A Night with the Full Moon and the SV80ED

No imaging last night, as the moon is at 100% and clouds were predicted for early morning, but the sky was wonderfully clear and the temp around 60F, pretty ideal observing weather.  That the moon is out does not mean there is nothing to see, of course.

I observed with the SV80ED mounted on a newly refurbed and upgraded Tak EM-10 (which appears to work beautifully).  A 5mm Vixen Lanthanum eyepiece was used for 112x, and a 2x barlow with that eyepiece for 224x.  Here is the report:

Porrima, the great double star, was split but hard to see at 112x and cleanly split with black space in between at 224x, but the first diffraction ring surrounded both stars in a single, two-bulb bubble.  Both stars were pale yellow-white and nearly identical in brightness.  Reminded me of the way they looked when I saw them in 1995, much better than when I last tried to split them around 2005.  The pair is widening.

Izar was cleanly split at 224x and probably also at 112x, but the dimmer star lay in the first diffraction ring of the brighter star at 112x, and the two were harder to distinguish.  No problem at all at 224x, in sharp focus, as the first diffraction ring was more diffuse.  I'd say the brighter star is orange-yellow but the dimmer star remained in the diffraction ring of the brighter and its color was harder to tell: green, blue, and sometimes it looked more brown because it had a tinge of orange across it.

Delta Bootes was very nice, widely split at 112x.

Gamma Leonis---I always look for this: Cleanly split at 112x, both yellow-gold.

54 Leonis was the treat of the night.  At 112x, the stars were cleanly split, and quite wide, but the dimmer star was a tiny spark, and the larger star a jewel, both set in the velvet of the sky.  The view was just as good at 224x.

I also took a look at Saturn.  The rings are opening up.  Seeing was not great, but I could at 224x discern the Cassini division and the dark brown cloud band opposite the ring on the planet.  Two moons were visible to me, Titan and Rhea.

I also looked at Mars at 224x.  The North Polar Ice Cap was obvious, as was Mare Acidalium, and after that I spotted Sinus Meridiani and Sinus Sabaeus to the south and off to the side.  I was surprised I could see so much detail without a filter.

I also looked at the moon, and even at 100% illumination there was a terminator along one edge.  I have no idea what I was looking at, but the view was impressive.