Manky Messier

[starguest]

Fantastic seeing between midnight and 05.00 today!

As they came over the roof about 04.30 M81,M82 were seen in a different light!. Amazingly, M82 with a single EP at 180x looked like a teased out piece of manky cotton wool, the various grey shades giving it a 3-D look. And using binoviewer didn't make much difference. The flatter M81 had much lighter shades with its brighter core showing up more compared to previous views. Just so stunned by that M82 though.

[cotterless45]

Yep, when it's clear as last night all sorts of granulation and dust lanes can be spotted at high mag in these and other galaxies, neat,

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

M81 and M82 are a great pair, aren't they. They have pretty decent surface brightness too. I haven,t tried throwing 180x at them yet. Could give it a shot.

[crashtestdummy]

not tried mag on either either but from a dark site i managed to see both in my 8x50 finderscope!!definately 2 of the easier galaxies to make out once you find their location