[ATM] 8" F4.2 Back from coaters

[Jason Hissong <jhissong@gmail.com>]

What a great Christmas present:  I just received my 8" F4.2 mirror back 
from Majestic Optical Coatings.  It looks wonderful!  I put it in the 
scope, collimated it, and then took it outside for some quick views.
It was still twilight and the skies were clear enough to use for a 
little bit.  Venus showed a really nice cresent.  My 13 year old brother 
was with me and he really liked the views.  He is working on a 6" 
mirror.  I brought the scope inside so that I could go to the gym.  Once 
I got back, I did some more serious observing with it.  Now that it was 
not twilight anymore, the double cluster looked so much better.  The red 
giants really had a nice amber look to them.  In fact, my brother 
commented on it and he has never seen it before.  The Pleides looked 
like you could pluck them out from the eyepiece.  M37 at 9mm looked like 
a nice swarm of stars.  Mars was still jumpy from the heat currents from 
within the ball, but I could tell that the focus was not soft at all.  I 
later put it on M42 and it looked pretty nice considering how bad the 
skies are here as far as light pollution is concerned.
Finally, I put it on Saturn.  And what a lovely site it was.

I think I am really going to enjoy my new telescope.  BTW, Majestic 
Coatings did a really nice job with a very fast turnaround.  I sent it 
Friday, and got it back today. I was really excited to get it back so fast.

Clear Skies!

Jason Hissong

Oh yea... I think Santa is bringing a nice new 21mm Stratus eyepiece.  
This should be a really nice eyepiece that will give me a nice field of 
view with the focal length.

-- 

"A long journey starts with the first step and an understanding spouse."
http://www.undermidnight.com - astronomy and astrophotography
http://www.n8xe.com - ham radio
http://www.jasonhissong.com - electronic music composition

_______________________________________________
ATM mailing list http://www.atmlist.net/