M33 at last!

[Chinapig]

I've been enjoying my 15x70s, and loving every minute of discovering the parts of the summer sky that I've never taken the trouble to learn properly before.

And I really try hard not to shout "holy bananas!" in the garden after midnight, when I find something new. But last night I suspect I might have woken a neighbour or two.

It was pretty dark on the coast last night, and the high hazy stuff had mostly blown away. In spite of the urban sky glow that plagues my eastern horizon, I thought I'd give M33 another bash - never having found it before...

Started with M31, and then down to Mirach, then approx same distance down towards the horizon, and scanned really slowly left to right. After a while, realised that one patch of sky had a very thin, very faint patch of cloud, neatly framed by a pattern of dim stars. Still a fair breeze blowing, so why wasn't the cloud moving? 5 minutes later, 10 minutes later, cloud still very faint but unmistakably remaining in the same place.

Ahhhh! Yay! That's got to be M33 then.

I noted the pattern of stars apparently containing the "thin faint cloud", and the approx pentagon of stars immediately to their right, and nipped indoors to check on SkySafari. Yup, it was indeed M33. Thanks 15 x 70s - I love ya!

[Pete Presland]

thats a great spot very well done, no substitute for dark skies and fully adapted night vision!

[Chinapig]

thats a great spot very well done, no substitute for dark skies and fully adapted night vision!

Thanks Pete - yes, it seemed unusually clear and sparkly last night.

I think I might have found it before, if only I'd realised how BIG it is. It's vast... Now I can't wait to try finding it again, but next time from a truly dark-sky area.

Cheers

Simon

[BinocularSky]

It's getting to the time of year when it gets nice and high in the late evening. If you get a good transparent sky and you are somewhere reasonably dark, see if you can nab it naked eye. It always takes averted vision nowadays, but it is remarkable how easy it is once you know what you are looking for.

[Chinapig]

It's getting to the time of year when it gets nice and high in the late evening. If you get a good transparent sky and you are somewhere reasonably dark, see if you can nab it naked eye. It always takes averted vision nowadays, but it is remarkable how easy it is once you know what you are looking for.

Many thanks Steve - last night wasn't quite so good, but the faint misty cloud was still there! Hoping for a dark-site opportunity later this week.

[greglloyd]

M33 can usually be seen from my back garden, but a week ago was my first chance to use my new 12" dob on it. For the first time, I clearly saw emission nebulae inside M33. Planning to use UHC filter on these next time!

[callisto]

Well done, I bagged this beauty not long ago with my 10x50's, great feeling isn't it

[greglloyd]

Good job guys! M33 is one of those galaxies that is probably best viewed through bins first. Bins give the right field of view for you to spot it for the first time. Scopes give a higher magnification meaning you could miss it if you do not know what size and apparent brightness to expect. Once you are familiar with it in bins it becomes easy to spot in most equipment. My first view was in bins also :-)

[Chinapig]

Yup, now I have a better appreciation of where to find it, and roughly how much sky it covers, next clear night I'll give it a try with a scope. But I'll use the bins first, just to remind me!

Thanks for the encouragement folks.

Cheers

Simon

[Special K]

That's a 'Hurray' moment for sure!  It's quite an achievement to finally bag M33, well done.

I've landed on the area with the telescope and missed seeing anything several times except for those framing stars.  Wasn't till I got to a proper dark location with the 10x50's that I got it last month.  Very pleased as it's so difficult and has been impossible from home! 

I have to say that getting bins really opened up a new world of astro for me, and like you I was missing lots of stuff up there.  It's just so easy to browse the heavens with the bins and a deck chair.................not that I don't enjoy my scopes, and especially the new refractor!

[greglloyd]

That's a 'Hurray' moment for sure!  It's quite an achievement to finally bag M33, well done.

I've landed on the area with the telescope and missed seeing anything several times except for those framing stars.  Wasn't till I got to a proper dark location with the 10x50's that I got it last month.  Very pleased as it's so difficult and has been impossible from home! 

I have to say that getting bins really opened up a new world of astro for me, and like you I was missing lots of stuff up there.  It's just so easy to browse the heavens with the bins and a deck chair.................not that I don't enjoy my scopes, and especially the new refractor!

It's amazing just how much you can see in bins from a dark site. You would be surprised! A lot of Messiers can be clearly seen in 50mm aperture (e.g. 10x50 bins or a 50mm finderscope). 

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Tried to find M33 this morning (again)without success.Maybe I need to try harder,or go to a darker site!

[Paul73]

Bins. Definitely Bins. Unless you have really dark sky and know where to look, you'll look right through it with your scope without even realising it!

It gets a lot easier once you have spotted it once.

Paul

[BinocularSky]

Bins. Definitely Bins. Unless you have really dark sky and know where to look, you'll look right through it with your scope without even realising it!

Hear, hear!

With anything more than very low magnification, unless you are under a really dark sky it can appear as  just a slightly brighter patch of sky that is missable as it  fills the field of view and isn't that much brighter than the surrounding slightly light-polluted sky.

If you ever do a Messier marathon, it is an evening twilight object and can be really tricky.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Well done. M33 can be very tricky. Good description of the view too