Ethos 21mm First Light

[Radar 571]

Just came back in from the obs. Just tested my ethos 21mm.

Haven't used the scope much lately because of work and father commitments (2 year old and 8 week old). Starry night kept crashing once I connected to Gemini, so this report only has two objects that I pushed the mount to.

Equipment - Losmandy Mount, Flocked C14 and mirror cooled down to ambient with three peltiers. 21mm ethos.

First object that I located was Omega Centauri. She was quite low and above the city of Perth. This object was in the wrong place because of the intense light pollution above the city, but I tried it anyway. My response as she came into view said it all "f**k me". She was as bright as I'd ever seen her. I was really amazed at this eyepiece. The field of view was amazing on an object like this. Omega almost filled the entire field of view. The phrase "struggled to see" did not have a home anymore. I considered putting sunglasses on to dim her down a bit (that is obviously not true). :smiley-sw022:

I cannot wait to grab people's ear lobes and drag them into the obs to see what is above.

Just for good measure I placed my 13mm ethos into the C14 to compare. The 13mm as expected gave lovely bright stars, but the field was not big enough. The 21mm now reigns supreme for extended objects such as nebs, globs, clusters etc.

This is a good example of what I was seeing - Click Me!

Next object was the Jewel Box. I have seen this object many times. A little tiny cluster near Crux. Well not anymore. The Ethos and C14 combination almost smacked me in the face when she came into view. I had to duck and weave like a professional boxer to deal with the photon's coming out of her. :smiley-sw003:

This is what I might usually see _ Click Me!

This is what I felt I was seeing tonight - Click Me!

I have no idea how Televue designed this eyepiece but it is not just better than what I'm used to, but it seems way better than what I'm used to. I would love to see a 30mm or 40mm Ethos at some stage. :emoticon-misc-013:

Anyway, with some luck I'll be getting up at 5a.m to image Jupiter.

Ray:cya:

[poppasmurf 359]

Nice touch with the pics for representation Ray. I really would like one of the Ethos EP's but other things must come first alas. Thanks for the report mate.

Regards poppasmurf AKA Shane