Stellarium problems

[ramstar]

Ive just seen the orion nebular for the first time OMG. Its amazing , however im finding it very hard to find andromeda M31 ,iknow where it is but still no luck . ive got a skywatcher 130 on a dob. so im star hopping just so that i can learn the skies . What am i looking for when looking for andromeda i see a few stars but cant work out where it is and which one, Please excuse my spelling and grammar as my fingers a freezing as ive been out in 0c for the last 3 hr. BBBBBBBBBRrrrrrrrrr

[Tinker1947]

I you have Stellarium or evan if you don't, download the Telrad maps just google for them, there's one with M31 on it, with the nearby stars ect.....

[ramstar]

Sorry about sausage fingers. Having read all the advice about how good and informative Stellarium is, I invested my £1.99 and downloaded a vesion onto my tablet. No instructions and I'm struggling to make use of it - any advice please?

[Steve Ward]

Try here ...... http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide

Steve.

[Tinker1947]

Sorry about sausage fingers. Having read all the advice about how good and informative Stellarium is, I invested my £1.99 and downloaded a vesion onto my tablet. No instructions and I'm struggling to make use of it - any advice please?

If you have a PC get it from here.....

http://www.stellarium.org/

[ramstar]

Still having problems with the android version. If thee's anyone who can shed some light on it I'd appreciate it

[wookie1965]

Try this way to find it instead

http://www.wikihow.c...ndromeda-Galaxy

Have a look at this site it says binoculars but its got telescope objects aswell including M31

http://astronomycentral.co.uk/the-night-sky-with-binoculars-tonight/

[Capricorn]

For now forget the scope.

Locate the corner of Pegasus from Casseiopia then the standars is 2 stars along Andromeda then take a line through them back towards Casseiopia and you bump into a very very faint grey patch that is almost invisible.

If you have any real light pollution it will be difficult to spot and even more difficult to spot if you are looking straight at it.

If you think you can see something, probably out the corner of your eye, then I suggest you have a pair of binoculars at hand as M31 is a lot easier to locate and see in them.

You will guess from this that M31 is not exactly easy to point to and say there it is.

Once you get used to what to expect it gets easier.

Also don't expect it to knock your socks off, most reactions are along the lines of: "Is that it?"

Another way of locating it is to use Casseiopia, locate the steep V of Casseiopia and use that as if an arrow head, the arrow head pointing to M31. Bit simpler then wandering along several stars.