Tips for finding M33

[crazyjedi]

I've never seen it and from my home I will never see it due to the LP I've accepted this and sort of given up on it now. I've tried from my usual holiday site in Wales but there is a little LP there and I've never been lucky. Boo!!!!!

[Spec-Chum]

Got it!

Just seen it in my bins! Woohoo.

Hard to describe it, but it looks just like a slightly brighter patch of sky so I went straight past it first time, then I scanned back again and noticed this patch didn't move so I hovered around that area and it kinda jumps out at you once you realise.

[John]

Well done !

You can see how it's easy to overlook though

[euphony]

I amazingly managed to see it for the first time last night. It was extremely faint though, so if I didn't know what I was looking for I would have missed it completely.

I don't think I'd have spotted it without my goto though from my garden, as I would have inevitably zoomed past it!

It was good to see it. I just can't wait until it's higher in the sky so I can try and pick out a bit more detail. That's going to be a few weeks away at least yet though.

[NGEddie]

Thank you, this post has been very helpful.

[gooseholla]

Persistence, and no expectation of what it looks like. What I mean is, forget about galaxy shapes, etc. Just look for a slight brightening in the sky. I found it from my garden which isn't that great a site, but I had to wait until it was quite high in the sky.

[Pete Presland]

i have never managed to see it from my garden obsy, the only way i knew i was in the right area was to take a short sub to confirm it.

[Spec-Chum]

Guess what I've just seen through my telescope . Awful seeing too, I actually saw it through wispy clouds, not bad to say I couldn't see it on a cloudless night. Turns out I was in wrong place. D'oh!

[Astro Imp]

Judging by some of the previous posts last night must have been a bit special.

I have never seriously looked for this before as I thought it would be a waste of time from my garden. Never the less having followed this thread for the last few days I thought I'd give it a try. Bingo!!! Just couldn't believe I was seeing it. Alright it was just a large light grey patch but seeing it at all really surprised me.

[cs1cjc]

I think M31 is easier than some are suggesting above. It is a naked eye object under the darkest skies, but I can see it in 8x32s under almost any (clear) sky. It is easiest to find in binoculars and once you have found it, it is easier to poiint a telescope to it.

I find it this way. First locate Cassopeia, the "W" shaped constellation which is currently high up in the South East as it gets dark. Use the right hand "v" as a pointer and about 20 degrees (2 fist widths at arms length) away along this line you will see a bright, magnitude 2.05 star, Mirach. If you struggle to find find this, then you are unlikely to see M31! Find Mirach in your binoculars, Think of Mirach as being at the tip of an arrow. follow the arrow head back to the left of the line from Cassiopiea. for about 10 degrese (one fist width). You should see the misty patch which is Andromeda, M31.

On the oppossite side of Mirach, at about the same distance is M33, the Triangulum galaxy, but this is both smaller and less bright so significantly harder to see..

[Spec-Chum]

Um, Chris, it's M33 we're talking about, not M31

[Mike73]

Um, Chris, it's M33 we're talking about, not M31

I thought Chris gave pretty good directions for M33 with bins.

I found that going 4˚ NE of Metalla in Trianglum is nice and easy through the scope with Telrad.

[kirkster501]

I have never seen it visually, with either binoculars, ED80 or my CPC11. But AP catches it. I do have suburban LP though.

[cs1cjc]

It was a beautiful black night in rural County Durham last night and I caught M33 in my 70mm, just after the fireball show. I first located M31 and was very encouraged that I could identify both M32 and M101, so I went for M33 which was found after only a little hunting.

I later went on to see the veil nebula with a UHC-S filter, with the western arc being particularly good! I was chilled when I came in, but it makes all the waiting worthwhile.