Hello everybody! I got out for a few hours on my deck last night to try out my new Christmas present that finally arrived yesterday– a brand new 2" Vixen 50mm eyepiece. It's a honey with a nice wide FOV.
I couldn't split Polaris with it, but that is understandable since I was aiming at it thru dozens of branches of my silver maple. I had better luck with the Orion Nebula and I can see two thirds of the whole complex and it resoves the Trapezium no problem. The Double Cluster in Perseus easily fits in the FOV with room to spare. Jupiter showed the N&SEB's, all the Galilean moons and plenty of surrounding territory. I could only see the nucleus of M31 dimly because of the Moon and my 3 much hated streetlights and M44 not at all…too much light pollution. The Moon sits in the FOV with lots of room to spare and the Pleadies only needs one turn of the knob to see all of it. It actually looks like the Pleadies, where before w/my 26mm Meade, it was just bright stars.
I can't wait until waning gibbous Moon phase when I'll have a bit of darkness each night. It's time to head back to the country to see what it is really capable of.
January nights are still cold, but it could be a heck of a lot worse. This has been a pretty mild winter so far. AGNFA.