Shares and cherishes the gorgeous night sky, the everyone's property.
Some might believe that the colour of Blue Moon is blue. However, this is not true. Blue Moon is refered to a second full moon in the same month. That’s all. Nothing special about Blue Moon but it is still worth the effort to monitor as moon is always interesting.
Tonight, there is a Blue Moon. If I am not mistaken, another Blue Moon will only occur until Dec 2009.
This diagoanl is probably the best investment I have done so far. The instant changing of magnification is really handy. Since a high quality 2″ diagonal with 97% transmission silver coating (dielectric coating available at $120 more), a SCT to 2″ adapter, 2″ to 1.25″ adapter and a dovetail connector is included in the package, S2 is really worth the price and is highly recommended for SCT users, especially those doing visual observing.
So far, I have only tested it under lousy skies condition. When either the reducer or multiplier arm is pushed into the end, the focus will be out for sure. So, you have to adjust the focus everytime when you switch the arm. There isn’t any clearance problem with my 8″ LX90. The only thing that I am worry about is the diagonal+eyepiece that weights around 1 kg. The DEC gear’s threads may be stripped.
I will only compare S2 and Meade stock diagonal when the sky is very good in condition. I don’t want the sky to be the limit during the comparison. However, these days are quite cloudy.
I bought the S2 (refer to the whole assembly) from OPT at USD389 before a 5% discount. I replaced my stock diagonal with this. I haven’t had the chance to try it under the starfield yet. The curse of clouds just come after I received the parcel.
The whole assembly (with the SCT adapter and 2″ to 1.25″ adapter) is really heavy. It’s so nicely crafted that you would take it as a decoration of your scope. What made me buy S2 instead of the Astro-Tech 1.25″ dielectric diagonal which is very hot these days? It’s its Power x Switch mechanism. It allows you to easily change the effective magnification. It will certainly come in handy when you are doing visual observing, especially binoviewing.
Let’s study about its specification. The 2″ diagonal is made by WO and enhanced with silver coating with 97% transmission. The mirrors are 10 mm thick and have a Lamda/10 wave flatness. The S2 with 2″ to 1.25″ adapter weight at 0.73 kg. Used with single eyepiece with the Reducer arm in, the focal reduction is 0.83X to 0.66X. When the Multiplier arm is in, you can archieve a 1.5X-2X. Used with binoviewer with the Reducer arm in, the focal reduction is 0.59X. With the Multiplier arm in, the magnification is multiplied by a factor of 1.7X. The factors are greater if the eyepiece(s) is farther the S2.
Due to its weight, I am going to get a balancing system just in case my DEC threads will be worn out earlier. Maybe a Scopestuff Balancing Kit. Ouch, I just spent too much in this hobby…
Finally, a comparison photo with the stock diagonal is uploaded. Personal review will be done when the weather permits. Do you know that above is just a preview? 
Coming up next, 8″ LX90 with Baader Visual Solar Film and Bob’s Knobs installed.
Hello guys, I just got my Denkmeier PowerXSwitch diagonal, Baader Visual Solar Film, Bob Knobs, Telescope Optics and New CCD Astronomy yesterday from the Custom. I am going to post the photo and let you know more tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day of my exam and I will be back with full force!
As an amateur astronomer (A.A.), we can do many things. Visual observing (V.O.), astrophotography, comet hunting, asteroid hunting, supernova hunting and many more. V.O. can keep your eyes busy enjoying the scenetic space with unlimited objects. For astrophotography, there are mainly deep sky astrophotography and planetary photography to keep you busy around.
I’m now a visual observer and planetary photographer. My decision is made according to the following circumstances. No wedge, no enough time for long exposure imaging and no buck to make my setup ready for deep sky imaging. The most important thing is to keep my hobby not that expensive. 
I’m having SPM (O’ Level Exam) this year and I will be having UEC (A’ Level) on 2008. So, I don’t have much time to spend in imaging. Afterthat, I might go to U.S. to continue my study. I hope my hobby can continue when I settle there.
