Will i be able to see DSO's through my skywatcher Classic?

[SteveWxm]

Will i be able to see many DSO's through a skywatcher Classic 900? Got 25mm, 10mm and 5mm lenses. It's a great scope for planets, lunar etc, just not been very successful with the hunt for messiers

[sgazer]

it's quite small aperture, so you need to use low magnification (25mm eyepiece) and only really expect to see brighter galaxies, clusters and nebula.

[SteveWxm]

ok thanks! Recommend any easy ones to start at?

[John]

Messier's 13 and 92 in Hercules - globular clusters

M57 in Lyra - the Ring nebula

M27 in Vulpecula - the Dumbbell nebula

M81 and M82 in Ursa Major - nice galaxy pair

Thats a few to start with ......

[ollypenrice]

That's 90mm aperture?

You need a dark site and, as above, a low power. Get somewhere as dark as you possibly can. I can see all three members of the Leo Triplet in 80mm from here.

Binoculars may also help you find things in the first place.

Olly

[mdstuart]

Saturn should look great in that scope!

Lowish to the SE..Look for two bright stars..Saturn is the top one.

Mark

[acey]

I believe this is a 70mm scope. Moon will look great, and you can have nice views of planets (which will appear as small discs - Saturn's rings should be visible). With DSOs it depends entirely how dark the sky is. If the milky way is visible with the naked eye then it would be possible to view most or all of the Messier objects. If the sky is light polluted then it may be hard to see any at all. M13 is the best one to start with. Double stars will also make good targets (e.g. Albireo in Cygnus).

[umadog]

These little refractors can perform well on DSOs if the skies are dark. If the optics are good and you're well dark adapted then it's possible to use reasonably high powers and see some detail.

[SteveWxm]

Yeh sorry forgot to mention it's a 70mm. Seen the planets through it, seen saturn and it's ring, Jupiter and 4 moons and the moon looks fantastic through it. We were on Shell Island this weekend with just the bino's but sadly the clouds came in before the sky got truely dark. Hoping in the summer to get into Snowdonia somewhere with the scope and see what messiers we can find. I'll have a look on stellarium at your suggestions now, thanks for your help!

[Vega]

Just a word of warning not to be too dis-heartened at your experiences with DSO's over the next couple of months. The sky never really gets properly dark all night this time of year and whatever tiny detail you see would be much better in say August when the sky gets darker late at night. ;-)

As an example you would get a nice view of the Orion Nebula in a 70mm (visible in the winter months of course)

Matt

[SteveWxm]

Just a word of warning not to be too dis-heartened at your experiences with DSO's over the next couple of months. The sky never really gets properly dark all night this time of year and whatever tiny detail you see would be much better in say August when the sky gets darker late at night. ;-)

As an example you would get a nice view of the Orion Nebula in a 70mm (visible in the winter months of course)

Matt

Yeh i realise i've picked the completely wrong time of year to properly start! Saw pleiades through the bino when Venus passed infront of them in April and they looked awesome. If it's clear tonight may pop out for an hour or so and see if i can find any of your suggestions.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If you can replace the 25mm standard EP with a 24mm Hyperion, or other super wide angle, you will be better equiped for DSO hunting. Alternatively get a 32mm Plossl. Both types give you the maximum field of view your 1.25" focuser allows.

M13 is a nice target, and even holds up well under higher magnification.

[cotterless45]

It's not a bad time of year to start.There's the Moon and Saturn at present.It's good to get used to the scope, before the lovely clear dark nights arrive.

There are an amazing amount of superb star clusters to see in Cygnus;

NGC4996,6811,6866,6997,6883,6802,then go a bit south to see the upside down coathanger ( Brocchi's cluster).Pass by Albireo,a lovely double and over to M56,a small globular cluster. Pocket Sky Atlas will provide plenty to see.

I prefer the stars in a fractor ,as there's no diffraction spikes,they look clean.

Nick.

[ronin]

Go to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_objects

Go to the right hand column of the table and click on the little down arrow in the top row, this will sort the Messier objects by magnitude.

Then save the result in a word file.

I am guessing that you would see anything better then mag 8, maybe mag 10, although looking at what is mag 10 then maybe not. Give it a go and see. :Envy:

You are going to have to find out by pointing the scope at things and finding out if they are visible or not.