Another attempt with giant binoculars and the EZ mount
Seeing conditions were very average with the full moon and passing clouds but decided to give the giant binoculars and EZ mount another go.
It took me a while to setup again! During the week, I had taken some parts apart and I got it wrong when putting them back together!
A made a few changes:
- I worked on the threaded holes for the tightening nobs to make sure they could actually go through.
- I returned the used 25x100 and got a new pair - the used pair did not seem collimated properly, it's possible that having the vertical bar that attaches to the mount pushed too far was making it impossible to bring the two tubes close enough to match my IPD (inter pupil distance).
- I got a red dot finder and a mount intended for rifles to attach it to the central bar of the binoculars.
Results:
- The tightening nobs now work as intended. I can fix where the binoculars aim which is helpful when pushing the binoculars away to check a map or while observing. I noticed that vibrations last for a while.
- The new 25x100 are definitely better than the used pair.
- The red dot finder was basically useless. It might work if standing behind a tripod or with a parallelogram mount that keeps the aim when the binoculars are pushed away - but not really with my mount.
Overall, it's still a less enjoyable experience than hand-held binoculars or simply using the telescope. I'm still struggling a bit with the mount and aiming etc.
Observations:
- M45 Pleiades - Taurus - trying to figure out limiting magnitude - looks like high 9s or low 10s
- M42 Great Orion Nebula - spent some time looking at Hatysa and its neighbors
- M79 Globular Cluster - Lepus - was barely visible today
- M41 Little Beehive Cluster - Canis Major
- M44 Beehive Cluster - Cancer
- Located but could not see M67 Open Cluster - Cancer
- Full moon - really bright with no filter - great view of Tycho and Copernicus craters