Saturn is something when you can drive the magnification up that high without image degradation . Like I was saying , I had two nights in a row in my suburban backyard where I used the highest magnifying combo of glass I had at 381x in my 8 inch Schmidt Newtonian . Thats an f4 scope with a focal length of 812mm . It’s more a wide field DSO scope or an astrograph . I mostly use my 5 inch refractor at f9.3 for planetary . But on those nights it was amazing the image that it produced on Saturn . Totally amazing for a fast scope like that . 7 moons were in the FOV . I believe I was using a Meade 6.4mm Super Plossl with a 3x Barlow under it . It was the only time I’d ever pushed the magnification like that . I’ve had beginners luck on a few things too that I’ve never been able to replicate since . The first time I looked at M33 In Triangulum I about fell over backwards . I was at a star party and had to run around telling everyone to come look . Never seen it like that again . Same thing with NGC7293 the Helix in Aquarius . It was unreal . You could make out the helical structure with no problem . Usually not and I’ve never seen it like that ever again .
Both first time views of those objects . Knock your socks off images . Where I live now in Northern Arizona I’m borderline Bortle 1 and 2 . Spoiled rotten .
I don’t really do star parties anymore . Most clubs don’t have a site that’s as good as where I’m at . Plus why drive to a lesser site . I would like to hit the Grand Canyon star party one of these years though . It’s a big one .
Well i did give it a shot tonight, but the sky gods gave me terrble conditions. Despite being clearish the atmosphere is all jacked up, so i broke it all down and called it a night.
I’ve been there plenty of times . Comes with the territory I guess .
@Starrancher when you can “see the air” through the eyepiece…that is not good
Yeah , when it’s magnified 100x or so it can be bad . 
@Starrancher it was bad at 80x last night. I should have known better to even try. It has been windy here for days and days now and the barometer has been in the low to mid 29s which is never a good time to be out.
Yep . I’ve had my share of nights when I set up just so I could tear back down .
@Starrancher arid is not a condition that can even remotely be used to describe Ohio. Your high humidity would be very low for us. As i type this it is 40 degrees and 92 percent humidity. Today is a calm day with a 5mph wind. 50mph to us is a thunderstorm lol. I truly envy you your skies
Yes yes . It’s like 14% humidity here right now . And summertime will be here all to soon . It was almost 90 degrees today .
@Starrancher yeah but its a dry heat at least lol. We have not even made it solidly into the 50s yet. Looking at the forecast it looks like we are going to skip the 50s and go straight to the 60s
It’s always back and forth here in the southwest . At least it’s been that way for the last 3 decades . Both spring and fall . We can be at 85 degree highs one day and then 65 degree highs the next until it finally decides it’s gonna be summer or winter . It never used to be like that . It was always a gradual increase or decrease . I noticed this change about 30 years ago .
@Starrancher same here, but with lower temps lol. Right now we are doing out 20 degree temp swings from the 20s into the 40s. Which is a little cool for April.
Yeah , that’s pretty cold still for it being springtime .
@Starrancher spring here is the time of year we don’t know how to dress. Right now it is 25, but will hit 50 later lol. We could still get a blizzard
Last night i was out for a couple of hours. At the end of the night I aimed at M13 with the 16 inch. The initial eyepiece was my Astro Tech 13mm 100 degree for 140x. My gut said there was more to be had and i switched it out for the ES 9mm 100. Fully resolved stars was my reward. The different colored stars just pop out at you at 200x. My gut said there was more to be had and I dropped in the Astro Tech 7mm 100 degree for 260x and boom it focused perfectly. The cluster was full of red, orange, and white stars. In reality, with the coma corrector magnification i was closer to 280x. Now that was a good way to end the night