First Nebulae targets for beginners?

[Fordos Moon]

Having dabbled with the Orion Nebula for a while and concluding its not a beginner's target which nebulae would you more experienced people recommend to start with?

[stonemonkeylives]

Orion Nebula is a good starting point. Just don't don't expect Hubble type multi-coloured view, depending on your equipment you'll generally see a greyish smudge. It took me a few attempts (of looking directly at it) to realise what it was.

I would also recommend a book called Turn left at Orion if you haven't already bought it. I highly recommend it

sent from Gherkin Muncher mk .III (commonly known as a Galaxy S2)

[Fordos Moon]

Have read the book three times so far and agree its excellent! I'm aware of limitations just fancied a new target for tonight! My first M42 -

Thanks for quick response though, appreciated!

[RMcCallum]

I second 'Turn left at Orion' a brilliant book.

As for the Orion Nebula, personally I would consider it a relatively good one to start with, as its easier than most to find. One of my favourites is the Ring Nebula, it looks like a tiny grey cheerio.

[Fordos Moon]

It is easy to find, beautiful and straightforward to capture but I need to spend more time with it using different length exposures to prevent the inner bit blowing.

[Fordos Moon]

Ring nebula sounds worth a shot!

[Mike73]

It is easy to find, beautiful and straightforward to capture but I need to spend more time with it using different length exposures to prevent the inner bit blowing.

So your looking for a nebula to observe or image?

I'd of thought getting some practice on M42 would be good before moving on to other trickier objects like the Ring?

[Qualia]

Having dabbled with the Orion Nebula for a while and concluding its not a beginner's target which nebulae would you more experienced people recommend to start with?

I always figured M 42 (M 43) were perfect Nebulae for beginnners; even from my LP city, M 42 is clearly visible to the naked eye. To be honest, after this I don't think it gets any easier.

When seasons permit, I'd say M 27, M 57, and possibly M 76 are worth a hunt. They might be tricky to find, but even in a small scope they can be made out.

[Fordos Moon]

So your looking for a nebula to observe or image?

I'd of thought getting some practice on M42 would be good before moving on to other trickier objects like the Ring?

Sorry Mike yes I should have said image. I will certainly be trying M42 again and again I just fancied a change.

[Mike73]

I'm not an imager but I'm sure I've read that some objects like planetary nebula are fainter to image than to see visually, I dont know how imagers get around this, maybe more data? Hopefully someone who actually knows what they are talking about will chime in.

Of course as an imager you've got the advantage of really being able to see fainter detail in all those stunning reflective and emission nebula.

[ArmyAirForce]

M27 is a good one, especially from a good dark site. This is a half hour exposure I did of it in September. While you don't see quite this much visually, you can see the bow-tie/dumbbell portion to about the red fringe position, but in greyscale of course. To image invisible to the naked eye objects, I rely on goto to get me there, then a trial exposure to centre the object.

[MikeDay82]

Ive tried so many times over and over with my 250px to find the owl nebula, no luck

[RMcCallum]

The Crab nebula has been the hardest so far for me. Due to the rookie mistake of me not being able to starhop in a straight line from Aldebaran (repeatedly)