Introduction

In April 2018, I made my first serious foray into astrophotography, as discussed here on telekilnesis, using a Tele Vue 60 refractor mounted on a Vixen Super Polaris equatorial mount. Of course, once an imaging session is up and running there's little for the astrophotographer to do other than wait for it to finish. Some choose to go back indoors and have a drink or watch TV, but I'm a visual observer at heart and it seemed like a missed opportunity.

My 102mm achromatic refractor (which used to sit on the Super Polaris) no longer had a mount, and I felt like I'd pushed the limits of what I could see through that scope (plus my eyes aren't getting any younger), so the inevitable craving began for a new, larger telescope.

The first part of the search wasn't difficult: if all you want is the pure observing experience (and you don't need a GOTO mount to navigate the night sky) then a basic Dobsonian design represents the biggest aperture for the least expenditure.

The second part took a little longer, but I eventually settled on the Orion SkyQuest XT10 Plus (other makes and models are available). A 10-inch reflector is probably the biggest scope I can safely carry out to the garden and back, and the eyepiece is almost always at a comfortable height for viewing while sitting down. (Equatorial mounts are great in so many ways, but I can't tell you what a relief it is not to have to contort my back anymore to look at objects near the zenith.)

So why keep a log?

Like other visual hobbies such as birdwatching or painting, telescopic astronomy rewards prolonged observation and careful study. If you look at a faint nebula or galaxy only once, you haven't really seen it. It takes time and techniques such as averted vision, scope-tapping and enhanced breathing to tease out the subtle details. And in most cases, it's not until you go back to it a second or third time that you really get a full appreciation for what you're looking at. But with so many objects to observe, if you haven't kept notes then how can you remember what you saw last time? For example, what was the optimum magnification for viewing a particular planetary nebula? Was it symmetrical? Was any colour apparent? Was it brighter on one or more sides? Was the central star visible? And so on...

I've tidied and expanded my notes to make them more presentable, but they were written largely for my own benefit and will probably read as such. But if you're curious to know what the universe looks like through a 10-inch reflector, or if you just want to compare my observations with your own notes, then you might find something useful here.

A final caveat: just so this blog isn't completely text-heavy, I will include some of the images I've taken with the TV-60. These aren't meant to represent the view through the eyepiece - no amateur telescope will show you the colour and detail in a long-exposure image. But then again, no photo will ever capture the immersive experience of gazing at a rich cluster of pinpoint stars through a wide-field eyepiece...

Equipment Summary

Orion XT10 with a Tele Vue 9 mm Nagler

Telescopes / Binoculars

Orion SkyQuest XT10 PLUS 254 mm f/4.7 Dobsonian Reflector (an enhanced version of the classic XT10 which comes with a dual-speed Crayford focuser and altitude tension adjustment, among other things)

Tele Vue-60 APO Refractor (which, when it isn't being used for photography, provides stunning widefield views of the night sky)

Swift 781 Aerolite 7x50 Binoculars

Eyepieces

Tele Vue 24 mm Panoptic (50x)
Tele Vue 9 mm Nagler (133x)
Tele Vue 5 mm Nagler (240x)

28 mm Deepview (43x)
10 mm Sirius Plossl (120x)
(The latter two eyepieces came with the XT10. They're perfectly fine as starter eyepieces go, but when you already own a set of Tele Vues, well...)

Barlows / Powermates

Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate
Orion 2x Shorty Barlow

Filters

Orion UltraBlock Narrowband 1.25"

Atlases

Each atlas has its own strengths and weaknesses, but if I had to recommend one it would undoubtedly be Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas. This smartly-designed book divides the night sky into 80 charts mapping the stars down to magnitude 7.6, plus (in the jumbo edition) a further ten close-up charts depicting regions of interest such as Orion's belt and sword, and the Virgo galaxy cluster.

Observing Location

On a good night the limiting magnitude (NELM) from my back garden is about 5.5, which is equivalent to 6 on the Bortle Scale (Bright Suburban Sky). I find the best views are from the zenith towards the west and northwest (the shortest distance between me and the sea - and thus containing the least amount of light pollution).