter.
Izar/Epsilon Bootis - Magnificent! I really love this double and is in my top ten list. The 8mm just managed to split it, revealing a dramatic double indeed. The primary star a stunning golden red and a small marine blue coloured secondary star that hugs tight to Izar. Make sure you observe this if you're in Bootes.
Alkalurops/Mu Bootis - Quite nice, and a triple system. Appearing as a wide double star at first but a close look at the secondary soon shows itself to also have a companion. Not much colour contrast between all three stars.
Kappa Bootis - A lovely small pair. Bright white in colour with the secondary smaller than the parent and quite close too.
Iota Bootis - Similar view to Kappa only not as tight.
Finish = 23:24
Because my view is limited in my back garden and the constellation I wanted to move onto next was Hercules and would have to wait two hours until it was high enough it was time to call it a night. I was pleased with how much I got through, considering I had to wait some time for the scope to cool down.
Hopefully I will be able to get to Bragan with the 14" and get through Virgo, Hercules, Cygnus and a few others.
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