Trying to find galaxies

[christhebrit]

Hi,

I was out last night looking for Andromeda, the whirlpool and sunflower galaxies.

I spend a lot of time looking for the latter.

I identified the 4 stars marked as 20 in the Pocket Sky Atlas, chart page 43.

I found the star north of it, meaning M63 should have been close.

Why couldn't I see it?

I used my 6" refractor as low as 8mm, but I know LP is bad where I am.

For this reason I was aiming the scope and using my DSLR to get exposures to see faint objects.

I found an orange looking star which I believe to be that North Star I mentioned.

Any suggestions welcome

[swamp thing]

When hunting for objects you would be better served by using a lower power eyepiece than your 8mm. Try a 20mm or something like that to locate the objects first.

[christhebrit]

Is it possibly so small, that the orange star was the sunflower galaxy?

Going through the chart again, I'm thinking it's small.

[swamp thing]

The sunflower galaxy does not appear stella. 

[cotterless45]

Have you tried M81 and M82 (Bode's) first ?

These will give you a good idea of galaxies under your light pollution. The Moon doesn't help either. We've got Moonrise here at 20.00. Just time for some views.

There are plenty other targets if you live with light pollution, hurrah !

Nick.

[acey]

You mention bad light pollution. This is the most likely reason why you couldn't see the galaxy. If the sky is not dark enough to give sufficient contrast then the object will be invisible no matter what scope or eyepiece you use. But to give yourself the best chance, use a low power eyepiece and good chart to aim at the exact spot, give your eye time to adjust, and if nothing is visible then raise power to intermediate. High power is generally only useful on galaxies at a truly dark site (I.e. where the Milky Way is prominent to the naked eye).

[Sporadic Dobstronomer]

I go along with what acey says.

If there is a lot of light pollution, or just a lot of moonlight (like now), then you will not easily see the whirlpool galaxy.

This is not a good time of year for Andromeda either but wait six months and you have a good chance of seeing it even with light pollution and without needing a telescope.

If you have some binoculars they will be better for Andromeda than your telescope because it is quite big (bigger than the moon).

[christhebrit]

It was a 8-24mm baader zoom. I went as low as 8 but tried lower first.

[christhebrit]

Update.
 
As per my signature block, I have found M31 and M63!
 
My new plan was to focus more time on M31, due to the size from what I have read.
It was not quite as expected in some respects, but ejnoyable in others.
 
M31. This apeared like a faint smudge at first, then I thought I'd slew back to double check. As I notices this 'smudge' was fixed next to some stars as opposed to the eyepiece, I took a longer look. I noticed the brighter core, leading to the fainter shade of grey around it. I did expect this, but thought it might be bigger.
 
M63. Now that I knew what to expect in the best case from M31, I went on another hunt for this one. It took quite some time, star hopping around the sky. I used Cor Caroli which surprised me a bit when I saw 2 stars. I looked again at the pocket atlas and realised that this was a double. Carrying on with the hunt, I aimed for the formation of prominent stars which started this whole saga. Having found them, it still took what seemed like hours to get my bearings and finally identify M63. It was alot fainter than expected, more like the shade of grey from M31 in it's entirity.
 
When it warms up a bit more and becomes less windy, I'll start plotting more evenings around these fainter objects as they are fun to find.
I'll also be playing around with my DSLR and OIII filter.
 
Many thanks to all again for helping me find what I couldn't see :-)

[ronin]

M31 is much easier in binoculars.

If you found M31 by going along and "up" from Andromeda then using the same stars dgo "down" and at about the same amount down as M31 was up is M33.

There is one galaxiy close to Phecda in the plough, and another fairly close to Merak in the plough.

You also have the ones along Leo's tummy. :eek: 

[Tinker1947]

If you don't have Stellarium download it, if you fancy spending a few bob, get a Telrad and download the free maps, your be whizzing round the night sky like it was the back of your hand.....

[christhebrit]

I've had stellarium for some time now.

Other than the usual use of identify what will be out that night, I've used it to help me star hop.

As good as my Pocket Sky Atlas is, I find that it's hard to use when looking for galaxies are not as many stars are shown as in my FOV.

Now to ask the stupid question I strangly haven't seen on here yet...

What is a Telrad used for exactly?

I understand it's not a finderscope or red dot finder, but I can't help thinking it's similar.

[Tinker1947]

When you look at the Stellarium screen on the top right are a few icons second in from the right are some circles, click them and in the centre of the screen will appear the same circles, these are Telrad circles and depending on how zoomed in you are what you seen on the screen is what you would see looking through a Telrad mounted on your scope, Google " Telrad Maps " download them thy have the same circles on the maps, makes star hopping a pleasure.....

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html

[christhebrit]

Interesting indeed and it sounds easlier to navigate with.

I suppose you're thinking of a computer version of Stellarium as I only have the App on my mobile.

Many thanks for the advice and I'll get on it.

Just need the wind, rain and snow to stop...