I've been trying to look at M31 too, and I have to say I've been disappointed. I was told that my P200 Dobs would be good for deep space objects; this is supposed to be the best thing to see, yet all I get is a fuzzy blob.

I'm not expecting Hubble-quality images, but I think I've done all the right things (collimating, leaving the scope out for half an hour to acclimatise) - should I be expecting anything better from an 8 inch mirror?

Hi,

Withe regards to M31, from my personal experience (limited), just looking through the scope won't show the full view of M31, you probably will se a large blob. Much of the galaxy can't be seen without photo processing.

I've only got a 130mm MIrror, so I see a small blob, and I haven't invested in any colour filters yet.

To get the full effect you need to take some shots with a camera and stack them on top of one another with software like deep sky stacker (free on the web).

Also, you're not going to get much colour unless you use separate colour filters for each shot and again stack them with the software.

Hope you have some luck, I look forward to the day I can make use of a 200mm MIrror (Jealousy creeping in again).

There are plenty of tutorials on this site that may help more than me, and some awesome images built up with Mirrors smaller than 200mm.

I'm sure you'll have succes with a bit of time an patience.

Good Luck !

For me, Andromeda galaxy is an averted-vision object. Looking slightly to the left or right reveals a lot more of it, though it is always just a cigar-shaped misty cloud with a brighter sphere in the centre. Honestly, the views are as good in binoculars as my 8" scope. I get more excited if I can see it with the naked eye than in the scope.