By the way, I am having exam next week so my blog will not be updated so frequently. 
After the exam, this blog will be rearranged. Hope so.
On 5 May 2007, my friend Giek Zhen from Segamat, Johor, Malaysia visited me with his department store telescope (the right in the photo). At first, I didn’t think that the department scope even worthed for such a little bucks. However, after I had looked through the scope, I agree that department scope is actually a good choice for the very very beginners. (Of course, not every department scope’s quality is the same)
We woke up at 0500 6 May 2007 and started our stargazing session. The Moon and Jupiter were so bright on the sky. After I showed Giek Zhen the bright objects on the night sky, I let him peer through my 8″ scope. Below are the objects that we observed.
Jupiter was so bright and we could see 4 Galilean moons. Actually I saw one more but I just couldn’t confirm as the glow of Jupiter and Moon was too strong, made it hard to be seen. The department scope can actually let the user see Jupiter. Although the Jupiter was washed out by the strong glow and weak resolution of 60mm telescope, the Galilean moons were visible.
Moon was 89% full but we still did the observing. I showed him the high power viewing of the Moon which got a little distorted in his scope.
Butterfly Cluster did really look like a butterfly. The stars resembled a butterfly with the dark sky as background. Amazing!
Wild Duck Cluster as seen as it was flying was even more spectacular than the Butterfly Cluster! There are 3 bright stars in this region. 2 are the eyes of the wild duck.
M07, Helix Nebula and Cynus X1 were observed too. M07 was an open star cluster. We can’t see anything when the scope pointed to Helix Nebula. I guessed it was due to the strong glow of Moon. Cynus X1 was a blackhole that I expected because of its weird nomenclature (at least to me). We need an instrument with the ability to receive x-ray to view it.
I saw one Aquarid earthgrazer burning across the sky from north to south for just 2 seconds! Giek Zhen saw one Aquarid too.
Eta Aquarids are the dust left by Hally’s Comet. Earth passes this stream of dust twice a year. First in May caused the Eta Aquarids and second in October the Orionids. The peak rate is 5-10 per hour for the northern hemisphere and 20-60 per hour for southern hemisphere. The rate maybe lower by a factor of 2 to 3 because of the waning gibbous Moon.
Where and when to look for the meteoroids? As usual, the time to look for meteor shower is best at before dawn. Look east to the constellation Aquarius as the radial point of this meteor shower is near Aquarius. Don’t forget to dress warm and lie on a flat ground with a blanket.
Facts:
1.Typical Eta Aquarids are as bright as 3th magnitude stars
2.The meteorids hit the earth at the speed of 66 km/s.
This newly found most earthlike planet has the key ingredient of life, the liquid water. This exoplanet (extrasolar planet) is located at the “Goldilocks” position (not too far and not too close to its star) that the water on this planet can be in the form of liquid state. This exoplanet is named Gliese 581 C after its star, Gliese 581.
Gliese 581 C is either a rocky planet or a oceans dominated world. Its mass is 5.1x that of Earth and its radius is 50% greater than of Earth, results in 3.4x of Earth’s volume. It has a gravity of 2.2x that of Earth. The temperature of the planet is estimated between 0ºC to 40ºC. It won’t be our new home in 50 to 100 years time as the distance between Gliese 581 C and Earth is 20.5ly (120 trillion km).
How’s this earthlike planet discovered?
The scientists discovered the new world using the HARP instrument on the European Southern Observatory 3.6 meter telescope in La Sille, Chile. They employed the so-called radial velocity, or “wobble,†technique, in which the size and mass of a planet are determined based on small perturbations it induces in its parent star’s orbit via gravity.
Almost everyone of us will ask is there any life on this planet? The extraterrestial life is unconfirmed yet but we’ll know after some days. When the new Allen Telescope Array begins to operate, Gliese 581 C might be looked again.
More information on Gliese 581 C can be located at Wikipedia.
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