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Andromeda

Strugz

By Strugz
in Observing - Deep Sky

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Strugz

Strugz

Posted
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Just spent two hours looking at The Andromeda Galaxy. The first time I've seen it. Using a 20mm eyepiece, 130mm Skywatcher. Looked like a fuzzy ball at first. After some time I could see it's squashed football shape, the core well defined from the outer part and very large. Very excited to have seen it

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brantuk

brantuk

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Congrats Strugz - from the sound of it you also learned "how" to look at it wich is gonna come in handy with other dso's. Some of the tips are - be in total dark - keep your eyes dark adapted - and just look to the side of the object (averted vision). This tilts your eye so the rods are active on the object and you start to see a lot more. Well done :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Good work Strugz. Is that your first Messier? You may have overlooked them, but it is quite likely you saw two other galaxies nearby: M32 (almost stellar, round fuzzy patch, close to the core of M31) and M110 (more elongated, a bit further out on the other side of the core of M31.

Cheers,

Michael

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Strugz

Strugz

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Good work Strugz. Is that your first Messier? You may have overlooked them, but it is quite likely you saw two other galaxies nearby: M32 (almost stellar, round fuzzy patch, close to the core of M31) and M110 (more elongated, a bit further out on the other side of the core of M31.

Cheers,

Michael

Hi Michael

My first Messier was M53 and viewed M13 lots of times. Then I tried and just about saw the Ring Nebula. Andromeda is my first galaxy though

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk.

Skywatcher 130. 9mm 12mm 15mm 20mm 32mm revelation eps. Meade 10 x 50 bins.

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sublime_mick

sublime_mick

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any other tips for andromeda and other DSO? 200p skywatcher explorer. very new to this. finally spotted andromeda - tried a few eyepieces but it was quite fuzzy (poxxy streetlight on backroad outside my garden is probably the reason as you stated total darkness required) still, great buzz to have seen it.

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  • 3 weeks later...
webvis

webvis

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I am a newbie also with a 200P Skywatcher, but I do struggle to see Andromeda. Any tips such as best eyepiece (high or low mag) etc. would be much appreciated.

I find it so faint that I struggle to track it even after I have found it.

Cheers, Bryon

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Chris H

Chris H

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I am a newbie also with a 200P Skywatcher, but I do struggle to see Andromeda. Any tips such as best eyepiece (high or low mag) etc. would be much appreciated.

I find it so faint that I struggle to track it even after I have found it.

Cheers, Bryon

You should have no problems with your scope, observe the galaxy when there is no moon, use a low power ep something around 30mm will be perfect and don't expect to see much more than a grey smudge with a brighter core.

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Congrats on seeing M31. I've seen it through someone else's scope but am having trouble finding it myself. Had a few attempts but no results. Got the same scope - Skywatcher 130mm. Not sure what eyepiece would be best for viewing it, anyone got any ideas?

Use the lowest magnification/widest field of view you can get. Try finding it with binoculars first, I find that helps me navigate more easily.

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PreludeToADream

PreludeToADream

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Use the lowest magnification/widest field of view you can get. Try finding it with binoculars first, I find that helps me navigate more easily.

Sounds like my 25mm Skywatcher eyepiece would be best then. I've been looking around for a better low mag / wide field eyepiece but haven't got round to buying one yet. What sort of views should I expect using this?

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Sounds like my 25mm Skywatcher eyepiece would be best then. I've been looking around for a better low mag / wide field eyepiece but haven't got round to buying one yet. What sort of views should I expect using this?

At 26x magnification your eyepiece should give about 2 deg field of view (FOV). Under reasonable conditions you should see an oval smudge filling quite a large part of the FOV. To lesser smudges might be seen on either side (M32 and M110).

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PreludeToADream

PreludeToADream

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At 26x magnification your eyepiece should give about 2 deg field of view (FOV). Under reasonable conditions you should see an oval smudge filling quite a large part of the FOV. To lesser smudges might be seen on either side (M32 and M110).

Okay will have to give it a try (tonight hopefully if the BBC forecast is correct!). Thanks for the response.

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Stu

Stu

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If you were in the right place, it's must likely you did find it and you were just seeing the core. The surrounding galaxy is hard to see in light polluted skies. On the few occasions I've observed it in really good conditions, it is amazing how large it is, but it's very subtle so gets completely washed out by bright skies. Andromeda is one if those objects which, in theory is great to look at but actually didn't show much detail even if you through big apertures at it, unless you are under result pristine skies.

Stu

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PreludeToADream

PreludeToADream

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If you were in the right place, it's must likely you did find it and you were just seeing the core. The surrounding galaxy is hard to see in light polluted skies. On the few occasions I've observed it in really good conditions, it is amazing how large it is, but it's very subtle so gets completely washed out by bright skies. Andromeda is one if those objects which, in theory is great to look at but actually didn't show much detail even if you through big apertures at it, unless you are under result pristine skies.

Stu

That was probably it then as I live in quite light polluted skies and my telescope is quite small. Would a light pollution reduction filter help at all or a UHC filter?

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Stu

Stu

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A light pollution filter may improve it a bit but don't expect a big improvement. UHC won't help I don't think, they are better on nebula and will probably cut too much light out. Others may advise better

Stu

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