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Finding it hard to find/locate Andromeda.


Jason Garrett

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The scope is only small, Celestron 130eq (5inch ap, 650mm FL).

But I figured i'd still be able to locate it even if it is small in the scope, or can't it pick it up?

I have 20mm and 10mm EP's, barlow soon.

No matter how much I look I can't seem to locate it, according to TheSkyX first edition(Program) it should be a little to the right of Jupiter/Triangulum Galaxy in my skies, but I still can't find it.

Any tips/suggestions?

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Its lowish in the NW at the moment..Its hard to find the first time..basically to the left of the bottom of Cassiopea the E shaped group of stars..

I recommend using your skyX or Stellarium and learning the star paturns and then going out with binoculars first to locate M31.. Then find it in your finder and then the lowest power eyepiece.

Good luck..

Mark

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hi jason, if youve got the celestron 130, have you the dot finder plastic barrel shaped device attached , the one that come with the scope ? if so forget even bothering with it. i took mine off and threw it away.

as mdstuart states, use binoculars or your lowest mag e/p (highest number) to locate it.

a barlow will not help at all. you should think about a low mag eyepiece like a 32 mm plossl. it will be used more than the 10mm .

you can use the 32mm e/p as a finder/locator too, thats what i did after i binned that red dot shambles.

good luck.

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Aye, the red dot is useless lol, I just use it for positioning the scope in 'the round about area' where i'm looking for something.

Thanks a lot for the advice guys, i'll also look at getting a 32mm soon enough, my upcoming marriage is the money stopper at the moment haha.

Thanks, clear skies!

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Aye, the red dot is useless lol, I just use it for positioning the scope in 'the round about area' where i'm looking for something.

Thanks a lot for the advice guys, i'll also look at getting a 32mm soon enough, my upcoming marriage is the money stopper at the moment haha.

Thanks, clear skies!

Can you sneak the EP onto the wedding list? :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I found M31 myself for the first time in 19 years of very casual astronomy only the other day. Because of light pollution I was even struggling to find the stars indicated in some of the star hopping guides. My method was to try and find the start Alpheratz at the corner of the square of Pegasus - It's presented more like a square balancing on one corner at the moment, and not that high above the horizon. (Alpheratz is also about the same height in the sky as Venus at the moment).

Find the next star up and a bit to the right, and then a brighter star straight up from there. You then want to look to the right for two fainter stars in a crooked line. They might take a bit of seeing, but just to the right of this second star is where you want to be looking.

My first thought on locating it was that it wasn't as close to Cassiopeia as I was expecting it to be. I'm sure all that is covered much better in one of the guides, but it was the method that worked for me!

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I have the same scope and can definitely recommend picking up a 32mm EP in order to make finding your way around the sky a bit easier. Haven't located Andromeda myself either despite 3 nights of trying! That's part of the fun for me.

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I have the same scope and can definitely recommend picking up a 32mm EP in order to make finding your way around the sky a bit easier. Haven't located Andromeda myself either despite 3 nights of trying! That's part of the fun for me.

i quickly learn't that whats "big" in astronomy talk,is to a beginer (me) is actually still small.

it will appear like a small oval ish cloud . if you have ,or can borrow a set of bins,i bet you'd find it ,even with abit of light pollution.

good luck with your search.

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