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16" Matthias Wirth Mak with 5" Takahashi refractor:
1329

In round numbers: 900 observations, 500 objects, 50 "not found"s, 200 sketches.

(Some planets, H-alpha, and comets, but probably 95% DSOs. Haven't completed any lists, not even Messier.)

Hi Rolandos,

I tried a UHC, but I don't have an OIII at my vacation site in Colorado.

I'll try it from Ireland when I get back home. I've got more aperture there (16") and an OIII, but my...

I tried for this one last year with a 10" DK from good skies (SQM 21.7) at about 11,000'. No dice.

Cheers,
Jeff.

I could "see" the dark lane several years ago with a 16" mirror at 170X. From my notes:

"More elongated than NGC891, with a more condensed core, but dark lane not as prominent. In fact, it would...

I have one high-power observation (510X with a 16" SCT). Conditions were fair (Pickering 7; NELM 5.5, SQM 20.5), but I didn't see any knots or elongation.

It was fairly early in my "career", so...

I average about once a month, although with Irish weather it tends to be 2 or 3 nights during one new moon followed by no nights for several new moons.

Summer is also pretty much a loss from...

I always switch to a binoviewer for planetary, which pretty much knocks out all the "wide body" eyepiece designs.

Like Rod I'm not a fan of narrow fields in mono, but for some reason they don't...

Here are sketches of 7, 8 and 9 with a 10", although from excellent skies (10,000' in Colorado; SQMs 21.5+).

I've also attached a sketch of Pal 2, but that was done from home (larger instrument,...

I agree that DM has more than a whiff of fudge. But DE strikes me as a bit more elegant:

You've got the strong nuclear force at very small distances,
which is eclipsed by the electro-weak force...

My colour perception is quite weak; I see a hint of blue or green in 4 or 5 of the brightest planetaries, but that's about it. (16")

93

Copious magnification can help. I still don't have enough aperture, but at 500X I got to "grainy":

I started as a bit of a list-hunter, logging 8 - 10 objects a night. I was living in San Jose and so had to drive to observe, but most nights were clear.

I moved to Ireland in 2006 and built an...