M33 naked eye...

[ollypenrice]

I've heard it said that M33 can be naked eye. I've never seen it, or have I? Once the imaging was sorted and running, tonight, I sat on a lounger looking SW and got really well adapted. I was in a bit of a non astro daydream and vaguely became aware of the slightest of glows where I wasn't expecting one, so I lifted the bins and saw M33. I went back and forth between naked eye and bins and the slight glow really might have been M33. My eyes aren't good and I'm still not sure but it was a bit of a thriller all the same.

Olly

[swamp thing]

Always great to observe the big fella with the naked eye. It does need a good sky though, lucky you

[cotterless45]

Our group has seen M33 from the edge of town. We pointed it out as being better by eye than scope in these conditions.

Nick.

[ollypenrice]

You guys do mean M33, not M31? I'm amazed that you could see M33 from the edge of town but if you did you did.

Olly

[chiltonstar]

Certainly from here (rural, S. Oxfordshire), M33 is relatively easy with 15x70s on a clear night, and after seeing it thru' binos and looking at the same spot, I can see a faint fuzzy glow with the naked eye. There is a classical description (Mallas) though where he raises the question of whether folk are seeing the galaxy itself or sometimes the foreground stars.

Chris

[swamp thing]

You guys do mean M33, not M31? I'm amazed that you could see M33 from the edge of town but if you did you did.

Olly

I do but I didn't say it was from town. I can't see it with my naked eye from my local observing site. I have to go further out of town to a better dark sky site.

[cotterless45]

Yep forestry site about 3 miles from town. Found M33 the usual way from Triangulum. Sometimes we get a full Milky Way across the darkest part of the sky.

It's a great pleasure to point out objects by eye to other observers,

Nick.