Whats best for observing galaxies/nebula?

[spurius]

20/60 binoculars in a dark sky or an 8inch scope with considerable light pollution? The reason I ask is coz LP considerably washes out nebula objects and high magnification isnt required apparently for these.

[Tinker1947]

Getting as much light as possible to the EP, so may be a 16" Dob and a quality set of EP's....

[E621Keith]

Dark skies, no contest. Some says it is possible to see M31's spiral arms with naked eyes in a truly dark sky. In a city, it's difficult even for large scopes.

[Bart]

Dark skies, no contest. Some says it is possible to see M31's spiral arms with naked eyes in a truly dark sky. In a city, it's difficult even for large scopes.

Is it truely possible to see lanes In M31 in dark skies?

[spurius]

Is it truely possible to see lanes In M31 in dark skies?

Probably not with the naked eyes, but I will take the other guys word for the dark skys. Only thing is the last couple of nights where I live is the first real chance I got to observe this year. But the dam moon is out. I did get some good views of the moon, particularly with reguards to vallis alpis and the surrounding area. I dont normaly observe the moon tho but it was interesting trying to find out the names of features I was observing.

[Mike73]

Dark site without a doubt!

The sketch below was done with a 12" at an darkish site, Andromeda was huge, filling the field of view and the two dust lanes were obvious. I looked at the same galaxy from home a couple weeks ago, with moderate LP (LM 5.2) with my 16" and the difference was unbelievable, it was at least half the size with no dust lanes!

Dark skies are king not aperture!

[E621Keith]

Is it truely possible to see lanes In M31 in dark skies?

I don't know. I have never been in skies that dark before. It would be nice if it is true.

[acey]

20/60 binoculars in a dark sky or an 8inch scope with considerable light pollution?

Or a 100-inch in daylight? Bins at a dark site, no question.

[swamp thing]

Dark skies and bins.....great combo, no contest IMO

[alan potts]

The bigger the scope the better. M31, my best view of it is with the 115mm and a 55mm TV Plossl. it give a magnification of about X13 and gives a very nice view of the galaxy, lord knows what the exit pupil is but it works so who cares.

Alan

[scarp15]

Whatever you chose to observe Andromeda - from a dark site, it is immense and benefits significantly with wide field, low power. I find it to be satisfying with my binoculars (15x70), 8" SCT with a 35mm 68 degree field of view x58 and 12" scope 35mm x43.

Perhaps a combination of a good pair of binoculars and an 8" scope will make for a great combination, and highly portable for taking to a dark location for picking off galaxies.

[steveb1977]

Dark site without a doubt!

The sketch below was done with a 12" at an darkish site, Andromeda was huge, filling the field of view and the two dust lanes were obvious. I looked at the same galaxy from home a couple weeks ago, with moderate LP (LM 5.2) with my 16" and the difference was unbelievable, it was at least half the size with no dust lanes!

Dark skies are king not aperture!

I have a 16" Dobsonian but have only ever used it in light polluted skies but have never seen this sort of detail in it. Has to be the dark skies.

[acey]

The other thing about dark skies is that you find yourself branching out beyond the usual suspects that get viewed at light-polluted ones. With 20x60 bins you would be able to see all the Messiers and a lot more besides. But generally speaking the views would be a lot more interesting if the magnification were higher - you're not going to see much of the Ring nebula, for example, at x20. And if the bins are hand-held then the views are always going to be shaky.

If I can't take a full-sized telescope to a dark site then my instrument of choice is either my 80mm f5 refractor or 100mm folded refractor on a photo tripod. The latter is a spotting scope with built-in zoom that goes up to x100. That's about the highest I'd want to go on a photo tripod otherwise it gets too shaky if there's a breeze, or even when focusing. With a magnification of about x50 most deep sky views get a lot more interesting. But on the other hand, my first view of the Sombrero Galaxy was with10x50 bins at a dark site - and I could clearly see its elongated shape.

In general I'd say it's a case of deciding how much effort is involved in reaching a truly dark site, how much aperture you'd be willing and able to transport there, and going for that - even if it means only observing once a month or less.

[spurius]

Well I ride a motorcycle so any scope is outta the question, hence the original question. I did check out andromeda once through my bins and it showed up quite well. However although my location was dark, I was just outside a major town.

[acey]

Well I ride a motorcycle so any scope is outta the question.

A small scope and photo tripod would fit easily in a rucksack or pannier, so don't rule out the option.

[heavensabove]

A little 90mm Mak with a photo tripod is not really going to take bags of room and from a dark site on a moonless night you can

have loads of fun galaxy hunting .

There is absolutely no doubt that you can chuck as much money at the hobby as you like , it will never replace a dark site !!!