DSO's?

[jana]

Hi guys,

spent a bit of time last night out with the scope and managed to get some footage of saturn recorded with the webcam which was a first. but up to now I have only really looked at moon and planets but last night decided to have a go at locating M39 with not much luck, I spent a whils searching the area after using stelarium to locate the rough area but could not find anything that looked like the grey fuzz that i have heared explained on here before. I was using the 20mm ep that was supplied with the scope and am not sure if this is too small to search for it, should i be using a 30mm?

I did see alot of stars that were not visable to the eye and some looked to be in groups and not sure if these were something or not?

Any hints or tips appreciated.

[NickK]

M39 is an open cluster. This makes it look like any other set of stars unless you know what you're looking for!

Have a look at:

* M5, Globular Cluster, magnitude 5.8

* M6, Globular Cluster, magnitude 6.4

* M81/M82, Galaxies that are fainter at mag 6.9 and 8.4

* M101, Galaxy at mag 7.7

* M51 "The whirlpool" at mag 8.4

The clusters, being globular, will be easier to spot than an open cluster as there's a brighter centre you can recognise. M81/M82 are going to be harder but they can be found! M51 is great one but to my 102mm aperture it's quite dark (as is M81/M82).

How hard these are to find depends on your light pollution - also bundled EPs are not the best - the difference between my bundled 6 & 20mm vixen EPs and a Baader Hyperion 13mm is quite marked (the Hyperion feels twice as bright as the 20mm vixen!).

Your scope is 114mm aperture, 1000mm fl, f8.4. This means your 20mm EP gives 1000/20=50x magnification. This should be fine for finding DSOs (my 13mm gives me 52x magnification).

[Pete Presland]

you could try looking at this it gives a decent guide to finding it and advice on what you will see.

Messier 39

[DaBozUK]

I was in a similar position, but after waiting for a really dark night (after midnight) last night I saw:

- Globular clusters M13 and M92 (fairly easy to find)

- Globular cluster M5 (bit harder)

- Galaxies M81, M82 (fainter, but 2 objects are close and were fairly easy to spot)

- Galaxy M51 (very faint)

- Nebula M57 (very easy to find, and quite a clear distinct shape, although small)

That was with 10mm and 26mm eyepieces on 8" reflector in suburban back garden.

I had tried finding all these on previous nights before midnight, and only M13 and M92 could be found easily before. So I think waiting very late for very dark skies is key.

Boz

[NickK]

Just to give you an idea of M39's scale:

M39 Apparent Dimension: 32.0 (arc min)

The Moon width is ~30 arc minutes.