tips for finding M13 - First light!

[MyRomeo]

Hey, so, after near two weeks of preparing my telescope (flocking, collimation, practice polar aligning, practice manoeuvring etc) I FINALLY look set to have a clear sky tonight!

Well, as clear as it gets in the city!

So, I have done a little reading and I believe M13 should be visible at around 10pm tonight straight over head. I think this is one of the brighter clusters and should be manageable in my 130eq?

I have ALL night as I am off work at the moment so I really want to find myself my first DSO, namely M13.

Does anyone have any tips for me regarding how to focus correctly to make finding easier? I know roughly where to point the scope and will start with the 20mm eyepiece. Once located (Assuming success!) I can step down to the 10mm and maybe even try out the 2x Barlow. OK I am probably getting ahead of myself. I just want to see the damned thing with the 20mm eyepiece! Prove to myself it is out there!

So, as a complete newbie looking for first light, what do you recommend? Ive done plenty playing in daylight to familiarise myself with the scope and focussing but have yet to see my first clear sky!

I doubt I will have a great deal of success but if I do what are the chances of me photographing M13 with my 2x barlow, 130eq and nikon D3100 setup?

Thanks!

[AlexB67]

Assuming you got reasonable skies you should be able to see M13 no bother at all in your scope, I live in a suburban area and still get good views of it in a scope of the same aperture.

I'd wait till around 11:30. It does not have to be right above. I wouldn't worry too much about the exact focus, just point the scope up, get it focused, you can fine tune it at any point. Not sure how to best go about going about the target with an eq mount, others will be able to help as I use a DOB mount.

Seeing your first globular cluster, at least for me was one of the most exciting moments on a par with a planet like saturn, it is a distinct object, and you'll know when you see it first time, because it is not like a pinpoint star, but a round fuzzy blob Once you have it in view, pop in the some higher mag eyepieces, if the skies are up to it, dark adapt best you can, look at it for some time without taking you eye away from the eyepiece, and all the little details start coming alive in it, even if at first it may seem a little underwhelming.

Good luck

[MyRomeo]

Thanks Alex

The skies here could be darker but have got better in recent years with new street lighting limiting the wasted upward light quite well. Unfortunately the nearest one is right at the end of my garden but not in the direction I expect to find M13 in. I'll put up a shield to block it from my view too.

What else can I look for tonight? I am south facing

[dick_dangerous]

M13 - good choice for a first DSO. It was the first one I found when I was 14, and I keep coming back to it - it's easy to find and rewards repeat viewings. Here are a few more DSO suggestions to keep you amused!

• The Ring Nebula, M57, in Lyra is a good one - it's easy to find and has sufficiently high surface brightness not to be lost in the light pollution. You'll see a little cheerio at higher magnification - it's a planetary nebula.
  
• The Dumbell Nebula, M27, in Vulpecula has been a firm favourite now. It's a lot bigger than the Ring, but harder to find. Even my 3'' will show some form so your 5'' shouldn't have any problem.
  
• The Wild Ducks, M11, an open cluster in Scutum is a lovely one to look at - it shows a V-formation of stars, like a flock of migratory geese.
  
• If your southern horizon is good then look for M8, the Lagoon Nebula, an emission nebula in Sagittarius. It's pretty bright but low down so can get lost in the murk.
  
• Wild-card - M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Finding another galaxy is always a kick, and M31 is the easiest of all to find. Look out for its two faint companions, M32 and M110.
  

If you don't know how to find any of the above then download a little free programme called Stellarium - it's brilliant, allowing you to check the sky before you head out and even has an option for simulating the view through your scope. Also, the book Turn Left at Orion is often cited as a great introduction to locating objects with a small telescope. I'm slowly working my way through mine...

Happy hunting!

DD

[ronl]

Try this link http://freestarcharts.com/ it will give you lot's of

targets to choose from, the Messier catalogue and the maps

are printable

good luck with your first light. Enjoy

[Rob63]

One thing I would always recommend is to read a bit about your planned targets, it always helps me to know a little about what you are looking at.

It can be pretty mind boggling stuff to know that you are looking an object 25,000 light years away which contains around a million stars and is possibly one of the oldest structures in the universe.

[VigdisVZ]

Bump for "Turn Left At Orion". Excellent book.

Personally I had a go at M13 with binos a week back but turned up nothing. The spot i chose was horrible, lights from a road, lights from the airport and lights from town. My bino is pretty low quality and the sun is still to close underneath the horizon this month. And I scraped my hand in the darkness...

Upgrading my grab n go soon but if I all else fails I'll get a cloudless night soon and I'll be having my GOTO take me to M13.

