Gas Giants Gazing

11 November 2000 : GAS GIANTS GAZING :
Starring the WYO Fluoro Star 100 (Singapore)

The past few nights have been cloudy with not much hope of seeing even a moonbeam. I received the Fluoro Star 100 on Wednesday morning via Emery Shipping. I had received a call saying that the telescope had arrived in Singapore on Monday, 6th November, but they had to clear some customs check which would take a day of processing. Do note that the customs has every legal right to open up the package without prior permission of the recipient or sender.

The Fluoro Star OTA arrived with an aluminum case fully lined with high density foam. Its identity keeps getting confused with the old TMB which looked pretty similar to the WYO (well, it had the same designer, William Yang.) The exterior was a classy coat of pearl-white, with a touch of 18-carat gold plating around the 4-inch focuser and extendable dew-cap. The scope itself was already a visual treat but can it pass the ultimate test of visual astronomy?

Tonight, a group from the Singastro community got together at Eunos to catch the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. It had been raining earlier in the afternoon. I prepped the Fluoro Star for its first public appearance here in Singapore. The full moon was fogged up at 8pm. I kinda expected to head home should the weather not get better. Guess what?! The clouds turned away by 8.30pm. Jupiter was first spotted, followed by Saturn. *All rite!* Party time! :)

When everyone was present, the Fluoro Star's presence was announced. That probably took some by surprise. I gave a short commentary on the scope and it was observation time! (All possible digits crossed for the visual verdict.)

Jupiter at 160x. The image was excellent despite the boiling atmosphere. Distinct bands across the planet could be seen together with 4 of its satellites.

Jump to Saturn at 160x. Again, distinct bands across the planet, and the Cassini division separating the rings around Saturn. *whoa!* I haven't exactly observed Saturn this closely before.

Jump back to Jupiter at 320x. Now this was getting exciting. The image still held beautifully. Distinct red bands running across the planet's surface. 10.45pm, the GRS was beginning to appear. Ok, wow. The last time I remembered being this amazed was at Malaysia looking at Jupiter through the AP 4-inch Traveller. Jupiter held the group's attention for quite a while. I took a closer look at the planet. Hang on! I can see the moons of Jupiter! Not as pricks of light but as actual spheres with differing sizes! Now that kinda shocked me. And I mean, REALLY shocked me. My first true glimpse from Earth of the Jovian moons. This is truly excellent. It also means the Fluoro Star could possibly be pushed to 400x, maybe a bit more.

Ok, it's not the Hubble or the Voyager. I'm no expert in equipment testing, but this takes the cake of the year for me. And to think this was an observation from a light-polluted city area. Atmosphere was cooperating for the first time in a long time. It wasn't totally clear nor steady, but it was the best in the past few weeks, I think. I can't wait to bring it out to Malaysia and unleash the full visual potential of the Fluoro Star in darker skies.

That was about it for the Fluoro Star. I didn't have a finder with me so we didn't get to explore other deep-sky objects. It was already hard enough trying to locate the Moon and planets manually.

The Gas Giants party got crowded after 10pm when curious passers-by joined in to see what we were looking at. Residents from the neighbourhood began looking out of their windows with their binoculars at us and at the sky. Although a little shy at first, they started coming out of their homes to join us for the observation.

Personally, I haven't quite got the chance to fully explore the telescope's visual capabilities before I brought it out to share with the Singastro group. But now, after tonight's session at Eunos, I am really over the moon and genuinely pleased by the telescope's performance. I don't know about the others who were there, but personally I was really hopping happy. This Fluoro Star is one true gem in the visual realm. (I eagerly await comments from you other guys who were there!)

William Yang wasn't kidding when he said this would rival AstroPhysics and Takahashi. I see why now and I wish him well in breaking the astronomical market the world over.

By Lin . 12th November 2000, Sunday.