Advice on nebula hunting

[skir]

Tonight I decided to try out my new uhc filter and search for some nebulas. Main target being m57, the ring.

Well I didn't see one! Not even with the help of the filter. In fact all that seemed to do was darkening everything including the stars to the point where I couldn't see a fair number of them. So either the Goto was totally off which I doubt as I star hoped a couple of targets to check it or the light pollution here is too bad to be able to see any nebulas other than m42/43.

Is lp the likely cause of seeing no nebulas? Would there be a point where if lp was bad enough even a filler wouldn't help?

However the evening wasn't a total loss as I made my first sighting of Saturn. Now I'm usually wary of using the 'wow' word but this time it is justified I think. Found it hard to drag myself away from the ep to pack up it was such a wonderful sight. The highest mag I have at the moment is only 125x, so I guess the views will be even better when I extend my ep range.

With good seeing what magnification can Saturn take on an f5, 8" newt?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[cotterless45]

You'll need good and clear seeing for nebulae. However M57 is bright enough to pick out even with the Moon out. It's an easy one to check if your goto is performing , as through a finder it's half way between the 2 base stars of Lyra.

Ensure your eyes are well dark adapted for at least 20 minutes, it helps.

M27 is awesome with a UHC. Really depends on your light pollution. The planetary nebulae are bright and the compact ones will blink in and out with direct vision. Fainter emission and reflection nebulae are going to, be easy to spot under dark skies.

I'd go with x150 on planets, you should pick out the Cassini and ring shadows easily . check your collimation in use with a Barlowed laser. it will change with tube flex and temperature.We've had good views at x200-x250 on a still night.

For deep sky, I'd start with a 25mm to have a search for anything non stellar,then x 80-100 for galaxies and x200 for planetary nebulae ( bright ones).

I'd have a go at M 81 and M82 (brighter ) galaxies in UMa to see what your scope can do. these are easy in light polluted sites.

If you can get to a dark sites, it 'll blow your socks off.

Nick.

[skir]

Thanks that's very useful advice. Later last night I could actually feel the dew forming as I was standing in the garden, you could feel it falling if that makes any sense.

The if filler seemed to put a dark blueish hue to everything, does that sound right? I didn't manage to see any galaxies either. I was looking in the Virgo area. Again are decent dark skies really required for these?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[acey]

Find your target first before using the filter. The UHC filter makes everything fainter (stars, galaxies, planets, the sky...), apart from emission nebulae themselves, which you then see against a darker sky. M57 is bright but small so make sure you're looking in exactly the right place.

Because a UHC filter only lets through a narrow band of wavelengths, it reflects most of the light that hits it. In light polluted situations this can mean that ambient light gets reflected into your eye, creating glare. To avoid this you could try putting a hood overy your head so that stray light isn't shining down onto the eyepiece.

[skir]

Your comment about glare makes sense, I got that a few times, it was exactly like I was getting reflections from somewhere. I found I had to keep my eye in a particular position to stop them. I thought there might be something wrong with the filter or I had assembled it into the focuser incorrectly or something.

I will remember to work without the filler first too, I guess this makes what you're looking for easier to locate and then you can get the finer detail by using the filter.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[astro bob]

What time did you view Saturn?

[skir]

What time did you view Saturn?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

About 4.15 I think. I could have viewed earlier if only the neighbours house was positioned elsewhere!

[skir]

Just to add from my skies I can see m42/43 so should m57 be visible from a light pollution perspective?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Scooot]

Just to add from my skies I can see m42/43 so should m57 be visible from a light pollution perspective?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

i haven't looked for m57 lately as I'm usually out in the evening. When you were out in the early hours it was a reasonable height so if its clear I would expect to see it then. My light polution is probably similar to yours and I'd consider it a fairly easy target to see. I could use my 10mm on it ok as well and I think I also barlowed it. I seem to remember its quite small with my 17.3mm so could easily be missed. Its nowhere near as clear or large as m42. Hope this helps.

[Scooot]

Just to add from my skies I can see m42/43 so should m57 be visible from a light pollution perspective?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

This is a sketch at 250 mag so you can imagine how much smaller it would be with say a 32mm eyepiece.

http://www.deepskywatch.com/Astrosketches/ring-nebula-sketch.html

[skir]

i haven't looked for m57 lately as I'm usually out in the evening. When you were out in the early hours it was a reasonable height so if its clear I would expect to see it then. My light polution is probably similar to yours and I'd consider it a fairly easy target to see. I could use my 10mm on it ok as well and I think I also barlowed it. I seem to remember its quite small with my 17.3mm so could easily be missed. Its nowhere near as clear or large as m42. Hope this helps.

This is a sketch at 250 mag so you can imagine how much smaller it would be with say a 32mm eyepiece.

http://www.deepskywatch.com/Astrosketches/ring-nebula-sketch.html

Thanks a lot that is very useful information. I think I might have been expecting it to be bigger and more obvious than it was. I think perhaps I should have scanned a bit more with the 32mm and also perhaps jumped up to a higher magnification level too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Scooot]

Thanks a lot that is very useful information. I think I might have been expecting it to be bigger and more obvious than it was. I think perhaps I should have scanned a bit more with the 32mm and also perhaps jumped up to a higher magnification level too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

i was looking at it a lot around September time when it was very high. It was one of my favourites at the time.

