ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUES DOUBLE STAR LIST through my 60mm refractor

I'm embarked in a journey through the  AL Double Star List using my 60mm F=700mm refractor.
The recently finished 1.5 inch pipe-mount and the home-made clam shell are of great help.
To find the double stars I follow the instructions written by Bill Steen ,fellow of the ''60mmtelescopeclub''.
I'm already in the second half of this well known observational program.

Last night night,on Tuesday 18-th of February I observed ,meaning find and split the following stars:
Kappa Puppis
Alpha Leonis
Gamma Leonis
54 Leonis
The highest magnification used was 78x ,obtained with a 9mm Vixen Orthoscopic ocular.
An 1.25 inch ''Teleskop Service'' diagonal was used for better ergonomics ,my ex-military 8x30mm IOR binocular for scouting the sky and the ''Pocket Sky Atlas'' for detailed maps.

My 60x700mm refractor , Bushmaster lens ,Omegon tube and 1.5 ''  pipe mount

Double star 54 Leonis,split at 78x / 9 mm orthoscopic ocular

                      

             Gamma Leonis or Algieba is a gem,split at 78x / 9mm Vixen orthoscopic but seen as two kissing spheres at 32 x /home-made 22 mm Ramsden ,nicknamed ''Aristotel''.

Kappa Puppis,easy find following Bill's instructions ,split at 78x.

Another double star was Alpha Leonis who's companion was already visible in the home -made 22 mm Ramsden ocular at 32 x but the 9mm ortho was of great help.

Home-made small telescopes on my ''Penelopa'' pipe mount

On my 1.5 inch pipe mount I use different small telescopes.To attache them to the mount I made three wooden clam shells and a dovetail adapter for the OTA of the Teleskop Service 100mm F/14 Maksutov Cassegrain.For now,my instruments include a 60x700mm refractor,a 60x800mm refractor,a 60mm F/5 RFT refractor ,a 45mm F/6.6 refractor and some more.I guess ,in time ,this collection will increase.

       

Home-made 60x700mm refractor,Bushmaster lens,Omegon tube,no-name diagonal,ex-military 31mm Plossl ,on ''Penelopa '' 1.5 inch pipe mount,wooden clam shell.

Home-made 60x800mm refractor, Tasco 12 TE-5 objective and focuser , no-name 0,96'' mirror diagonal,Bushmaster 40mm Kellner 

The 0,96 '' Tasco focuser , modified

''Teleskop Service'' 100mm F/14 Maksutov Cassegrain .The dovetail adapter is home-made

The corrector lens of the Mak.Some details visible of the non-metal dovetail adapter.

The 100mm F/14  Maksutov ,ready for observing. 

8x25 mm finder.

Home-made RFT 60mm F/5 refractor with miror diagonal and 31mm Plossl. Visual field on the sky is 5 degree.

Another view of the 60mm F/5 refractor.The tube and dew cap are rubber armored.

The objective and tube of this refractor were part of a TCM 20-60x60mm terrestrial refractor.

Very bad image.The objective was optimized by my friend Silviu who is a lens wizard.

Home-made short 45x 300 mm refractor .The objective is an ex-military objective.

The cell of the 45x300mm refractor is adjustable.

My first ''long-range'' picture made with hand-held Coolpix camera and the 45mm refractor set for 10x .

Coroana selenara de Vineri 7 Februarie 2014

Coroana selenara de Vineri 7 Februarie 2014.

                           
                                                               Luna era in faza de 60%.

Pozele luate cu Nikon Coolpix S3300,din mana,la diferite focale si valori F/D.

Supernova SN 2014 J in Messier 82

SN 2014 J observed on 2-nd of February , 22:00 UT ,125mm F/7 Dobsonian,144 x / Radian 6mm ocular

SN 2014 J observed on 4-th of February ,21:00 UT ,125mm Dobsonian , 68 x /Simetric Solid 12,8 mm ocular

SN2014J observed on 15-th of February 2014 ,125 mm Dobsonian ,144 x /Tele Vue Radian 6mm