Whirlpool galaxy trouble

[Swedeman2013]

First night using my Skywatcher 200 on a clear night ( finally) and was hoping to find the Whirlpool galaxy though it wasn't visible, I guess due to light polluted suburban skies. I found black eye galaxy though it was faint, I'm wondering if you need ultra dark skies for Whirlpool? Observing overhead was mind blowing with billions of stars and blacker skies with my 15mm Antares.

[NGC 1502]

Hi from the UK. It's not the best time of year for M51, best is the spring, when the Whirlpool is overhead during the evening (for us northern hemisphere observers).

But it should be not too hard to spot, if you wait for full darkness. You don't need a dark site to observe M51, although that helps a lot of course. You probably know not to expect to see anything like the images that are around. Just two smudges of light from the typical backyard.

I'd start with a low power wide field eyepiece if you can, and a transparent night with no moon will up your chances. Once you have spotted the two smudges of light, then moving to medium power, 80 to 120x, will darken the sky background and increase contrast between object and sky. Make sure you have good focus. Best to focus on a nearby star, you can't focus directly on a faint smudge.

I've only ever seen two smudges of light with this object from my backyard, but have seen the faint spiral arms from my clubs dark site. The 'bridge' between the two galaxies eluded me however. Maybe a big Dob under good conditions for that, although Steve O'Meara observing from the middle of the Pacific has done that with a 4" refractor, but then he's a very experienced observer with pristine skies.

Good luck next time, Ed.

Edit - here's a sketch of M51 using an 8" scope under excellent conditions http://deepskywatch.com/Astrosketches/whirlpool-galaxy-m51-sketch.html Please don't be disappointed if you don't see that much detail. My best view did show faint spiral arms, but not as well as the sketch, and as I said, just two smudges from the typical backyard.

[ollypenrice]

I agree that you should still be able to get it unless the LP is very bad.

Olly

[Tinker1947]

There was a bright moon out there last night,,,,,???

[m37]

It was illuminating my garden so much I dispensed with my head lamp!

[Swedeman2013]

Moon was not out till much later, I scanned for an hour using Skysafari and zilch, not a hint of it...grrrrr!

[Matt Scunthorpe]

The Moon rose at 22.41 so it can't of been that late and it does make a big difference to DSO viewing.

I can see it from my back garden, and as Ed has said, you can easily see the 2 smudges but the spiral arms elude me from my garden, however, as said also, get yourself to dark site and you can see the spiral arms.

Keep trying, you'll pick it out eventually. Have you look at getting a Telrad or Rigel quickfinder. Very useful tool if you havent already.

http://www.firstligh...-astronomy.html

[AlexB67]

I managed to see it back in May when that part of the sky was nice and high up at the time. Very faint though, but possible under suburban skies and that was with 130mm aperture, not that I was getting stellar views of it, but it was there all the same.

I haven't visited that part of the sky in a while now since the plough is quite low in the sky. I would think it is somewhat more tricky now, especially when the moon is around also. It is one of the easier targets to locate however, I found anyway, as it makes a nice triangle with the plough handle that you can hop to with a red dot finder, in combination with a wide enough angle view and a little patience. I am sure you'll bag it in time Sounds like you did well seeing what you did starting out anyway. Not sure I managed to see much for the first time I went out. It took me the best part of a few minutes to work out I left the cap one the scope and wondered why everything was dark.

[Swedeman2013]

M64 was able to spot, albeit dull compared to earlier in the year. Whirlpool was non existent, however learning my new scope was unbelievable as I aimed upward toward the zenith I enjoyed massive amounts of stars of different sizes and colors and later crystal clear views of the moon. I now know what aperture means compared to a 100 mm reflector! This hobby is the best!

[swamp thing]

I now know what aperture means compared to a 100 mm reflector! This hobby is the best!

Uh oh! That sounds like aperture fever setting in

[Swedeman2013]

You got it Swamp thing, I love it!

[breezy]

The fever strikes, swmbo can't understand why I need a 300 mm dob now as I've managed with a max 127 so far

[bish]

If you suffer from bad light pollution then you really need good transparency or it is very tricky to see.