Help on viewing Depp Sky Objects

[jespola]

Hello all,

I'm looking to get guidance on what set up I should have to view deep sky objects. I think I have enough eyepieces but really don't know which to use to view these objects. I listed the equipment I have below.

My details:

Telescope

Sky-Watcher Explorer-200P (EQ5) Parabolic Newtonian Reflector Telescope

Type Parabolic Newtonian Reflector

Primary mirror 200mm

Focal length (tele) 1000

Max aperture (tele) f/5

Eyepiece

10mm & 25mm, x2 Deluxe

Barlow

Lens

Magnification x40, x80, x100, x200

Eyepiece

Sky-Watcher Sky Panorama 15mm Ultra-Wide Eyepiece

Type Ultrawide Eyepiece

Focal Length 15mm

Apparent Field of View

82 Degree

Eyepiece Barrels 1.25 Inch/31.7mm Format

For use with Any 1.25 Inch eyepiece holder

Sky-Watcher Sky Panorama 7mm Ultra-Wide Eyepiece

Type Ultrawide Eyepiece

Focal Length 7mm

Apparent Field of View 82 Degree

Eyepiece Barrels 1.25 Inch/31.7mm Format

For use with Any 1.25 Inch eyepiece holder

Zoom Eyepiece

8mm to 24mm

[Tinker1947]

Its a bit of a learning curve, my Messier list all were found with out using a GoTo Function, the hard part is recognizing a faint DSO, avert vision (looking using the side of your eye) is a starter, most DSO's are the faintest of grey blurs and once you start to see these and recognize them as DSO, your on the way to finding many more, i used a Telrad and the Telrad Maps and Stellarium, and after much practice clouds allowing i can pin point any DSO that my kit will see, but its won't come over night, takes a some practice.

[webboid]

I have the same scope as you & when I started last May found the learning curve was quite steep. Once you get an idea of the size & faintness of the objects you are trying to see it gets easier. If you are lucky to have dark skies then those faint fuzzies can often be picked up in a low power EP. I use a 32mm panaview for that as it gives me over 2 deg FOV. I was at Seething (my local astronomy club) Saturday & was looking for NGC 2903 in Leo. I star hopped to roughly the right area & when using the 32mm EP it was easy to see the small fuzzy patch. I then increased mag until I had a satisfactory view. It is always best to start with a low mag & slowly increase. The same galaxy was only visible with averted vision from my more light polluted back garden. So if you are battling with light pollution low power tends to make the sky appear grey so with less contrast some DSO's will not be so apparent. Increasing mag helps but too much will dim the object. It is worth looking at M81 & M82 as they are fairly bright & this will allow you eye to get an idea of size & brightness.

Good luck

[ronin]

I think you have the eyepieces for viewing DSO's what I think you do not have is an eyepiece for finding DSO's.

A low magnification wide field eyepiece would be useful.

A BST 25mm, Celestron X-Cel 25mm, TV 32mm plossl. I don't know the panaview - is it a 2" eyepiece ? Not sure.

You want an eyepiece to put the collected light into a small image of the DSO - simply because the DSO image is small the intensity is higher, so you can pick it our easier in the wider field of view, then use the higher magnification eyepieces to hopefully see more detail.

Apologies, just read you have a 25mm plossl - how good is it ?

You need one which gives good contrast so that the faint DSO is distinguishable from the background.