galaxy ?

[Charlie_132]

I've just had a 10mm lens and. 3x barlow (130p scope) and seen a blue fuzzy dot quite a way to the left of saturn and heigher. ... What is it ?

[John]

Is Saturn in the same field of view when you are observing this fuzzy dot ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

I think its 72 Vir. Its a blue(ish) star to the top left of Saturn.

[Charlie_132]

No saturn isn't in the field of view (it deff isn't spica)

It was far to the left of saturn any above (really nowhere near saturn I suppose ... )

Was it a galaxy or a star ? (It wasn't visible by eye)

Anyone know wjhat it was ?

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Might have been a globular, maybe ngc5634 or even m5... Other than that, must've been one of the many galaxies that inhabit Virgo.

[ollypenrice]

A magnification of 195x in a 130mm reflector is pushing it. Under UK skies it might well be pushing it too far. Did you try that power on stars? It might well just be a poorly resolved star overly magnified.

If it was showing blue colour it certainly wasn't a galaxy and at that power, in a 130mm scope, I very much doubt that the small Virgo ellipticals would show at all, to be honest.

Ease off on the magnification!

Olly

[Charlie_132]

With a 10mm lens and 3x barlow I can see saturn very clearly and quite a lot of detail, so I don't think I was overpowering the scope, biut whatever it was .. It wasn't visible by eye

[Qualia]

10mm lens and 3x barlow (130p scope) and seen a blue fuzzy dot

I'm not sure what scope you're using but I imagine its focal length is somewhere between 900mm to 650mm and you've used a 10mm eyepiece with a 3x Barlow.

If that is so, then we've got a magnification of somewhere between 270x to 195x. As Olly has said that really is pushing your seeing limits and is probably only effective on planets and the moon. Too high a magnification and those faint fuzzies simply disappear.

What has more than likely happened is you've come across a unresolved star, perhaps one of the many pretty little gems in Serpens.

[ollypenrice]

Yes, while you may have felt that Saturn was clear I would suggest (but I might be quite wrong) that a little less magnification would have given a clearer image.

To try out the idea of a poorly resolved star just try your Barlowed 10mm on what you know to be stars and see how they look. I suspect they'll look like what you saw. Planets are not point sources but small extended ones so they don't scintillate in the way that stars do.

Olly

[kenmyers]

With a 10mm lens and 3x barlow I can see saturn very clearly and quite a lot of detail, so I don't think I was overpowering the scope, biut whatever it was .. It wasn't visible by eye

You can happily 'over power' your scope on Saturn, Mars, and the moon even.

Even though this lets you see saturn nice and huge, you are loosing a hell of a lot of clarity and sharpness because of your over magnification... although, for visual use only, this is quite alright.

But you are pushing your scope way beyond it's limits for all other objects.

Can I suggest a x2 barlow may be more use to you.

Saturn will still look marvellous.

I have no idea what the blue object was, sorry, but an unfocused star at that mag is very likely.

[acey]

How dark was the sky at the time (i.e. could you see the milky way with naked eye)?

If your sky was bright (which I'm guessing was most likely) then anything fairly low in the sky that pops out at you as a blue fuzzy dot is not a galaxy. Much more likely a star, as has been suggested, or else perhaps an internal reflection in the eyepiece caused by Saturn or some other bright object out of the field of view.

Edit: I notice that you made your post at 10.41pm, having presumably observed the object not long before, in which case (depending on your latitude) your sky would probably have been in twilight, in addition to whatever man-made light-pollution there might have been, which further eliminates galaxy or DSO as possible candidate. Those things need a dark sky to be seen well, and it sounds like you probably didn't have one.

[Double Kick Drum]

Yes, while you may have felt that Saturn was clear I would suggest (but I might be quite wrong) that a little less magnification would have given a clearer image.

To try out the idea of a poorly resolved star just try your Barlowed 10mm on what you know to be stars and see how they look. I suspect they'll look like what you saw. Planets are not point sources but small extended ones so they don't scintillate in the way that stars do.

Olly

I agree with both Olly and Ken on this one. It sounds like a poorly resolved blue star at high magnification.

I have seen about 120 galaxies and they all appear grey visually.

I never magnify galaxies by more than 80x as they are feint compared to planets and don't take it so well.