Andromeda

[Cheeky samsam]

Hi, I'm new to this website and very new to astronomy .. Ive taught myself about different constellations and stuff and I really wanna see the andromeda galaxy... I kind of know where to look and stuff I just can't find it :-( although last night I saw somethin that I can only assume was a satellite speeding through Cassiopeia, which was quite something :-) ... But yeah any tips??

Sam

[Daniel-K]

Hi sam are you using the naked eye or do you have a telescope?

[cfpendock]

It's rather faint so unless you are looking in the right place you won't see it. But once you learn to recognise it, averted vision (where you look just to one side of the target), can show it up well in dark skies, even you can make out it's approximate shape. Binoculars or a low power telescope will help enormously.

chris

[Cheeky samsam]

I have a telescope, granted its not the best in the world but I love it haha... I've been tryin for weeks, doesn't help that we've had new street lights put on our street that seem to be brighter than the sun itself tho :-/

[Roo]

Find Cassiopeia, then use the right hand half of the 'W' as an arrow to point you in the right direction. It's really quite faint, and dark skies are helpful, but once you've seen it, it brings home the scale of the universe. I remember the first time I saw it, it was a real 'wow!' moment. Good luck!

[Stu]

If you have got a pair of binoculars, it's well worth trying with these first. Once you've found it, it's much easier to get the scope in the right place.

Get to the darkest place you can, and use the lowest power eyepiece you have ie with the biggest number, say 25mm or more.

Plot yourself a star hop from the top left star of Pegasus and out through the stars of Andromeda and that will make life much easier.

Good luck

Stu

[Daniel-K]

i wouldnt say it was faint if its visible with the naked eye, it knowing were to look.. do you have any software like stelllarium or CDC? star charts are easy to download from the net. as above though its easy to find in binos then with your scope. what scope are you using and what finder scope do you have

[Cheeky samsam]

Thanks guys... Will give it another go the next chance I get, doesn't look like it will be clear enough tonight :-( will just have to be patient

Sam

[Cheeky samsam]

I don't have binoculars and my scope is "Celestron Travel Scope 70 Refractor Outfit" like I said I'm new and its not the best one out there but it keeps me happy for the time being lol .. Not sure what all the specs are I need to start learning all that side of it haha

sam

[Stu]

Which ep's do you have Samsam?

No reason why you won't spot it in this scope

Stu

[Stu]

Duplicate post

[Stu]

Which ep's do you have Samsam? If is the standard ones then use the 20mm which will give x20 magnification ie the lowest you have which will make Andromeda easier to find plus should fit it all it as it is a big object.

No reason why you can't spot it with this scope, although you will only see the core unless under dark skies

Stu

[Stu]

Sorry, phone going mad, another duplicate post!!

Stu

[Cheeky samsam]

I've got a 20mm ..10mm .. And a 4mm, love looking at Jupiter through the 4mm one lol... The 20mm is the one I've been using to try and find andromeda but no luck :-( ... I have a 3x Barlow lense too but I can't get the hang of that at all

Sam

[Stu]

20mm is the correct one for Andromeda

10mm is x40 magnification, and the 4mm is x100 which is best for Jupiter as you have found.

The x3 Barlow is not a lot of use with the kit you have to be honest. Best use would be with the 20mm where it would give the equivalent of a 6.6mm ep and x60 magnification. With the other two ep's it will just push the magnification too high for the scope to handle.

Cheers

Stu

[Cheeky samsam]

That's what I thought.. I can't even get it to focus with the 20mm eye piece so I've give up tryin to use it... For now my mission is finding andromeda haha... thanks for the help :-)

[ronin]

Use binoculars, Andromeda is too big to fit in most scopes and so what you see is just the fuzzy central portion, meaning a sort of round blob not an extended galaxy as you expect. So not looking as what you expect it gets ignored.

In our skies it is faint, also more indistinct then you think. It is reasonably side on, so not a disk with easily identifiable arms. Historically it was called a nebula for a long time.

When you see it then it will be much easier to locate it the next time.

Looking up there directly at it is self defeating, it disappears, look around the area it should be and a faint blob will be noticed when not looking at it, aim the binoculars at this, then it shows up.

[Stu]

I agree re binoculars, just a note that the op's scope probably gives around a 2.5 degree field of view with the 20mm (assuming a 50 degree afov eyepiece). This should fit the visible extent of Andromeda in quite easily.

Stu

[Cheeky samsam]

Ah that makes sense, thanks guys

[No-i-dear]

Just spent an hour trying to find Andromeda tonight without luck. Doh! What is the best time to find it? Looking at my star chart I guess earlier rather than later?

[skir]

I was looking for it tonight. I think I found it, but all I could see in a 32mm plossl was a slightly darker smudge than the surrounding sky. The skies here are very light polluted and I don't have any fillers yet, which I'm sure didn't help. I was using Giotto but it was well setup and I had tested it on a few known objects which it was pretty much centring.

Does this sound right? If I didn't know better I would have sworn I was looking at a nebula.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Stu]

Should be a lighter smudge, not darker.... It tends to appear as an oval shape, from a light polluted site you really only see the central core

Stu

[cotterless45]

It was setting into the glow ar 9.15 last time that I saw it. Looked huge in a pair of 7x50 binoculars,

Nick.

[skir]

Should be a lighter smudge, not darker.... It tends to appear as an oval shape, from a light polluted site you really only see the central core

Stu

Could it have been darker than the surrounding sky owing to the amount of light pollution round here? Its direction for me puts it directly above a major town.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Stu]

I don't think so. It is a bright patch and would still appear that way against the light pollution, same way as a star would still be visible as brighter than the background.

Anyway you can get somewhere a bit darker?