Leo Trio - M65,M66 and NGC 3628

[Stargazer_00]

Has anyone managed to spot these little devils in an urban setting?

Working my way through Turn Left at Orion and now into April-June section.

Really want to see these but whenever i get lined up in the correct area I see nothing at all, not even a hint of a smudge :/

[dark star]

I have the same problem. I have a 250mm reflector, but from the outskirts of London I look in what should be the correct location and see nothing at all. I can see M81 and M82 quite well.

David

[Stargazer_00]

i just found out that the Big switch off will be starting in my town from April... they are going to be turning off 90% of my towns lights from 12-6 am

I never thought Id say it but god bless the conservatives...i may just vote for them if it makes my skies clear and unpolluted

[WayBig]

I can spot the two messiers from a location close to the edge of town (a fair amount of residential street lights) fairly regularly. I've only picked out the ngc on one very very good night.

[Stargazer_00]

I had never tried for M81 and M82 before! they were buried way in the book, I wouldnt have gotten there for months!

I just realised how much pain is involved trying to get an EQ mount to star hop near polaris... lol.

I was trying different angles with the scope, trying to get it to pan across the area of sky these 2 are in and found myself bending over backwards to try and see through the finderscope... I stopped, locked the scope in roughly the right place, spun it in its mounting to get the finderscope in a more accessible place and knowing from previous experience that this usually throws you off what you were pointing at I thought id just look through the EP to see if I had any stars to navigate from and there, smack bang in the centre of my 25mm was both M81 and M82. What luck!

[Stargazer_00]

Oh and im just up the road from you WayBig, In Stevenage

[gooseholla]

Yup. My street is very light polluted to the East/ South East and was purply/orange tonight. I found them - albeit via GO TO. However, they were very hard to see in a 4.33 cass. But they are there with averted vision and a bit of patience.

[Viv]

Not that it'll help viewing, but have the camera in this direction tonight ...... see what it captures.

[Stargazer_00]

I think im looking in the right place for them, I see the 3 stacked stars with the brightest at the bottom, and to its right in a 25mm is a roughly same mag star. I move to that than look around it and see nothing :/

[basher0010]

tried all night so far for m81 and m82 too hazy for me to make anything out pack up and try another night i think ..

[Stargazer_00]

I must've gotten lucky :/

[Stargazer_00]

Just went out to pack up and thought id take another look at the leo trio as its higher and more central in the sky now and I definitely caught a glimpse of the central cores of M65 and M66 A very good night considering The Haze!

[sulaco]

just been out just now and spotted M65 and M66 for the first time in a while, the seeing isn't brilliant either in Colchester tonight.

[WayBig]

Oh and im just up the road from you WayBig, In Stevenage

Do you go to either of Herts Astro (link in my sig) or LDAS?

[rory]

ive seen m81/82 in my town polluted sky ,and they look bright even in my small appeture. but im in the same boat when it comes to the leo bunch. not a single sighting of any galaxies in leo.

[Tinker1947]

The scope is going out to cool down, and the "seeing" is supposed to be better that the passed 3-4 night have been, i couldn't see them earlier in the week although my star hopping showed me to be in the right place, will report back later if conditions allow 1,2 or all 3 DSO' to be seen...

[Stargazer_00]

Do you go to either of Herts Astro (link in my sig) or LDAS?

Hi,

I went to an LDAS observing session on Friday but it seemed to be a no show. not a member of either just yet.

Is the WGC spot good? It seemed to have quite a lot of LP at the LDAS spot. they are on the northside of the town so look across all of its lights into the southern sky :/

[mdstuart]

It helps if you up the power to about 150x as this darkens the sky. M65 which is next to a field star is the easiest to spot.

Mark

[LukeSkywatcher]

I've stumbled across M65,M66 before with a pair of 20X90 bins. I didnt even know there was a 3rd galaxy close by at the time.

[bish]

I could just about make out M65/66 with my old 150p from Dudley, which has very bad LP. It would need to be a very good night though.

[Stargazer_00]

fantastic seeing tonight. got all 3 of the trio, and can just about make out some actual shape in M81 and M82! Best viewing in a long time