M1 - Crab Nebula

[Citizen]

Good morning all,

Not a bad weekend's viewing that, in so much as there was little cloud on Friday and Saturday, although still a little hazy. Round these parts anyway.

I have set myself the target of viewing M1. I won't say setting my self the target of finding it, as I use a GOTO scope, but I've read up a fair bit about it and have a good idea of where it should be in the sky. Very keen to view it, knowing what it is I'll be looking at.

However, on both nights I failed to see anything. What should I expect to see through the 6" scope with a 25mm ep? I can make out M42 pretty clearly and see the nebulosity quite well from my back garden. However I have only seen M81, M82 and Andromeda galaxy from a darker site. Is M1 a dark site object? Will light pollution kill it or was it the moonlight even?

I'm only expecting a hazy smudge obviously, and not hoping to see any filaments etc (I am realistic), but not seeing anything at all currently and have read it is a small telescope target.

Sorry for all the questions, but you get so many helpful answers on here.

Regards

[Baffa]

I have been trying to see M1 a couple of times but my best effort have only been a very faint fussy patch, and it was the best seeing I experienced since I got my scope last autumn. So I suppose it's a very faint and hard to see and a dark sky is probably the way to go.

[lukebl]

It is also much smaller than you might be expecting. You should be able to make it out, but just as a small faint grey patch, not remotely like Andomeda or M42 which are huge in comparison.

[Tinker1947]

Use a wide FOV low MM EP, your looking for a very faint grey patch that's quite small, i found it using the above plus a Telrad using the Telrad circles in Stellarium and then moving the FOV to the the last star HIP 26451 the Telrad circle puts M1 very close to the 1 degree circle, then once found change to a high mag EP its still a gray patch but a bit bigger.

[Tinker1947]

As Lukebl typed at about the same time as my typing..

[Citizen]

Yeah, I was expecting it to be pretty small Luke (and not quite the "easier" targets I've already observed), but obviously it's even smaller! Will keep revisiting until I make something out. Tried averted vision but to no avail either.

I blame the moon!!

[Citizen]

Cheers Tinker (and baffa). Will keep trying obviously

[lukebl]

I blame the moon!!

Yes, that will have a huge impact! Stick with it and you'll find it.

[John]

If the moon is in the sky low surface brightness objects like M1 become very difficult or impossible to see even in moderately large scopes. A UHC filter does enhance it's contrast a bit but dark skies, as is so often the case with DSO's, are the best aid to seeing it.

[Tinker1947]

Somebody did type in a thread why we see it as a grey colour, but camera do a better job, when i find DSO's i try to take a image, one i can check its the DSO i think it is and i have a record of it, so here's M1, a single 2 minute unguided sub...

[Flaxinator]

I have seen M1 from my back garden(moderate LP), but had to use averted vision to actually see it. With the moon getting closer to full you will be hard pressed to see it, even M42 looks washed out at the moment.

[DaveGarland]

I've managed to see M1 once in my garden but the Pinwheel galaxy always has me flummoxed! Also m51.

[ollypenrice]

No chance in moonlight. It's faint and lacking in contrast. The season is a bit advanced for M1 but you have a good chance after the moon.

Olly

[gooseholla]

Yup, it is a really tiny faint fuzzy patch in good conditions. I only saw it by moving the scope back and forth a bit until it 'popped' out of the background, then I could see it. It isn't very impressive!

[magic612]

Start about the 1:50 mark in this video - it gives you some ideas on how to spot it, and what to expect.

[Citizen]

Thanks to everyone for their feedback as ever. I had low expectations but I have just lowered them further. Will try the "moving the scope back and forth" method, as I had read about that elsewhere.

Obviously, not tonight as a) it's shocking out there and the moon is at large anyway

Later in the month perhaps or even next January possibly!!

Next target, the Large Megellanic Cloud

[lukebl]

Next target, the Large Megellanic Cloud

But not from Surrey!

[Citizen]

ha ha! No Luke. I might be a newbie to telescopes and observing but not totally new to the night sky. Next time England go and thrash the Aussies in their own back yard, I might go and have a look for it then.

[ollypenrice]

ha ha! No Luke. I might be a newbie to telescopes and observing but not totally new to the night sky. Next time England go and thrash the Aussies in their own back yard, I might go and have a look for it then.

You're aware that the Magellanic Clouds might not be as permanent a pair of neighbours as we once thought? It might be as well to get down there in the next few million years...

Olly

[Citizen]

That might be sooner than another Ashes series win on Australian soil to be fair

[Rob L]

You're aware that the Magellanic Clouds might not be as permanent a pair of neighbours as we once thought? It might be as well to get down there in the next few million years...

Olly

Cutting...

[Citizen]

Cutting...

Heh! I was so busy coming up with a quick punchline that I didn't even notice Olly had already written it. Doh

[JonnyP]

I've managed to find M1 a few times from my back yard just out of the city centre. It's not difficult at all to find but very difficult to see - the most faint smudge of any of the faint smudges I've found. I wouldn't bother looking for it with an almost full Moon.

The first time I found it I thought it may have been a tiny greasy fingerprint on my EP! The 'moving scope back and forwards' works in this case.