Light polluted balcony, several street lamps and yard lights, full moon close to Cygnus, bright northern summer sky. I could only see three stars of Cygnus, making it hard to locate the dumbbell nebula.

If you think our ten flower pot lights are crazy, check out the color changing lights on the far left…

Even more lights to the right…

Moooooooon through 20mm Erfle, Heritage 130p.

Even nicer in 8mm and 3,2mm!

The magnificent star cluster M13 was very easy to spot, but not so magnificent. It was just a fuzzy cloud. Under balcony-conditions all I ever saw was a blob with lots of stars indirectly, when looking away from it a bit. This time, it did not show stars, neither with the 12, 8, 6 or 3,2mm eyepiece.

Here, about inbetween, should be the ring nebula 😉

It is obvious that it’s not a star with 20mm (650mm focal length -> 33x), in 12mm it is barely recognizable as a small ring though not as easily recognizable as under dark skies where it is very obvious directly.
The TS CLS filter actually helps, but just a tad.

The dumbbell nebula appears a bit larger but the typical shape was not visible to me under these conditions, and it’s closer to the bright moon, too. The most obvious effect of the CLS filter was with the 3,2mm. Without filter I was not sure if I could see the nebula indirectly, with filter it became visible again. In the 12mm Erfle and 8mm HR Planetary there was a hint of shape but not very much.

My favorite double star, the pretty Albireo.
Pictures can not describe how nice it is to find it for your first time, the color difference makes the star appear like gems on black velvet.

That’s it. Clouds, and from my balcony the view was limited.
Saturn was visible nicely in 3,2mm, 200x. A bit blurry due to seeing in the 2,5mm – 260x.
It disappeared behind a house before I could take a snapshot.

Taking snapshots with a Dell Venue 8 Pro Tablet was tricky, as expected.
Shining into the tube with my cellphone to find the eyepiece in the dark helped aligning the tablet.
This type of astro photography has the worst results and is the most frustrating.
Get a X Box webcam for 7 Euro at ebay international or a CCTV camera module for 22 to 40 Euro, using a cellphone or tablet sucks, and is not sensitive enough.
With the CCTV camera, you can reach at least the visual impression, without tracking.
http://www.ringohr.de/tmp6/RingNebel_3.png
http://www.ringohr.de/tmp6//Capture%2001.12.2013%2023_56_30.png
http://www.ringohr.de/tmp6/orion-.png

With tracking, it’s a nice low resolution deep sky imaging device.

Unfertig, Rest folgt.

EDIT: Very quick write-up sorry for the lack of details and better images.

Just to let you know, I finally came around to try my idea to easily and inexpensively change the focal length of the 6mm eyepiece so you can view the planets with up to 200x on the 130/650.

Sadly 35mm film containers have gotten pretty rare, but you should be able to find one. You can even buy them at ebay as geocaching containers.

-Step one
Find one, remove film 🙂

-Step two
Cut out the bottom, but leave a seam so the top thread of the eyepiece fits tightly

-Step three
Unscrew the 6mm UWA eyepiece and press/screw the eyepiece top in tightly

-Step four
Press in the bottom element. Done.

If you can not get into focus, don’t fully extend the Heritage130p, just an inch or so. (for other telescopes, do not slide the film can too far over the barrel, or use another tube directly on the barrel so you can still fit it into the focuser all the way, else you might not reach focus).

If Magnification is too high, either cut the film canister in half or push in the bottom element further.
Note that some film canisters will fit easier into a 1.25″ focuser then others.
Don’t leave the eyepiece element out too far/to loose so it does not fall and break. Perhaps secure it with a bit of tape.

– – –

Modular, two film cans, hot glue lids to eyepiece parts, create multiple length’s for easy swapping

Die Verbindungen der M20 mit 16/18er (muss ich nochmal nachschauen) Dübel zu verbinden war ein Tipp von und funktionierte wunderbar. Dadurch knicken die Verbindungen nicht ab und sind Stabiler.

Fürs erste habe ich mangels Kabelbinder jeweils 10cm hinter den Verbindungsmuffen zwei Löcher komplett durchgebohrt, und ein “daumenlanges” Stück von M25 ebenfalls.
Mit einem plastikummantelten Draht von einem Tütenverschluss habe ich Kordel durchgefädelt und festgeknotet.
-Ähnlich der Skizze links-mitte, nur horizontal.

Oben habe ich ebenfalls provisotisch ein paar Umwicklungen und Knoten verwendet, später bastele ich da einen Sternverbinder.

Zu mehr reichte die Zeit nach der Trickfilm-Werkstatt nicht, und bei dem Wetter kann ich mir auch angenehmeres vorstellen als im warmen Schulungsraum Rohre zurecht zu sägen…

Ich denke mit Kabelbindern und Sternverbinder wird die Konstruktion mehr als ausreichend stabil.
Mehr in Kürze.

Mini Update: günstiger Beamer gefunden.