Vega Sky Center

As dusk came and the skies turned a deep teal blue at around 9:00pm EDT, my first target with the “Mary Dawson” refractor was Venus. Using a TeleVue 15mm Plossl, which yield a magnification of 87x, I slowly focused Venus in the field of view and was very pleased at the image I was seeing. Despite some purple fringing, Venus was very sharp and CA was held very, very low even though Venus was low in the sky. Typically, viewing objects that low in the sky would general tease out the CA of many a celestial object. But, the instrument held this aberration to an extreme minimum; impressive indeed! Enjoying the view, I moved up to a TeleVue 11mm Plossl. This gave me a power of 118x. At this magnification I could easily make out slight irregularities in the Venusian terminator of its gibbous phase. That was quite a sight! It was the best view I have ever seen through any refractor I have owned. Again, purple fringing was present, but in no way was it an issue. CA was practically nonexistent. Contrast was outstanding throughout the test.

Darkness settled in good at about 10:00pm EDT, and it was time to check out some of those DSO’s and Double Stars! With my good friend Gary Barabino on the other end of the phone, he suggested that I check out M13, the Hercules Cluster. The globular cluster was approaching the meridian from my vantage point and prime for viewing. I realize that the 100mm is not a light bucket; however I wanted to see what it could do on DSO’s. Bright globular clusters can produce surprisingly beautiful images when put under moderate magnification. It was no surprise in the Carton. M13 was resolved to the core with ease at 87x with a TeleVue 15mm Plossl. At 118x with the TeleVue 11mm, the core sparkled like diamonds. I only wish I was out at a dark remote site to take it all in. The next DSO I chose to check out was M57, the Ring Nebular. Why the Ring Nebula? Well, I wanted to see how well the optics of this “four incher” would fair on an object that is generally viewed with large aperture telescopes. Once again, I was quite impressed with the image. The ghostly ring stood out even at 118x! Of course, seeing the central star was impossible. Nevertheless, you could make out the shape and some faint structure in the ring’s nebulosity. I am really digging this scope, man!

Around 10:45pm EDT, I decided to check out a couple of brightest stars. First up was Arcturus. This star produced a very tight disk with minimal flaring. Diffraction rings (two) were close to the star’s disk and the color was a pale orange. Only a little purple fringing was discerned. Very nice image! Next up was Vega. Again tight diffraction rings (two) and the color appeared a brilliant blue-white. Purple fringing was a bit more prominent on Vega as compared to Arcturus, but nothing to be upset over at all.

Moving on, it was time to check out a double star, and the one of choice was Epsilon Lyrae, the Double-Double. What really struck me was how tiny the disks of the stars were. Also how tight the diffraction rings were in relation to the stars. Simply amazing how small the airy disks were.

I wanted to check out a few more objects, but I started to get a bit tired. So at around 11:30pm EDT, I called it a night. In conclusion, I could not have asked for a better result after tonight’s First Light session with my Carton 100mm f/13 “Mary Dawson” refractor. Total success was achieved! Doug is so right to exonerate the attributes of this fine instrument the way he does. It literally produces APO like image quality, but in a larger package. However, an APO would never touch the magnification this lady could produce. I am very pleased with this instrument and will be reporting back with more observing session details in short order! If you want a telescope in the 4” range, get yourself one of these objectives. I saved plenty cash in building my own like many others here on this thread. But, the optical results of this refractor are worthy of telescopes costing far more.