Tried star hopping for the first time. Found M41 and M104.

[Chucknorris1975]

As topic says, i thought i'd try to find other objects other than Jupiter and the Orion nebula, so i chose 2 objects to hunt.

Nice warm night here in Melbourne, so i setup my mozzie coil, put on some track pants to make sure i don't get mauled and set up.

I found M41 almost straight away, and this put me in good spirits.

Time for the Sombrero galaxy. This took me a while to find, and when i did find it i was disappointed at how faint it was. BARELY visible. 

I double and triple checked that i was actually on target, and i decided to call it a night only just making it out in the eyepiece.

Light pollution is quite bad here, to give you an idea, i had to bump the light pollution in Stellarium up to 8 to give me the sky i was seeing.

Not sure if a darker site would yield better results, but all photos i have seen make it out to be fairly visible.

BTW this is the scope i have http://www.saxon.com.au/products/product-details.php?productid=10222 and was using the standard 25mm eyepiece.

[Astro Imp]

Well done on your successful star hop.

Yes you will do better at a darker site.

For an idea of what you will see at the eyepiece have a look here:- http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/

Good luck with your future adventures.

BTW don't rub it in about the weather in your neck of the woods, we in the UK have enough to contend with at the monment 

[cotterless45]

Well done, not an easy target in light pollution, afraid the rest was lost in translation in waterland !

Last warm night here was central heating full up listening to the rain of Doom,

Nick.

[Mr Q]

   I agree - nice going on your first attempt!

   In reasonable dark skies I have seen the dark lane with averted vision in a 4" reflector and with my 10" newt, it is nice and pronounced. Try for it on other nights when you think the seeing is better - you won't be disappointed - its a classic worth the trouble.

[Chucknorris1975]

In reasonable dark skies I have seen the dark lane with averted vision in a 4" reflector and with my 10" newt, it is nice and pronounced.

I just did some reading on "averted vision". Very interesting and after reading it I realised that is how I managed to see M104. I'd find it's location but when I was looking dead centre where it should be I couldn't really make it out, but when I focused on the little group of stars to the right of it, it came up but VERY faint. Same as with the Magellic? clouds. Looking directly at where they should be I couldn't see them but looking off to the side a little trying to find them , they would faintly come up in almost what's my peripheral vision.

I need to keep practicing this technique I think.

[Mr Q]

   Yes, averted vision is needed on a lot of faint objects and even brighter ones when the seeing (sky transparency) is poor from light pollution or haze.  Everyone has this "dead" spot in the center of their vision - its where our eye concentrates on detail, not light detection - where the optic nerve connects. Some people find it in one spot while mine is rather larger and looking around a faint object makes it appear.  Its a valuable tool to be aware of when seeking out those real faint fuzzies

[dick_dangerous]

If you can get your 'scope into the bush then you'll get better views - things that are only visible with averted vision in the city are visible with direct vision etc. If memory serves me correctly, the Magellanic Clouds are direct vision objects under dark skies and you have far more of them in Australia than we do in Britain.

I can't remember the seasonality of the skies for Australia, but other good targets to try would be the globlar clusters Omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae (Both are naked eye objects, even under a reasonable amount of LP), the Jewel Box (Should be circumpolar from your location), the Tarantula Nebula in the LMC and the many and various objects in the Sagittarius, Scorpius area - we can see them from here, but not very well.

Enjoy those Southern skies!

DD

[Mr Q]

   Chucknorris - When I recently lived in the SW U.S. (New Mexico), I was out scanning the southern horizon (stars were seen down to 5th mag visually) and with my 10" newt with a LP EP, I came across the Omega GC. I almost fell down as it completely filled the FOV with a dense mat of stars. Quite a view even though the GC appeared only about 5 degrees above my 20 mile distant horizon. Words can't describe this object - it has to be seen in bins or scope!  After observing it, I then was able to see it as a faint ball of haze with the unaided eye. It was an image I can't ever forget !