[MyRomeo]

Well I give it a real good looking for last night but failed to find it. I did however have a great time exploring the night sky. I am absolutely AMAZED by the number of stars the 130eq can see, tens of thousands even from my light polluted city home! I focused on one bright star, not sure what it was, about 60 degree up due west. Got it in to focus with the 20mm eyepiece and was astounded to see a second star just below it which seemed invisible to the naked eye.

As I kept exploring at about 10:30pm I was looking east at around 40 degrees from the horizon when a meteor lit the eyepiece, straight across south to north, brighter than any stars I could see at the same time, this made my night!!

Anyhow today I have contacted the local council and our maintenance company (private estate) asking if there is anything they can do to 'improve' the lighting at the end of my garden, i never realised just how much it is limiting my night sky view!

Next clear night, continue the search for M13.

[Scooot]

Not sure how good your skies are, but before I had my push to system I used a wixie angle gauge to help get the right altitude.

at 10.30 tonight m13 will be at 74 degrees, so you could have a go at setting your scope at roughly that angle before you go out to give you a feel. Never know it might help.

[Scooot]

Correction 63 degrees

[MyRomeo]

Tanks scooot. Unfortunately tonight my skies be cloudy with a chance of rain! Where did you get that info from? I will find m13!

[VigdisVZ]

I suggest having a look at the free PC program stellarium. It's a very versatile tool as it allows you to see the nights sky in detail at any give time from any given point. Really worth checking out, I have it on all my computers

www.stellarium.org

[Scooot]

Tanks scooot. Unfortunately tonight my skies be cloudy with a chance of rain! Where did you get that info from? I will find m13!

I use sky safari, I'm sure Stellarium will give u the same info. Very useful.

[scuffer]

It is difficult to spot your first dso and your next few as well , you need to look at stellarium or a star chart to work out which stars you can see are around it then you need to move the scope in small steps pausing and looking between each step , if you just keep moving the scope you will miss it. A faint fuzzy is what your looking for , the darker the sky the better. I would get a planisphere to learn the constellations. I have upgraded my dob with a Wixey and setting circle so that If I can't locate a dso I can get the coordinates from stellarium and then usually get it in view in a minute or so. It will take time and patience. The moon or a planet are easier but its not the best time for the planets at the moment.

[AstroTux]

Just a quick comment, but with the AstroMaster 130, M13 is quite faint in most eyepieces if you are at all unsure of what you are looking for. Once you know where it is you'll find it every time.

The first time I found it was with this 'scope and I found that the best way was to use a higher powered EP, about 12mm. Look for the 'Keystone' ( the irregular rectangle at the centre of Hercules ) and then point the 'scope about ⅓ of the way down between the top right hand star and the bottom right hand star as we see it now. Then scan for a little bit and you should see a faint fuzzy blob which with investigation turns into a globular cluster. Take your time, once you've seen it you'll know.

It's strange, but now I can even see it in the finder scope of my dob.

BTW with the skies at the moment it doesn't really become visible here until about 11:00pm and I'm quite a lot further south than you. Around midnight should be just about right.

Hope this helps,

Alan

[dark_marc]

Does anyone have any tips for me regarding how to focus correctly to make finding easier?

Thanks!

I did struggle finding even the more easier objects such as M31 or M27. My personal opinion is that finderscopes are probably not the best choice for a starter to find stuff, this is simply because the number of stars you do see through the finder (captures more light) may be too confusing.

What did it for me is a HUD-style finder such as Rigel or Telrad since they do not have any magnification. You literally looking at the sky through a mini glass window with red circles being projected into it.

Get familiar with the main stars and constellations, use a star chart or app (I use an iPad app) to check where the object of choice is roughly positioned and then move in towards the DSO.

In more detail -

1) Find object on chart (constellation/brighter stars)

2) Locate the constallation and/or their star in the sky (naked eye)

3) Move the scope and monitor where it is pointing through the Rigel or Telrad

4) Once you have the region where you expect your DSO in the Rigels/Telrads circles do finetune using the ordinary finderscope.

E.g. M13 is located 2/3 up between Rutilicus and Sophian in Hercules, align the Rigel/Telrad rings so that Sophian is just in and Rutilicus is just out of the rings. Have a look through your viewfinder and you will already see M13 as a tiny fuzzy spot. Move the scope onto target and enjoy. I did most enjoy it last night with 200x magnification throught my 200/1200 dobson & 6mm Vixen NPL.

