Oh those refractor views - and good seeing to boot!

March 6, 2008, 8 pm - T3S4

Got to put the new (to me) 100mm Orion ED through its paces last night between periods of high clouds. Terrific.

On Mars both Bren and I could immediately see Syrtis Major. I can't remember ever seeing marking on Mars this clearly with other scopes and here Mars is only a bit over 8 seconds in diameter right now. That alone was worth the price of admission.

But Saturn was terrific as well, with the Cassini Division - so hard to see this year - absolutely clear.

And then came the multiple stars! Oh my - such wonderful, prime images! First, the Trapezium - split so well at 43X, but uch better at 180. The higher power also did a very nice job with Rigel. (No I could not split Sirius, but get real ;-)

Castor made a super trio. Bren has a curious reaction to the brighter pair. She see sthe secondary star as being as bright - only smaller - as the primary. Interesting. And Hamma Leo showed a wonderful orange star paired with one tinged bluish/green. Ina ll cases several diffraction rings around each multiple star member - except the fainter third star with Castor - and just absolutely crisp little dots.