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The Hunt for the Messiers

Naemeth

By Naemeth
in Observing - Deep Sky

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Double Kick Drum

Double Kick Drum

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I found m109 a hard see in my 12" dob so i cant imagine how hard it would be in a 130 so great job!!!

M109 is a funny one. I couldn't see it on a number of attempts but since I cracked it and know what I am looking for, I don't find it too difficult. A soft glow rather than a fuzzy blob.

I think M108 is slightly easier.

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Terrynak

Terrynak

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Honestly, I would move up to a 6" or preferably 8". those provide a serious step up from a 4". A 5" may dissapoint.

I could move up directly from my 3.9" (100mm) scope to my 5.9" (Orion Starblast 6 - 150mm), but the change in views may be too overwhelming for my eyes. :eek: A gradual step up wIth my 5.1" (130mm) scope would be more manageable. :smiley: I took the latter scope out to a semi-dark site only once, but was surprised at how much of a difference 130mm makes compared to 100mm. In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun "maxing out" with my smaller scopes (i.e. seeing as many DSO's as I can). There's a lot of stuff you can see with small 80-100mm aperture scopes if you can get out of the light-polluted urban white zone. Smaller scopes are also easier for me to take to darker sky sites - my 100mm gets used the most because it's so easy to carry.

I took my 100mm scope to a dark sky site once (green-blue zone). M109 was so blindingly bright!

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Terrynak

Terrynak

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Here are pics of my version of the Skywatcher Heritage 130p, called the Bushnell Ares 5. Identical scope, with different exterior finish - sadly it is no longer available here. I discarded the tabletop mount and put the collapsible tube on an alt-az mount identical to the Skywatcher AZ4. Behind the scope is my Orion carrying-bag which I can sling over my shoulder and transport both scope & tripod to darker sky sites. I also created a light shroud for the OTA made of black felt (not shown). This will become my main observing scope once I've seen all I can see with the smaller 100mm Newtonian.

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  • 1 month later...
Naemeth

Naemeth

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It's been a long time since I last did some observing, but today after the 3rd clear night in a row, I decided that I would end my dry spell of observing :p (1st night I was preparing for an interview, 2nd night I was doing some Uni work). Would have stayed out longer, but as I use my laptop to make my scope effectively a push-to (lazy I know!), I was limited by my laptop battery power, which unfortunately is dire as the battery is nearly dead (replacement should be arriving soon!), plus there were some high clouds out there spoiling the view a bit. Had planned for about 2 hours of DSO Hunting, only got about an hour in, which isn't too bad considering.

A few weeks ago, I decided to print out a list of remaining Messiers with the Constellation they are in by them, and then grouped them by Constellation. Seems really simple, but is great because I can plan out my sessions according to Constellation, and can rule out certain groups of Messiers due to elevation.

I started to try and get M33 in the Triangulum galaxy, unfortunately I'd left that one a bit long, either I will have to catch it much earlier or later on in the year, it was pretty much next to a street light.

Next, I moved on to Cancer, to M44. Most of the guide stars in Cancer were invisible, so I relied on Castor / Pollux (Gemini) and Leo, drew an imaginary line between the Regulus and Pollux, and found it quite quickly. Very nice sight, and very obvious too. Moved quickly on as I wanted to do a lot more!

I wanted to try M78 in Orion, but unfortunately that was obscured by trees, so I moved on to M102 in Draco. It took some moving around the garden, but I eventually found the right area. M102 was very faint to the eye, and only really looked like a star with a bit of fuzziness around it, I don't think I really had the resolution to resolve any more than that, so I moved on.

Unfortunately, Leo was in the wrong place, so I moved on to Ursa Major. First on my list was M40 (which Stellarium had some trouble finding!), which I thought was odd because it seems to be a double star and very out of place, but it was easy to find. Moving on, I took a while to find M81/M82 (clouds and it being near the Zenith), but eventually, and just when my laptop had died, I found two faint fuzzy patches, which were definitely M81/M82. I then decided to call it a night, I don't know how long the weather is going to hold at this rate..

After all that, 5 to add to my list of completed Messiers :).