Does also work with any other object such as M57 by positioning the Telrad/Rigel center between Sheliak and Sulafat in Lyra. Lyra and its brightest star Vega is visible to the naked eye even under light polluted conditions (unless you are in the middle of a floodlit football pitch :-) )

My Telrad really did make me enjoying astronomy even more. Costs about £25.

[scuffer]

Following on from dac_marc , if you are using s straight thru finder then keep both eyes open when aligning and it will become obvious that you are lined up with the correct star

[chiltonstar]

I'd endorse the "Turn Left at Orion" recommendations - the little charts to find objects are really useful, and TLAO is a bit easier to use outside than a screen with Stellarium. Having said that, I find a quick check with Stellarium before I go out is useful in order to see where in the sky objects are (eg N, W, E, S and how many degrees up).

If all else fails on fainter objects, I use the setting circles, which are there for that purpose after all! Having said that, setting circles are not that popular on this forum.......

Chris

[hoops86]

as other have said stellarium is a great tool to help find DSO's. It has loads of setting you can play around with to show you the best targets for viewing at your location and time. And as said you can simulate what view your exact scope and eyepiece should show (always looks better that what you actually see tho)

My first view of M13 was amazing! You instantly know you have found it. i cheated tho and used the GOTO to find it

Oh and if you do find M13...off the top of my head i think its M92 or something is very close to M13 so try find that too!

[1hotspur]

I am a newbie and have a skywatcher 130m, I was looking for M13 the other day and thought I could not find it though actually I had! I was sure I was in the correct area,I think I was expecting a brighter image of thousands of stars clustered together but I could only manage a strange light grey fuzzy object which I believe now is M13! Unfortunately I have the sea either side of me but live on the main road and have a holiday park at the bottom of my garden so light pollution may be a bit of a problem. I'm looking forward to getting back out and looking at it again. I have the legs on my mount extended out around a foot and find it fairly stable.

[MyRomeo]

Right, sky seems to be clearing and at 10:30 tonight M13 should be playing out so I guess I shall be too! Andromeda should be visible for me too, what eyepiece do you recommend for finding these items? I have 20mm and 10mm and a 2x barlow to play with

[Scooot]

Right, sky seems to be clearing and at 10:30 tonight M13 should be playing out so I guess I shall be too! Andromeda should be visible for me too, what eyepiece do you recommend for finding these items? I have 20mm and 10mm and a 2x barlow to play with

start with the weakest, the 20mm

[MyRomeo]

Another failed hunt. That damned street light at the end of my garden has to go, its crippling my observing! Get to within about 20 degrees of the thing and the scope is lighting up orange!

Had another good free style look around and think I caught the ISS as it went over. Thought it was just a satellite but read on the sunderland astro that it could have been the ISS. Nice!

[Scooot]

Another failed hunt. That damned street light at the end of my garden has to go, its crippling my observing! Get to within about 20 degrees of the thing and the scope is lighting up orange!

Had another good free style look around and think I caught the ISS as it went over. Thought it was just a satellite but read on the sunderland astro that it could have been the ISS. Nice!

hmm sorry I feel for you, it's very frustrating . All I can suggest is use the advice on here and keep persevering. It's worth it.

[tteedd]

Hi MR I've only been stargazing for the past couple of months and M13 was the first fuzzie I saw. I have gone overboard and have an AZ mount as well as an Eq. The AZ is a 'goto' but I could not get this to work initially so was forced to go 'manual'. Even with your streetlamp I would have thought you should be able to find M13, though I admit I was at it quite a while before I found one fuzzie. M13 is a good first choice now it is overhead and away from your street lamp. Tips: 1. move your viewfinder slowly down from the star marking the R shoulder (H Eta) of Hercules towards the star marking the R hip (H zeta) M13 should come into view when you are between a quarter and a third of the way. 2. Contrary to the previous comment I found a viewfinder to be of much more value than a red dot finder and you should be able to see M13 in that before you even look in the EP. If you do not have a viewfinder consider getting one, or a 40mm EP or even look into getting a Telrad. 3. Guard your night sight, guard your night-sight, guard your night-sight - never look directly at your streetlamp - if you have to have a light make sure it is red and turned down low. If you have to go to the Loo cover your R eye or go in the dark (I have an eye-patch. Light in your L eye does not affect your night-sight in your R eye. The other thing is that after I had struggled for some time and actually succeeded it became easier but I then got my binoculars out and found most things very easily with them. Once you know your way around M13, M92, M3, M31 are all easy - I wish I had used my bins before I touched the scope! - The image is the right way up and round so everything is intuitive. I still find it difficult to find things a long way form any named star with the scope but can generally go straight to them with the bins. Good luck, don't give up. Ted