Magnification for messier objects

[Demo johnny]

Hi,

what is the best magnification to view messier like m51 at for example.

have an 150p SW 750 - F5 comes with 10mm and 25mm and 2x barlow. Also now have a 6mm.

have been struggling to see anything other than plaides and nebular in orion, even could not get andromeda and tried for m51 the other night.

I am not obsessed with the X factor just want to know what the best viewing would be at for the DSO 20mm,32mm,35mm eyepieces. Planning on a 1.5 barlow also as the 6mm is too much for the 2x barlow but nice on its own.

Cheers

Johnny

[Cornelius Varley]

Try this field of view calculator here.

Peter

[GeorgeB]

The open clusters and galaxies come off best in a low power view, so your 32mm will be best. Planetary nebulae usually need a fairly high magnification as they can be almost star like in low power. What I always do is to start in a low power and work my way up the magnifications. Bright nebulae such as M42 can withstand a reasonably high magnification which can give a better contrast than a low magnification.

[Demo johnny]

Thanks guys.

That calculator is it accurate as to what i should see excluding colours?

so i use 35mm and enter a magnification figure.

not seeing anything like that

cheers

[John]

You need to switch the calculator to visual view - it's default is photographic. Even then it's rather optimistic I feel - unless you view from the top of a mountain in Hawaii that is !

What we see in reality is determined very much by how much light pollution / moonlight there is in the sky and other factors such as high level ice crystals etc. On a good night the view can be wonderful but the the same equipment, if the conditions are poor, then it can be very disappointing.

[Demo johnny]

still not seeing anything like when in visual mode not even 50% like.

got a collimator on its way maybe that is the problem.

hopefully clear skies up in Turriff this evening so will get some viewing in and more practice navigating the sky.

[John]

still not seeing anything like when in visual mode not even 50% like....

If there is any light pollution around or the moon is in the sky you can see practically nothing of even the brighter deep sky objects and yet, under a really dark sky, they sprawl across the eyepiece. Little or no colour though, even then.

[SwampStar]

Right...just had a look at that simulator thingy.

Is it right? I put in all my scope and EP details and it showed Andromeda as not even fitting in my field of view.

Surely not...It'd be nice, though.

[John]

The Andromeda Galaxy is a very large object - at least 6x as wide as the full moon. Trouble is (and this shows where the simulator is inaccurate) most of the time we can only see the central core of the galaxy, which is smaller and less spectacular than the simulator view.

Personally, I find the best views of the Andromeda galaxy are to be had with large binoculars.

[Bart]

all above is correct .

With decent skies I find a mag of about x100 to be about right. Maybe x130 or x150 on some of the globular clusters.

Bart

[Astro-Nova]

same here, planets quite accurate but looking at horse head nebula, if i can view that with my 25mm like that, Ill be looking it up straight away when skies are clear........might be beating hubbles images lol

[johnboy999]

I've just used the calculator , my scope and eyepiece are not on it but I entered ones that are similiar, I have a tal 150p with baader zoom and I put in skyliner 150 with hyperion eyepieces and the views were nothing like I got on saturday.

according to this program the planets are tiny dots, but I saw jupiter and all visable mooons as well as saturn and its rings.

On m42 my image was nothing like what this shows although I was very happy with the image.

In fact I think my naked eye visual was better than this was showing on the planets.

[SwampStar]

That makes sense...

Thanks.