Help making out m42 orion nebula

[clarke_dylan]

Hey, I was hoping someone could help, I have recently bought myself a skywatcher evostar 102mm refractor, Im aware it is primarily a planetery scope but I was assured that bright DSO's would still be visible in reasonable detail. I have found What I think is M42 but think a better set up is required for a better image, I dont expect magazine quality images but at the moment I can only just make it out as a faint fuzz, Any suggestion on the best set up, eyepieces barlows etc or any other advice would be much appreciated

Thankyou

[mert]

It should appear as a faint fuzz, can you see 4 stars in the centre?

[clarke_dylan]

Yes, the centre stars are pretty bright, the only issue is its not a greyish or obvious fuzz it almost blends in with the sky its so faint so I wasnt sure if there was anything i could do to try and enhance it just a little

Thanks for the reply

[Double Kick Drum]

Yes, the centre stars are pretty bright, the only issue is its not a greyish or obvious fuzz it almost blends in with the sky its so faint so I wasnt sure if there was anything i could do to try and enhance it just a little

Thanks for the reply

If your sky is polluted with light, it can wash out DSOs.

A 4" should be able to pick out some detail in Orion given a reasonable sky. I have a 5" refractor and on a good day it looks like a large fuzzy croissant with some structure to it. M43, the circular bit of nebula to the North is also easy if the sky is ok.

Finding a darker site will help.

[clarke_dylan]

I thought that might be the case, I'll have to wait until I can get to a dark sky site for a better view, what E/P are you using for the best views??

Thanks for you help

[Flyingpig]

With an aperture of 102mm your not going to see much more than a fuzzy blob with your naked eye, best views will be from a dark unpolluted site using a good quality eyepiece such as a teleview or at least a Celestron X-cel LX or a baader Hyperion or similar and a some sort of nebulae filter. Forget high magnitude your looking for a mid range or even a wide field EP. You can always try imaging it but you would need a stable mount with a method of tracking such as an eq mount with motors or a go-to type mount and obviously a suitable camera a DSLR or even a good compact digital cam with a timed exposure ( see the imaging section for advice ) a webcam is probably not going to be sensitive enough for this target they are more suited to planetary imaging. Needless to say newtonian scopes, Dobsonians and even catadiptric telescopes with larger apertures will be better suited. You could always invest in one of these as an additional scope if your interested in observing nebulae and other messier catalogue objects; reflectors are typically cheaper per apperture than refractors, even a small 6 inch aperture would be better suited

[Starhoparfa]

Look slighty to its side when you view it and that will bring it out more.

I'm beginning to appreciate that the enjoyment in his game is threefold:

1: Being able to locate an object

2: Seeing it with your own eyes, no matter how gray or faint

3: 1 & 2 seem more incredible when you learn about what the object you're planning on looking at actually is.

[Flyingpig]

Starhoparfa is right, yes looking slightly to the side rather than directly at the object helps its called averted vision it works because the rods or cones (or whatever the opthalmologists call them) at the edge of your eye are more sensitive.