Easiest galaxies in 6" Newt with moderate lp?

[pajr777]

I've tried and failed on a couple of galaxies this week but have a still, clear and dry night at the moment so hoping for good things tonight. The 'scope is cooling, the dinner is cooking, I should get out around 9pm

Unfortunately I'm a bit late in the celestial year for Andromeda, it's too low in the sky by the end of dusk from my location.

Any tips on good targets? Thank you

[SiriusB]

m81,m82 in Ursa Major & m65,m66 in Leo, if you can't see these wait for a better night.

TBO the weather here this week has been appalling for dso's~ high haze,mist.

I could just about see m65&m66 one night in my st102,bt it was a real struggle.

[pajr777]

Thanks, I went out looking for M81 & M82 and could barely see much around UMa other than the main Plough stars by eye. Not enough visual clues to get the finderscope in the right direction.

It's deceptive, what seemed like a lovely clear evening earlier was an orange haze tonight, and the black of space was a light grey in the eyepiece.

Time for a film and a glass of wine

[Ohmless]

The above selections are very nice, but I would also have to add M51, M64, and M104. All pretty easy to star hop to and brighter galaxies than most. I hope they work out well for your situation and enjoyment.

[patomlin76]

Pajr777 that has got me thinking... How often do we get the perfect sky and how can we tell? Tonight I had the same grey and orange glow due to high mist, yet it looked clear earlier... Are there any tell tale evening signs we can look put for, coloof or depth of the sky??

Or maybe it's a sign of spring and summer skies on their way, when it never gets really dark...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SwampStar]

I've been asking pretty much the same question...and getting the same answers. And I can't see them either! My seeing is fairly clear, but the LP must be worse than I thought.

What I have done is stuck to finding some clusters, and I reckon a galaxy will have to be pretty spectacular to beat them. They are stunning and much easier to see for the newbie. In fact, I've just been using binos.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Plenty to see in Leo.

[661-pete]

It's ironic isn't it - Spring is the time of the year when the skies are awash with galaxies, but many of them are faint: most of the 'easy' ones appear in the Autumn (M31, M33 especially).

Certainly try the ones suggested - though I suspect that M65 and M66 won't be all that easy: they're both mag. 9! You could also try for NGC2903 - a fine barred spiral (photographically at any rate: visually it'll be a fuzzy). It's marginally brighter than the Triplet and well placed at the moment, also in Leo.

If you've got a good view to the southeast try M87 in the Virgo cluster.

[Thirdway]

Been in the same position for several months. With moderate light pollution and no idea what you are looking for its not far off impossible. The thing with galaxies is they are often pretty large, but so diffuse that they are invisible.

Get out to a dark site with 360 degree views. Make sure the scope is cooled and collimated. You need a telrad or Rigel IMO if you have no guiding or goto facility. Also required is a good quality low mag EP. I use a 32mm panaview in a 200 Dob. That allowed me to virtually fill the FOV with 2 galaxies. The thing is, even under perfect viewing they are very diffuse and need averted eyes and perfect dark to make out anything like a structure. Once you know what your looking for, a large, fuzzy, virtually invisible patch then you realise why you have been struggling to see any. For me it was a bit of an anti climax after months of frustration trying to find some, although I did give out a whoop, having actually found one.

I'm sure your aware of what m42 looks like, well, imagine that about 20x less bright, they would be right on the edge of perception in a LP sky even if they were very bright.

[swamp thing]

It's ironic isn't it - Spring is the time of the year when the skies are awash with galaxies, but many of them are faint: most of the 'easy' ones appear in the Autumn (M31, M33 especially).

M33 easy. you must have good dark skies.

Most of us struggle with this one.

For an easy one try M94 'The Crocs Eye' in Canes Venatici this is small with high surface brightness. You should find this one even with moderate LP.

Regards Steve

[661-pete]

M33 easy. you must have good dark skies.

Most of us struggle with this one.

Looking at your location, I can well sympathise. Visiting someone in North London, who has amongst other kit a C-14, well we utterly failed to pick out M33 from his garden, despite good seeing, a clear moonless night, 14" of aperture, and every filter he could muster. LP makes all the difference with that object.

But in the very best conditions I can just make it out in 10x50 bins from my garden in Burgess Hill. And I've also seen it in the bins from Patrick Moore's back garden in Selsey. I've never seen it with naked eye though. From a small 'scope it shouldn't be much of a problem outside the main urban areas.

Apart from M31, and the Magellanic clouds (never seen those ), the only candidates for naked-eye-visible galaxies must surely be limited to M33, M81 and M82. But I've never managed any of those, not from anywhere, not with my eyes. Perhaps others can do better?

[davew]

Have a go at this lot - http://www.astroleague.org/files/obsclubs/Urban/urbanld.pdf

Print it off and then tick them off

As for M33, don't even try finding it in a telescope ! Use 8 x 50 binos from a dark site.

Dave