stevie wrote: Good reports as always guys.
I just thought you might be interested in this. Both my mate Mark and I have taken a notion in recent months to acquire some orthoscopic eyepieces. I have bought an 18mm Astro Hutech, a 9 mm Astro Hutech and a 7 mm Celestron, all second hand for a song. Mark bought a new 10mm Baader.
With the weather having been so poor in recent times, I haven't really had a chance to use them, but early last Saturday morning was quite clear, so I decided to take the dob out the back, just to try and see some photons. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended up having a look at Beta Monocerotis using the 9 mm. and the view was really good, with the three components split very nicely. The seeing wasn't great, and the light pollution was as bad as always, but I was really pleased with the performance of the eyepiece. I then had a look at Gamma Leonis, and again, the view was very nice. Usually I see these this pair as almost equal, but this time, one of the stars was distinctly more "golden" than the other.
Jupiter was also well seen, with one of the Moons very close to the planet. the view of the planet in the 7 mm Celestron was also good. I barlowed the 9 mm with my TAL 2x, just to see what would happen. The view wasn't great, but it was obvious that, with better conditions, this combo could definitely give results.
I'm really looking forward to trying these eyepieces in the Nexstar 6, so hopefully it won't be very long before I get the chance
That was a good purchase, Stevie. May you have interesting times ahead with you orthoscopics.
The Sky and Telescope website gives us excellent information as to which moon is which for the 4 Galilean satellites if you do not have an alternative.
Triple star Beta Monocerotis is a must -see for me this year. I have always enjoyed Gamma Leonis over the years.
Aubrey.
  