Jupiter in the branches of a fast-moving tree

March 23/24 pm/am moonless/moonlight t4/3 s3

Jupiter, Europa, Io, Ganymede and Callisto - all playing a confused game of tag, tangled in the branches of a fast-moving tree - that was my main memory from two excellent observing sessions.

What I liked was the weather, the moon, the scopes, and the binoculars all cooperated.

What I didn't like - my monkey brain gets as tangled in the technology as Jupiter and his entourage in those tree branches. Most of the time I am not observing. I am playing with - or thinking about - the tools. Hopefully, this is coming to an end. I am making choices - settling in on what I like. And things are working - especially as I abandon some of my bunny brain ideas and return to the tried and true.

(Defnitions: Monkey brain - one that won't quiet down and focus. Bunny brain - one that has crazy ideas. Sometimes called hare-brained ;-)

So, for example, last night I found myself casting aside a red dot finder in favor of the simpler, older 6x30mm finder scope. This is a stock item and I have far too many around. They used to make them only one way - straight through with images flipped left-to-right. Now that's silly. We put diagonals on refractors and SCTs so we can avoid the contortions needed to try to look straight through them. Why go through all that uncomfortable neck-craning to use a finder? Newer models at last offer a right angle (90 degree diagonal) viewing with correct image.

Duh! You're trying to find stuff. OK - the older type probably have their adherents because the view matches what you see in the scope. I would argue that it's more important for the finder to match what you see with the naked eye - just go a little deeper. And I wish they would make them super wide. I don't need the power. I don't need the light grasp. In fact, extra light grasp can just add to the confusion by showing you more stars than you want - or need - to see. Hey, if we can do fine with Telrads and other one-power sights, why do we need large finders?

What got me started on this kick was the 5X25 wide-field binos (Bushnell) I got on AstroMart. They give very decent views in about a 12-degree field. That's cool. I can fit the entire cup of the Big Dipper in that field, or half of Orion. Makes it easy to march from the cup of the Dipper to M81/82, for example - just one step, really. Then moving from that to the 6X30 is a small jump. But the fov on the 6X30 is significantly smaller and there's no reason, as far as I can see, why that should be, or why someone thinks that's a good idea. I think they're just in a rut.

But until someone corrects this approach I'll use the binos for scouting missions, then go to the 6x30 (or 9x50) correct image finders.

So last night I was doing that and using just the 80ED on the pier with Voyager head, and the 15X70 Astro-Physics binos on a p-mount. (The p-mount was on the Meade field tripod and I think that's heavier than I need. I'd like to be able to carry this around easier. Probably could use a lighter counter-balancing weight and extend it more - that wouold also ease the burden of lugging this thing around. )

Highlights - the Astro-Physics glasses are really nice - I used them on M81/82, the Leo Triplet (well, that really meant the brighter of the three), Coma cluster, and Kemble's Cascade, which filled them comfortabvly, but left me a little breathing room. Oh - and the Pleiades, M35, 37,36 and 38 - and I could just glimpse M51 low in the east and got a real nice look at M3. Yes! These are nice glasses. All my previous trials with them have been with horrendous observing conditions. I really liked how they revealed the different character of each open cluster - M35, 37, 36, and 38 - whiloe not being able to show you any detail.

And the 80ED? Very nice. After you get excited by the bino view of M81/82, you then switch to the 80ED and realize that power is significant. It really works to crank up the power on this pair to the vicinity of 100X - even with just 80mm of light grasping surface. With a 120ST - on order - I may go higher. On the other hand, M65, 66 were more challenging in both the binos and the 80 ED and did not respond to added power nearly as well. I suspect the 120ST (F5) is going to give me low power, wide field and just enough light grasp to make galaxy hunting a satisfying activity.

The question remains, though, if an F5 achro can do well under 100X - well enough to make me sell the 80ED? That would leave me the 66ED for highly portable work, the 100ED for planets, Moon, and double stars, The 120ST would become the workhorse for richest field viewing and presumably - with a fringe-killer filter - be acceptable for Moon and planets.

That said, this morning I confined my playing to the 66ED and once more felt that if this was all I had, I could spend years without exhausting it. But then, that assumes I apply it to the kind of mediatetive observing I talk about, but do too little of.

I started my morning session (4:30 am) with the Gang of Four on the waning Moon, low in the southwest. This settled me a little. I then switched to the Engagement Ring which looked fine in the moonlight, but I still felt like I wanted to push the two stars that are out of place into line - then we would have a true engagement ring - now it's just an imaginative stretch.

Albireo had me first thinking of a King and Queen with a court of lesser lights - but it soon had me singing "Jodi and the Kid" under my breath as the bright gold primary, wandered across the field of view, the little blue secondary in tow.

I'd pay her no attention as she tagged along beside me,
Trying hard to copy ev'rything I did;
But I couldn't keep from smiling when I'd hear somebody saying:
"Look a-yonder; there goes Jody and the kid."

For some reason, though, the diffraction rings appeared on the trailing side only, making the pair look a bit like little space ships rocketing across my field of view. Also made me start wondering about the telescope and whether it was laligned properly and . . . which is the kind of distraction I don't need.

Then I spotted old Jupiter, rising in the southeast with his own gang of four - Ganymede, Io, and Europa to his west, Callisto on his east.. The woods to my south made observing impractical, but there was a small gap, so I turned the scope that way and got a nice surprise - boy, does this make the Earth move! I was using about 45X and looking through a tangle of tree branches. And as the tree moved - and it moved very quickly - the moons dodged in and out of the branches. Way cool. This really drove home the point that the tree was indeed moving. But it was fun just to watch the view change. So much in astronomy happens in slow motion with minute changes over eons, that from our perspective everything is standing still. Of course it doing nothing of the sort - motion is the rule, not the exception. The thrill comes from seeing one such motion clearly.