Last Night Was Glorious

Clear sky, not much turbulence.  I rolled out the big reflector and went to 500x on the Moon.  No burbling image although not as sharp as it should have been, probably because I did not collimate after rolling it out.  I really need to have the asphalt redone; in the meantime sweep the gravel off.  The vibration affects the collimation, and never for the better.  At 400x, the image was better. To give you some idea: 500x is equivalent to being 476 miles from the surface plus some mild atmospheric distortion; 400x is 595 miles.

The last time I tried to use the refractor on the Pleaides, the results were disappointing.  My 50mm eyepiece (18x) just does not have the field view to get anything but a few stars at a time.  When I tried to use the 85mm eyepiece (10x), the focuser wuld not go far enough out because of the safety strap on the diagonal.  I have since lengthened the strap.  At 10x, you are inside the cluster and it is awesome how bright they are.  (In Big Bertha the 85mm eyepiece would give 24x, again, too small a field.)