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Still Can't See M66 nor M65?


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Wearing a hood of hiding under some sort of cloak helps. when I am determined I have resorted to this a number of times in spite of the fact my missus laughs and makes fun of me :D. Hide under it for 20 - 30 minutes and then stay under it while at the eyepiece and those faint things ping into being :smiley:

Nice one :-)

It's when you start hyper-ventilating to get more oxygen to your brain and eyeballs that she will really laugh! I save that for when I'm completely alone!!

Stu

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Nice one :-)

It's when you start hyper-ventilating to get more oxygen to your brain and eyeballs that she will really laugh! I save that for when I'm completely alone!!

Stu

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I admit I've done that,  but only alone.

Let us not forget a carrot rich diet to boot to keep those eyeballs in top order.  We are a funny old species aren't we :D

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Try M94 in CVN. This galaxy is bright and punches through glow pretty well..

Mark

Was about to suggest this one! Easy from my part of SW London. M65 and 66 I've managed to find, but they're very ghostly. I'm looking forward to attempting to get the Dob into a hire car to take down to Cornwall for them...

DD

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My data suggests an exit pupil of 3 or 4mm as being best for seeing these under our skies, so maybe give that a go.

Stu, that's interesting - I simply tried a few mid-range magnifications, and felt that the 15mm seemed the best at improving contrast between the LP and the galaxies. Damned if I know why. But in my scope, that would be an exit pupil of 3.1mm. I'm not sure why it should have that affect.

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Was about to suggest this one! Easy from my part of SW London. M65 and 66 I've managed to find, but they're very ghostly. I'm looking forward to attempting to get the Dob into a hire car to take down to Cornwall for them...

DD

Try M94 in CVN. This galaxy is bright and punches through glow pretty well..

Mark

Thanks for the suggest, I'll give M94 a go. Actually, I went out for a few hours or so last night here in SW London before the clouds moved in at 9pm and I can see what people are talking about in terms of  LP being different each night as I could actually see the Charten star in Leo last night fairly eaisly even though it wasn't as high nor as clear as the previous night.

Wouldn't Wales be an easier dark sky location from London? My problem with my car isn't the Scope its my Skywatcher Base is just too big for my boot opening. But may be later in the year I'll get to a Dark site when my wife allows it (new baby almost here and might not been seen as 'sensitive' to suggest a 'Jolly' off to Wales!)

Just curious what would your SW London LP skies targets of interest be?

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Stu, that's interesting - I simply tried a few mid-range magnifications, and felt that the 15mm seemed the best at improving contrast between the LP and the galaxies. Damned if I know why. But in my scope, that would be an exit pupil of 3.1mm. I'm not sure why it should have that affect.

Andy, I am trying to learn more about this but my understanding is that it is a balance between darker sky background and surface brightness of the object. I found some data which have suggested exit pupils for different objects under different sky conditions and worked it all through for my average skies (18.5 SQM). It gave the 3 and 4mm figures I suggested.

Under better conditions an exit pupil of 2mm is good for galaxy observing, with the exception of M31 of course which needs a big fov.

I will pull the info into something understandable and post it up. I generated a ranked list of the Messier Galaxies in order of likely visibility from my home skies.

Cheers,

Stu

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Well, I don't have an SQM, but I'm happy to try some subjective comparisons and feed that information back, if it helps.

Sounds good.

I don't either, but I used an iPhone app called DarkSkyMeter which gives an SQM reading. I'm sure the accuracy will be questionable, although it seems about right for me. Either way it should at least give comparable readings on different nights.

Will sort out my data and post it up

Stu

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Wearing a hood of hiding under some sort of cloak helps. when I am determined I have resorted to this a number of times in spite of the fact my missus laughs and makes fun of me :D.  Hide under it for 20 - 30  minutes and then stay under it while at the eyepiece and those faint things ping into being :smiley:

My sky glow is probably not as bad as the OP but I do have to contend with bedroom/bathroom/kitchen lights going on off during the evening. When I know I'm in the right place I sit with a thick towel over my head. I'm in my own garden and don't worry what I look like. I want to see as much as I can and if I have to look stupid so be it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So got out last night at about 11pm and after much searching and blind luck I managed to find M66 with my  25mm first as a very slight light patch to the right (in my DOB view) of 2 stars then inserted the 12mm and could see a little bigger light blob. It looked nothing to write home about but I was still chuffed to see something in my SW London skies and the Moon not helping.

I've attached an image I found that gives a flavour of what I saw but this was far more defined than my view.

Moon looked stunning in my Barlowed 5mm view lastnight. 

post-3712-0-08353400-1396951435_thumb.jp

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Your not alone. 

tried with both a prime mounted ST80 tracking , and with a 114mm @ 1000 focal .

no M66 - M65 

saying that mars was very bright last night up in norfolk  (01:30 / 2am ) 

im a couple three mile out of norwich  and even out here M65 and M66 are just ghosts.

and the 114mm was no better, eye wise things looked clear, scope wise stuff was a mess

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You'll need a few essentials for galaxy viewing,

Dark sky, darker the better.

Some aperture, bigger the better.

Maximum x60 mag.

No Moon.

Dark adapted eyes, longer the better.

Realaxed viewing, seated and no staring or squinting.

Imagination and patience, more the better.

Et viola ! those pesky little devils will spring out and blow your socks off, which you will have previously tied on,

Nick.

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You'll need a few essentials for galaxy viewing,

Dark sky, darker the better.

Some aperture, bigger the better.

Maximum x60 mag.

No Moon.

Dark adapted eyes, longer the better.

Realaxed viewing, seated and no staring or squinting.

Imagination and patience, more the better.

Et viola ! those pesky little devils will spring out and blow your socks off, which you will have previously tied on,

Nick.

Hi, a newbie question. When you say Max x60Mag what config would that equate to?  i.e. I have a 300P Dob 305mm and FL 1500 (F4.9) I only have a 25mm and a 12mm EP that I squeeze with a x2.25 Barlow. Last night I located the faint smudge with my 25mm and diserned a little more detail with the 12mm.

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If you divide the focal length of the scope by that of the lenses you'll get your magnification. In your case 1500/25 == x60 and 1500/12 == x125. If you have a balow you'll double each of those figures.

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Thanks for the formula, yes I looked on here for a few others had the same question and it seems that the Exit Pupil sweetspot is 2.0 which for my scope would equate to a 10mm EP (that I don't have) but if I use my 25mm and Barlow 2.25 it is close at 2.3 Exit Pupil. I think I might need a finder scope as it is difficult moving from the naked eye Rigel to a 25mm Scope view. Does this sound correct and do most people have a Finder scope ?

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