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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m40 is the most underwhelming of the messiers

I was disappointed for it to only be double stars, when some of the other Messiers I'd seen tonight were much better - M44, even M81 and M82.

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Terrynak

Terrynak

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M40 was the last Messier object I observed, logged and sketched about a month ago; just glad I was able to cross it off my list. Two more to go (M6 & M7 in Scorpius), and I'm done with all 110 Messier objects.

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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There's an excellent Messier Marathon app, March is the time to get this gripped and sorted !

Nick.

I heard March was the best time for all the Messiers. Unfortunately, until I've done the modifications to my hold-all so I can travel to somewhere with decent southerly/easterly horizon views (I have somewhere in mind), I won't be able to observe anything low in the south or east :(.

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Astralstroll

Astralstroll

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M13 was the first object I saw with my dob. Took me some time to click what was meant by The Keystone, but now I know what I am looking for I can find M13 from memory. Had a few views of it in the past couple of weeks and managed to track it down despite not seeing it for several months. It's well worth seeking out as its quite spectacular.

Dave.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Naemeth

Naemeth

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I got some observing done last night :). Woke up about 2am due to the house next to our neighbours having a party :mad: . Looked out of the window and surprisingly it was clear, with fast moving clouds, so I decided to have a quick observing session :).

It was a bit darker in my back garden due to part lighting in my area (lights go off after midnight and go on about 5am), and it was pretty clear between the clouds. I panned around for a while with the 26mm in the scope, and found Coma Berenices in a great place to view, so I turned the scope there.

First, I went for M64, which was quite difficult because of cloud interruption, but nevertheless I found it as quite an obvious bright smudge, studied it a bit and then moved on.

Then was M53, there were more clouds around, but gaps which were sufficient enough which allowed me to get into the right area, and eventually I found M53, which was quite bright, but only detectable as a smudge really. I spent a little time on M53, but by the time I wanted to move on the clouds had rolled in :mad:.

Given how productive that constellation could have been, I think I'll get up more at that time and see if it's clear :). I can't complain too much about the cloud - given it's been 12 days since my last observing session, I think twice in a month is pretty good going :).

Only 61 to go! :hello2:

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Double Kick Drum

Double Kick Drum

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First, I went for M64, which was quite difficult because of cloud interruption, but nevertheless I found it as quite an obvious bright smudge, studied it a bit and then moved on.

Then was M53, there were more clouds around, but gaps which were sufficient enough which allowed me to get into the right area, and eventually I found M53, which was quite bright, but only detectable as a smudge really. I spent a little time on M53, but by the time I wanted to move on the clouds had rolled in :mad:.

Congratulations on your finds. They are the brightest two in Coma and both very nice.

The next easiest is probably M85 in the Southwest of the constellation. M88 and M100 are slightly harder.

The more difficult ones are M91, M99 and M98, especially the latter which is elongated but quite diffuse.

There are a couple of bright NGC objects too. NGC 4565 (the Needle galaxy) is perhaps the most famous. It is a very nice example of a side on spiral galaxy. Another galaxy NGC 4494 is also worth a punt.

Happy hunting!

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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Congrats on your finds! Fruitful session despite clouds!

Thanks - I've come to realise that clear nights, or more accurately - clear spells, are far more often than we think, it's just we often can't take advantage of them as they are un-forecasted (as this one was - Met Office and Meteoblue both said it would be cloudy!) and often early in the morning when it can conflict with work.

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  • 3 months later...
AlexB67

AlexB67

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Just broken the 10+ mark with my Messier hunt, 13 by now I know I have identified , so I am satisfied customer so far since my May start , all from the back garden :)

I can't wait to get some of the deeper skies during my hols next month in south west Ireland, hopefully the clouds will cooperate.

I just spotted M29 too in the new BST, though it isn't I couldn't see it in he other eyepieces, I spotted it last night first time when I had a brief session, I just had to confirm it tonight when it was a bit clearer, but the session was short though, as thin clouds high up started rolling in.

M29 The cooling tower, what a cool name, M29 may not win the beauty contest, but surely one of the best names :D

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