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Re: Galaxy Hunting last night. Started by skelleywa at 02-24-2008 10:47 AM. Topic has 4 replies. TAS Community S... » StarHill » Observing Repor... » Re: Galaxy Hunting last night.

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02-24-2008, 10:47 AM skelleywa Joined on 05-23-2005 Posts 48 Galaxy Hunting last night. I was out to 1:00 am last night and picked off 20 galaxies in Ursa Major with the Mallin Cam. I am now enjoying the Herschel 400 from my driveway even with the moon up. Distant Globs look good too in the Mallin Cam. I have thumbnail pictures of the 400 off the web. Can compare the picture to the image and say "yep, that's it". In some cases, I see detail not on the picture. I cam across ngc 2903 in Leo and it really popped out as a spiral with a strong bar. I went to the internet and SEDS said is was one of the best missed by Messier and astronomers think it is very similar to the Milky Way.    Report

02-25-2008, 9:46 AM cdc Joined on 05-23-2005 Posts 10 Re: Galaxy Hunting last night. Nice report Bill. Nice to see a report up here for a change. Out of curiosity, what monitor are you using with your Mallin Cam? There was a lot of discussion on the Cloudynights.com video astronomy group about monitors, but I don't think that there was any clear consensus. Since I am considering a MC for future use, due to increasing light pollution, I am trying to decide whether to go with something like a Watec 3.5" LCD, which could hang on the finder board on my 16" dob, or to just go with a higher resolution larger monitor to help my aging eyes. Doug Midway, FL    Report

02-27-2008, 1:04 PM skelleywa Joined on 05-23-2005 Posts 48 Re: Galaxy Hunting last night. I purchased a used 9" B&W Toshiba TVM 1003 high res monitor. I decided to go B&W since the cam will have higher pixel density and everything is cheaper. With your larger apature, color will be great for you. I have seen M1 on a color Mallin Cam on a 15 inch tracking Dob that looked like it was taken by Hubble. With the focal reducer that came with and screws onto the Mallin Cam, M51 fills the whole screen. Other more distant Hershels say 20 to 40 million lys, that have spiral strucure fill about 1/4 to 1/3 the screen. I mount the monitor on a board between the legs of my Losmandy G-11 tipod. I use a C-11 optical tube. This keeps everything on the scope and mount with ac power in the only thing running to or from the scope. I have the hole thing on locking wheels I bought for $15 and can roll the whole rig with monitor out of the garage and be ready to go in about 15 minutes. By the way, I was observing magnitude 12 galaxies with a 2 day after a full moon the other night in Ursa Major. Just need bright stars to get the go-to working. I believe this is the best thing to happen since the Dob and cheap CCD's to amateur astronomy. It makes observing much more enjoyable, and from almost any site, since one can see so much detail. Hope they can get costs down under $500 for the average joe.    Report

02-27-2008, 2:53 PM cdc Joined on 05-23-2005 Posts 10 Re: Galaxy Hunting last night. Bill, thanks for the detailed reply! Sounds like a great setup you have, and you just can't beat the roll out simplicity of your rig. A C11 on a good sturdy GEM is a fantastic setup. The MallinCam is definitely the great equalizer when it comes to observing under light pollution, isn't it? In fact, I often have to struggle to see mag 12 galaxies in a 16" scope under my fairly good (mag 5+) skies. BTW, have you considered housing your SCT rig in something like a Skyshed POD? http://www.skyshedpod.com/  I have actually considered selling my dob for a SCT rig similar to yours and housing it in one of these. I am pretty certain that a MallinCam Hyper Color Plus is in my future, I just have to figure out how best to handle the monitor situation. The 9" Speco high res monitor I was looking at would be great for observing, but the Watec 3.5 LCD would be a bit more convenient, not to mention easier to power since my observing pad is a good 150' from an electrical source. Either way, it would be fun to be looking at some of the dim galaxies with a moon up! BTW, I don't know if your C11 is Fastar compatible, but I heard from a mutual friend that the MC in a C11 with Hyperstar was smoking the big dobs (24"+) using the same camera at Chiefland last month! I agree with your feelings about the MallinCam being a real boon to amateur astronomy. It enables one to finally see the "pictures on the box" through just about any telescope, and in "real time" to boot. If the price would drop a few hundred dollars, they would really have to ramp up production! Doug Midway, FL    Report

03-01-2008, 9:52 AM cdc Joined on 05-23-2005 Posts 10 Re: Galaxy Hunting last night. Well, Bill, you convinced me. Last night I ordered the MallinCam Hyper Color Plus camera and a Watec LCD monitor. The monitor will mount next to the focuser on my dob with a mini ball mount. Maybe sometime we can get together and share views? Doug Midway, FL    Report

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