What do DSO's look like?

[tinny]

Hi

Sorry for the sweeping generalisation, I was just wondering what deep sky objects look like through a telescope. Images in magazines, books and on the web are by their nature an interpretation recorded by a camera, which then may have been have been improved using, for example, the hubble pallette or loads of artistic license! (and their world class)

I'm getting my first telescope soon (an Orion 10" Intelliscope) and wondered what these objects would look like to the naked eye i.e. will there be various colours? etc....

Thanks for any help

tinny

Counting the hours till my scope comes.......!

[LukeSkywatcher]

They will look nothing like what you see in books or mags.

There will be almost no colour whatsoever through a scope with the naked eye.

You will however get great views with a 10" scope.

Colour of such objects really only comes into play with astrophotography and lone expusre times and tweaking on the pc.

The human eye is GOOD but the distance traveled by the light from most DSO is soo vast, so by the it hits out eye................we only see In B&W.

Some DSO that are closer to us..................we can detect colour.

[brantuk]

Nice scope on the way there Tinny - I think you'll enjoy that one

As for dso's - pretty much everything is in black/white/grey except for some doubles, and one or two specific nebulea like "the ring" that show a tinge of colour.

Galaxies appear as grey smudges, open clusters like white diamonds in the sky and globulars as dense gatherings - the challenge being to resolve individual stars

[faulksy]

hi tinny, most dso,s are faint and have no colour. mono colour as they call it but some show lovely colour. some nebulas ring nebula you can see colour in that, snow ball the some and others. but as you said not like mag/net. due to the part of your eye you use to pick up faint objects only sees black and white, if you use averted vision then you will see more colour. hope this helps

[JohnnyD333]

It depends on what you are looking at, but overall the DSOs will lack the color you see in the images. If you look at the Orion Nebula, it is shaped just like the images but you will only get hints of color, nothing like the purples and reds in the images. Star Clusters often look like a smudge of light. Galaxies hold their shape, but once again they lack those colors you see in images. I believe it is because our eyes can only see a certain spectrum of color and images pick those missing colors up (like infra red). Just remember they still look amazing and color is only one piece of this big puzzle. Planets are pretty colorful no matter what.

[John]

The drawings on this web page seem to me to be reasonable representations of what a 10" can show under dark skies and an experienced eye:

Deep Sky Sketches - Deep Sky Watch

As you can see, much more subtle than the photos but rather wonderful nonetheless

[faulksy]

just to add they all look "brilliant" you will love them all and nearly wee your self when you see them

[LukeSkywatcher]

My best observation to date has to be the Ring Nebula. I stumbled upon it by mistake but was captivated. In my 130mm scope it was SMALL but it was mind blowing.

[iceblaze]

Hello tinny,

Like yourself, I am very new to astronomy and I just recently purchased my first telescope. I suggest you make the Orion Nebula one of the first you point your telescope at. You will not be able to see any vibrant colors like you do in the Hubble pictures, however you will see the dust and haze of the nebula and it's completely recognizable compared to some other nebulae out there.

I personally got great views of the Orion Nebula out of my humble 90mm refractor. I can only imagine you will get some super views with your scope!

-James

[Double Kick Drum]

First scope - 10" Orion, very nice.

I have a Bresser 127s (5" F5) and can see the hole in the Ring nebula, tho nothing colour-wise. Globs appear as fuzzy balls (you should be able to resolve some of the brighter ones - e.g. M3), galaxies (M81 and M82 in UMa) and nubulae have some shape and open clusters can look good.

A lot will depend on how dark the sky is in your neck of the woods but a scope that size should produce some nice viewing, if not quite Hubble quality.

Enjoy!

[wiseman]

in a word, smudges. Thats what they look like, then you stare at them, or swap eyepieces, and you get to see more of them.

Great sketches, , thanks 4 the link

[ChrisEdu]

I have also found that blinking helps me to 'see' some DSOs better, albeit in brief bursts.

[umadog]

Moving the telescope back and forth also helps. I think it achieves the same thing as blinking but should work better as your eye is always open. Objects that are invisible otherwise can pop into view this way. For example, you notice a greater extent for M31 this way.

[Dunkster]

The drawings on this web page seem to me to be reasonable representations of what a 10" can show under dark skies and an experienced eye:

Deep Sky Sketches - Deep Sky Watch

As you can see, much more subtle than the photos but rather wonderful nonetheless

Great link - you can see the spiral arms and dust lanes in some of those galaxies

[Chris H]

As the others have said what you see at the eye piece in no way resembles what you see in photos but you will see a lot and especially with planets and star clusters the views are superb. Considering how far away these things are and it will blow your mind that you can even see them at all.

I have a Orion XT10i and it is a great scope especially if you can use it at a dark site.

[Charon]

The drawings on this web page seem to me to be reasonable representations of what a 10" can show under dark skies and an experienced eye:

Deep Sky Sketches - Deep Sky Watch

As you can see, much more subtle than the photos but rather wonderful nonetheless

Great link John.

[brantuk]

"I have also found that blinking helps me to 'see' some DSOs better, albeit in brief bursts."

Make sure you blink at the right frequency or you'll miss the "blinking nebula" lol

Johns link is probably the best representation of what you'll see

[John]

Great link - you can see the spiral arms and dust lanes in some of those galaxies

You can but you need really dark and transparent skies to do this with an 8" or 10" scope. Plus lots of time at the eyepiece - thats one of the benefits of sketching what you see, even if your artistic skill is very limited (like mine ). Trying to draw something makes you really look

[todd8137]

well those glossy pics might have clouded your mind on what you will see,your in for a shock because most people will be gutted after reading and looking at those pics in books,black and white is what you will see its a bit bland you may say its no in whats there that makes it good

your first light report will be a good read so make sure the first night out you do us all a quick write up of how it went welcome and hope you have fun that 10" will serve you well

[tinny]

just to add they all look "brilliant" you will love them all and nearly wee your self when you see them

Well I keep wee-ing myself using binoculars so god knows what a 10" telescope will do!

Thanks for the good advice and encouragement, especially for that great link...I think knowing what to look for is pretty essential(!)....

Thanks Todd, I don't make a habit of taking many magazines on face value so I think I'm mentally prepared! I do take the point that they may build up rather an un-realistic expectations though. Good idea about writing down first light too.....I'll make sure your all fed up of hearing about it!!