"Bill J. Gray" wrote:
>
>
> Jari wrote:
>
> "...Whoa! I didn't realize that you could just pop in an ordinary
> eyepiece into one of them professional telescopes and do some _real_
> observing."
>
> Makes you wonder... some night at, say, Keck or the VLT... "Hey,
> looks as if we've got a few minutes between planned observations
> here!"
>
> -- Bill
>
>
Before retiring, I worked at the Anglo-Australian 3.9 metre telescope.
Some years back, after the primary mirror was re-aluminised, the
operations manager allowed us to fit an eyepiece to the cassegrain focus
of the telescope and a small group of staff and family members fitted
into the cassegrain cage and viewed a couple of planetary nebula. I
selected the objects but cannot remember which ones. The colours were
magnificent.
On another occasion, I was able to see M42 from the prime focus. I had
to hold an eyepiece in my hand and move it around to see the nebula.
Again I could see the colours in it.
Kevin Cooper.