Unscrambling Virgo - Any Tips?

[Paul73]

Hi Guys

I had my first proper go at the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies last night.

Grey Fuzzies everywhere!!

Don't get me wrong. It was great. My DSO hunting to date has been a case of "it should be around here somewhere?", through "it's a faint grey blob, it must be it", to "it is either X or Y let's work it out". Never before have I been confronted by such a confusing multitude.

There are more DSO's than on my simple map and nowhere near as many as shown on the gourmet atlasoftheuniverse.com version.

I did try drawing what I saw but holding a pen in frozen fingers whilst juggling a dim torch.........

However. I enjoyed myself immensely. And saw Saturn for the first time!!!

Any hints and tips to help me work out what I am looking at would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Paul

[Moonshane]

my advice is start at one obvious point and then trace your way using wide field eyepiece or finder across them one by one (or three by three). it's not easy but very rewarding and a great way to get your Messier / NGC list increased very rapidly.

[Paul73]

my advice is start at one obvious point and then trace your way using wide field eyepiece or finder across them one by one (or three by three). it's not easy but very rewarding and a great way to get your Messier / NGC list increased very rapidly.

Thanks. Coincidently, a wider field eyepiece is on order.

My Messier count is looking a bit feeble as I keep getting distracted by alternative target suggestions from this forum.

I agree. This area if the sky looks like it could be really really rewarding if I manage to crack the visible targets. This might take a few sessions....

Paul

[andrew63]

A good guide at your side helps - something like Pocket Sky Atlas is invaluable if you don't have one.

andrew

[rwilkey]

M87 is usually the easiest to spot being the larger, but using a star map like the S & T pocket atlas that has a close-up chart for the cluster near the back of the book you might be lucky to identify a few, something I have not managed to do as yet!