Needed magnification to see further than planets

[Slippy]

Hello all! Im new to the site and need some advice.

I have recently been given a Skywatcher 130/900 EQ2, ive givin it a test and have some quireys.

Ive had a look at the moon tonight and was shocked that "why havnt i been doing this year's ago". I have missed out on the beautiy that can be seen through a telescope. Now that i have one im ready to invest in more powerful gear.

The advice im looking for is what magnification's would you need to see non planety objects? Orions Nebula? etc etc.

I observed jupiter today with 1 2xbarlow lens and 10mm eye piece, that's 180x mag (hope i worked that out right). How much more will i have to go to see Nebulas and star clusters?

Thanks peeps!

[John]

Less magnification actually than the planets. The Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy are big objects in the eyepiece - much larger than planets even though they are much, much further away. A pair of small binoculars will show the Andromeda galaxy - I can just see it with my naked eyes on a good night.

So use your lowest power eyepieces to find them and add a little more magnification to get them a little larger but 180x won't be needed.

[Stargazer Jack]

I have the same telescope and I would suggest using the 25mm eyepiece for nebulas and galaxies. Once you have the object, you could increase the mag to see some more detail

[austen4]

Less magnification actually than the planets. The Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy are big objects in the eyepiece - much larger than planets even though they are much, much further away. A pair of small binoculars will show the Andromeda galaxy - I can just see it with my naked eyes on a good night.

So use your lowest power eyepieces to find them and add a little more magnification to get them a little larger but 180x won't be needed.

I second this

[cantab]

Planets appear bright but small, so you need to magnify them to see details. By contrast, most nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies, appear faint but larger; for them, the role of the telescope is to gather and concentrate the light to make them brighter so you can see them.

[Anweniel]

I would say the most important aid to deep space observation is dark site and possibly magnification one of the least

[Capricorn]

Magnification makes dim things dimmer.

The things beyond the planets are DSO's and generally dim, very dim.

Could try for M42 - Orion Nebula and M45 - Pleiades. These are reasonable bright.

To see lots of DSO's you need a bigger scope.

[paul schofield]

Ditto all the above, cant beat a low powered EP for finding nebula's and galaxies, then once found you can up the mag for finer details. Obviously the darker you observing site the better. Using 10mm and a Barlow is great for planets, although I find a 5mm planetary E.P shows greater detail. Happy gazing.

[Double Kick Drum]

Magnification makes dim things dimmer.

The things beyond the planets are DSO's and generally dim, very dim.

Could try for M42 - Orion Nebula and M45 - Pleiades. These are reasonably bright.

To see lots of DSO's you need a bigger scope.

To see lots of DSOs well, you would need a bigger scope but it doesn't mean they are totally off limits.

I have a similar sized scope and to date have seen over 80 with plenty of others within reach, still out there for the finding.

I would start with M42 the Orion nebula, M31 the Andromeda galaxy, M45 the Pleiades and the Double Cluster in Perseus as these should look good in your scope.

You will get decreasing levels of detail with fainter objects up to the point where you are simply pleased to see a dim smudge of a galaxy.

It is worth learning the sky well if you are planning to find these by star hopping. I use a pocket atlas and printed Cartes du Ciel sheets for more detailed maps.

Good luck!