A galaxy fest in Virgo

[AlexB67]

Thanks for all the updates and links. I had briefly forgotten about this thread, but much fun to be had in this area by the looks of it and other experiences. Definitely an area to have some printouts/charts ready to sort out what is what   

[AlexB67]

Alex - sorry for throwing question into your thread - I hope that it isn't out of place/order.

Nick

With such a profusion of objects. How on earth do you work out which fuzzy blob is which? Any tips gratefully received.

I had a go and got thoroughly confused. I now have a wider FOV eyepiece which I am hoping will help and am researching charts with the right level of detail (Moonshane advice from a related thread - 28mm eyepiece arrived today and is yet to see first light).

Paul

Paul, the 28mm MV in this scope works really well, takes a little bit of getting use to looking through that 2 inch whopper and adjusting eyes to the whole field, The second night I got on much better with it already and it was more natural.   Considering this eyepieces is rated at f/5 for edge sharpness it holds up well at f4.7. It does help with searching too but with time I found the rigel and finder scope are good enough to find anything with much less FOV with a bit practice after a while, so just stick at it and in dense and tricky areas have the charts handy. 

Initially when I got the 10 inch it tool me longer to find things, but now having owned it a few months with the widest FOV I had was a 25mm BST ( 1,25 degrees ) I had little issue. That being said, when I used the 28mm recently the easier targets I focussed on that night, the caps did not even come off the finder scope, the rigel and the 28mm where enough to locate them very quickly. 

Searching in Astronomy is a bit like archery, your shot gets better with practice and time when finding these things :0) 

[Paul73]

Paul, the 28mm MV in this scope works really well, takes a little bit of getting use to looking through that 2 inch whopper and adjusting eyes to the whole field, The second night I got on much better with it already and it was more natural.   Considering this eyepieces is rated at f/5 for edge sharpness it holds up well at f4.7. It does help with searching too but with time I found the rigel and finder scope are good enough to find anything with much less FOV with a bit practice after a while, so just stick at it and in dense and tricky areas have the charts handy. 

Initially when I got the 10 inch it tool me longer to find things, but now having owned it a few months with the widest FOV I had was a 25mm BST ( 1,25 degrees ) I had little issue. That being said, when I used the 28mm recently the easier targets I focussed on that night, the caps did not even come off the finder scope, the rigel and the 28mm where enough to locate them very quickly. 

Searching in Astronomy is a bit like archery, your shot gets better with practice and time when finding these things :0)

Sounds hopeful. Really Like the archery analogy.

This is my first scope so I am starting from a non existent skill base. It is amazing how quickly you learn.

Paul

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I just got myself a S/H EP with an even bigger FOV than my 31T5: The LVW 42mm with the maximum field stop possible in a 2" EP: 47mm, giving me 1.36 deg, in stead of 1.25. I bought this with Markarian's Chain in mind. It might not sound like a big deal but it can help frame things better. Some object also just look better at 4.2mm exit pupil than at 3.1.

NGC 4565 is great too, but M87, M86, The eyes and four more in a single FOV takes quite a bit of beating.