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Found M81 and M82!

Gray999

By Gray999
in Getting Started With Observing

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AndyWB

AndyWB

Posted
Posted

Good job! I took my 130p out last night to see the supernova in M82, which it showed nicely, despite less than ideal conditions.

Saturn is kinda low and very late at the minute, so in the meantime make sure you get a good look at M42...

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AlexB67

AlexB67

Posted
Posted

Nice, this pair is a beautiful sight in the Heritage, For the SN, try the 10mm, it will probably stand out a bit better and an easier spot. Currently it is gaining brightness in the last few days. For progress check here

http://www.aavso.org/lcg/plot?auid=000-BLG-310&starname=PSN+J09554214%2B6940260&lastdays=20&start=2456678&stop=2456698&obscode=&obscode_symbol=2&obstotals=yes&calendar=calendar&forcetics=&grid=on&visual=on&r=on&fainterthan=on&bband=on&v=on&pointsize=1&width=800&height=450&mag1=&mag2=&mean=&vmean=

Note that smaller numbers on the verical axis means it is getting brighter. welcome to the some of the odd conventions in astronomy, but we can  forgive them for historical reasons. :smiley:

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Orange Haze

Orange Haze

Posted
Posted

Nice one Gray. I found them for the first time the other night. Kind of mind blowing when see two galaxies side by side like that for the first time. SN was a real treat too.

As for Saturn at 6am. I never plan a morning viewing session, but if I happen to wake up early and the sky is clear, the opportunist in me will usually drag my tired legs out to the cold. Hard to resist sometimes.

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brantuk

brantuk

Posted
Posted

Nice one Gray Congrats! :)

I too only found M81/82 for the first time totally unaided just a couple of weeks ago. I've seen it many times - but always struggled to manually find it and always resorted to goto (or got someone else to point the scope for me) lol.

Catch Saturn as soon as you can while the rings are open - they'll close up over the next few months - and the planets elevation won't get any higher for a few years yet. Soon as we get a clear night I'll be out there at 4am for a good look. :)

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Kgjones

Kgjones

Posted
Posted

Well done on finding M81 and M82. I still havnt found them yet but I've only started astronomy in the last month or so.

The sky from my back garden has plenty of light pollution will this make it a lot harder or even impossible to see with my 8" skywatcher dobsonian?

I've only really spotted Jupiter, Mars, saturn and the Orion Nebula so far.

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Stu

Stu

Posted
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It will make it harder but not impossible. I can just see them in my 15x50 binos from fairly light polluted skies at home so an 8" should have no trouble. That said, I completely failed the other night trying out my 'new' 12", so it's not a trivial exercise :-)<br />

<br />

Stu

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Kgjones

Kgjones

Posted
Posted

It will make it harder but not impossible. I can just see them in my 15x50 binos from fairly light polluted skies at home so an 8" should have no trouble. That said, I completely failed the other night trying out my 'new' 12", so it's not a trivial exercise :-)<br />

<br />

Stu

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to have another look tonight. If I get a better clear night I'll travel to somewhere with less light pollution but as it is I'm only getting short 20 minute windows before it clouds over again so I'm sticking to my garden until I can get better skies.

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