[yesteryeargames]

Great tips thanks,

i just bought a skywatcher uhc, is there a good list about for all the best targets to look for now i own uhc ,

thanks

[Aronnax]

...

i just bought a skywatcher uhc, is there a good list about for all the best targets to look for now i own uhc

...

There's a list of nebulae and which filter works best on each that was compiled by a user on another forum which is quite interesting. I can't vouch for it, but may be a good starter.

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1520

Happy (filtered) hunting!

[Stargazer33]

Hi Skir, I have quite light polluted skies where I live too. I can't for instance make out the constellation of Cancer at all, even with dark adapted eyes. Even so, early last year I had some really lovely views of M57. I had recently bought my first scope - a Skymax 102mm - and had very little experience. Finding the Ring nebula was a real WOW moment and was my favourite target for some time.

As people have said above. It is really easy to find (I didn't have a goto or tracking mount at the time) being between the lower two stars - beta (Sheliak) and gamma (Sulafat)- in Lyra. Find it with a medium to low power ep first, without the nebula filter. Once you have found it go to your best high power ep and centre the nebula in that. Then add your filter. If you have a tracking mount this will be much easier as the nebula won't move out of view whilst you are fitting the filter.

Good luck on your next time out.

[Stargazer33]

There's a list of nebulae and which filter works best on each that was compiled by a user on another forum which is quite interesting. I can't vouch for it, but may be a good starter.

http://www.cloudynig...hp?item_id=1520

Happy (filtered) hunting!

Thanks for that link Aronnax! That is going to be a real help.

[skir]

Hi Skir, I have quite light polluted skies where I live too. I can't for instance make out the constellation of Cancer at all, even with dark adapted eyes. Even so, early last year I had some really lovely views of M57. I had recently bought my first scope - a Skymax 102mm - and had very little experience. Finding the Ring nebula was a real WOW moment and was my favourite target for some time.

As people have said above. It is really easy to find (I didn't have a goto or tracking mount at the time) being between the lower two stars - beta (Sheliak) and gamma (Sulafat)- in Lyra. Find it with a medium to low power ep first, without the nebula filter. Once you have found it go to your best high power ep and centre the nebula in that. Then add your filter. If you have a tracking mount this will be much easier as the nebula won't move out of view whilst you are fitting the filter.

Good luck on your next time out.

I have the same problem with cancer where I am at the moment. Completely non-visible owing to lp. Thanks for the tips on m57.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[yesteryeargames]

Is there any point buying an UHC and then buying a OIII filter too ?

will the uhc still work on the OIII targets and doa decent job ?

or are there certain targets that only an OIII will bring out ?

[skir]

Is there any point buying an UHC and then buying a OIII filter too ?

will the uhc still work on the OIII targets and doa decent job ?

or are there certain targets that only an OIII will bring out ?

In that cloudy nights link in arronaxs post above it shows which items are best viewed with an Olll or other filters, so it does look like it's worth having one of each.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Scooot]

In that cloudy nights link in arronaxs post above it shows which items are best viewed with an Olll or other filters, so it does look like it's worth having one of each.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

There's some good info in this thread regarding the UHC and Oiii

[Stargazer_00]

The ring is really small, so if you were low magnficiation then it'd just look like a slightly out of focus star compared to the objects around it.

If you ramp up the magnification though you should see the centre hole appear with averted vision without a filter. I havent managed to point at this since buying a UHC so I suspect it'll be awesome. I plan to crank the magnfication up to around 150-180x for this.

[skir]

The ring is really small, so if you were low magnficiation then it'd just look like a slightly out of focus star compared to the objects around it.

If you ramp up the magnification though you should see the centre hole appear with averted vision without a filter. I havent managed to point at this since buying a UHC so I suspect it'll be awesome. I plan to crank the magnfication up to around 150-180x for this.

Its a good point. I suspect I might have been looking straight at it but as I was using my 32mm ep I may not have realised it! I'm now just waiting for another clear night to get a look at it, so I may have a bit of a wait on my hands! Although when I went to look at Saturn later that evening I noticed the goto was a bit off the mark so that might have been a factor when I was searching for m57.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Stargazer_00]

If I recall M57 sits just off the line between 2 bright stars, about a third along and slightly off the line. Quite alot of other objects in that region of the sky too. Globs, the coat hanger cluster, some open clusters. Other nebs.

[skir]

If I recall M57 sits just off the line between 2 bright stars, about a third along and slightly off the line. Quite alot of other objects in that region of the sky too. Globs, the coat hanger cluster, some open clusters. Other nebs.

Yep, thanks to this thread I'm a bit better clued up on what I'm looking for so hopefully next time I'll have a bit more success.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2