finding objects

[wookie1965]

September 5th been out an hour now tried to find m51 again no luck ring nebula not a thing i can find lyra no problem just cant find ring. Cygnus clusters again nothing dont no what im doing wrong just managed to find m13 that was by chance than anything. Im going back out now going to try again if anyone can give me any pointers please do im getting disheartened. When im looking through my finder using turn left im seeing more stars than that says. when i was trying find the ring was trying find one star bottom of lyra sulafat i can see about 30 stars in the finder dont know which one it is i need red dot finder i think.

[Moonshane]

a red dot finder would definitely help, I hate not having one. make sure that and your optical finder are aligned correctly with the main scope - the moon is a good target for this currently.

when that's done. and in the interim before you get a RDF, you should use your optical finder (assuming it's a straight one) with both eyes open. as you get close to e.g. Vega, you'll see it with both your clear eye and the one at the finder - sounds weird but works if your finder is well adjusted.

hope this helps. the ring needs a little power to see well (maybe your 8mm) and the others needs darker skies than most get with a 6" scope.

a right angle finder and red dot finder combined works very well for me.

[wookie1965]

Thanks Moonshane my finder is spot on lined it up with vega i do try with both eyes open but with faint stars its hard and sometimes the stars are behind the mount of the finder im got to get right angled finder and red dot finder use both moons just coming over my fence now going look at that for a bit just looked at m31 again thats nice thankyou for your reply.

[Moonshane]

look at the double cluster in Perseus. about halfway between the left side of Cass and the top of Perseus. easily visible in your finder as a bright patch. in your 18mm it would be very nice.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have found "The Ring" in a 130mm scope, so in a 150mm it should be slightly easier. The trick is to start with a low mag EP and gradually zoom in with more higher powered EP's

Once you find it, you will always find it again.

[JamesM]

Have you downloaded Stellarium yet? It's a great piece of free planetarium software that can allow you to practice where to look - especially when the cloudy nights are upon us. This diagram will show you where M57 is located (M51 is the whirpool Galaxy) and its one of those objects that once you get, you wonder how you could have missed it!

Keep trying and eventually it will all come together.

James

P.s Ha ha Paul got to you first - must learn to type quicker! :grin:

[Chris Hopson]

I to had differculty finding objects tonight. M13 seems to be one of the ones I can always find, but the veil, andromeda were hopeless.

Then very quickly, a very bright moon washed out the sky!

I've not had the telrad long and so far found the finder scope easier. I'm even struggling to align the telrad on a star centred in the eyepiece

I shall just keep going at it until it clicks, I hope.

Chris

[John]

The Veil is virtually invisible without a UHC or O-III filter even in an 8" scope under dark skies. With the filter it's much easier to find - its a very large object (objects really) that won't fit in field of view unless you have a very low power, wide field eyepiece.

The Andromeda galaxy (M31) is bright and large even in small scopes but you need to know where to point the scope of course !

Using the Telrad is a knack that you need to acquire but when you have, you won't look back.

[Chris Hopson]

The Veil is virtually invisible without a UHC or O-III filter even in an 8" scope under dark skies. With the filter it's much easier to find - its a very large object (objects really) that won't fit in field of view unless you have a very low power, wide field eyepiece.

The Aondromeda galaxy (M31) is bright and large even in small scopes but you need to know where to point the scope of course !

Hi John, I've had no joy with the uhc so far with 30mm aero. This could be to do with the telrad alignment being off?! And I used to be able to find m31 with finder scope. This is school boy error & not light nights & light pollution?

Chris

[John]

Hi John, I've had no joy with the uhc so far with 30mm aero. This could be to do with the telrad alignment being off?! And I used to be able to find m31 with finder scope. This is school boy error & not light nights & light pollution?

Chris

With the moon around I don't usually bother trying to view these fainter DSO's. I can find the Veil with my 4" scope and O-III filter easily on a dark night. Any moonlight at all will wash it out altogether. Even M31 is looking a pale shadow of itself with the moon around.

I stick to planets, the moon and binary stars on nights like this.

[Chris Hopson]

With the moon around I don't usually bother trying to view these fainter DSO's. I can find the Veil with my 4" scope and O-III filter easily on a dark night. Any moonlight at all will wash it out altogether. Even M31 is looking a pale shadow of itself with the moon around.

I stick to planets, the moon and binary stars on nights like this.

Many thanks

Chris

[wookie1965]

I will try the double cluster in Perseus tomorrow thankyou Moonshane, Lukeskywatcher i can see lyra its when i try get my finder on bottom star have trouble i was using my 32 plossl i cant distinguish which one im looking for as theres that many stars even in my finder. JamesM yes ive got Stellarium ive been trying use that ive even printed star charts off to take out with me. I have just today sent off for pocket atlas by Roger W Sinnott and next wednesday all being well clear skies hopefully im going to my local astonomical society meeting with my scope get some tips off them and get them find a couple of things for me show me how perhaps then i will be able do it myself, thankyou all for your help and advice its most appreciated.

[Qualia]

...could be to do with the telrad alignment being off?

What I found best, Chris, is to align a given star in the Telrad, then go over to your finderscope (if you've got one) and align the star with the crosshairs. Go back to the Telrad and re-align it. Finally, centre that star in a low power EP, and if necessary do the final tweakings of centreing in the finderscope and Telrad. Now your really will be all set to go. With a little practice, this entire operation can be done in less than a minute.

Another useful thing I've found for finding objects is to have a correct image finderscope (9x50mm) and a decent star atlas. With these in hand, you should be alright.