250px - Andromeda Galaxy?

[SpoonyPizzas]

Evening all,

I live in the UK and it's 23:08.

So I've found the full moon which was awesome and now I want to find my first DSO.

I'm currently trying to find possibly or see the Andromeda Galaxy with my 250px Dobsonian telescope during a full moon (atm).  I have a 14mm and 6.7mm ES 82 degree eyepieces as well as a Tele Vue x2 Barlow.

Is it supposed to look like a shiny star in the eyepieces 6.7mm and 14mm without the barlow?  (looks like a faint star without the telescope).

I was expecting a smudge or faint fuzzy?

Also..... is there any easy DSOs that I could possibly find tonight?

Many thanks,

[VigdisVZ]

Hi

Use your weakest magnification eyepiece, and the core of M31 should be visible like a large fuzzy patch of sky.

Other DSO you might try is the Double Cluster in perseus, galaxies M81+82, Hercules Globular Cluster M13 to name a few.

[Paul73]

Don't be dispirited if you don't see much tonight. Seeing low contrast DSOs with the full moon is very difficult.

The Double Cluster and M13, as recommended by Carl, should be doeable.

You could try Uranus. It looks like a really tiny pale blue ball.

Or, have a look at Polaris and see if you can spot its fainter little brother tucked close alongside.

I would leave the Galaxies until the moon has calmed down a bit - next week will be much better.

Paul

[MattJenko]

Use the 14mm and longer if you can, as Andromeda is big. Moon is a monster tonight though.

[SpoonyPizzas]

Many thanks all

Will give it a crack next week.

Clouds keep covering up the places I want to look! lol.

I only have a 6.7mm and 14mm and x2 Barlow...... you think I should go for something bigger?

I have a telrad and x50 finder scope.

Thanks in advance

[John]

You want something like a 30mm eyepiece. That will show a much wider patch of sky and the Andromeda Galaxy is a very large object - in total about 6 times as large as the full moon.

Having a bright Moon in the sky really drowns out even the brightest galaxies though so even if you do find it it will be far from looking it's best.

It's far easier to find and will look much, much better when the Moon is not in the sky.

[ghostdance]

 Moon is a monster tonight though.

A monster hiding behind behind some blingin great net curtains here sadly  (@ 12ayem). Sigh. Knew I shoulda gone out earlier...

Pretty nice nets tho.

[Paul73]

Don't worry. There is plenty to see with the kit that you have.

Both of your eyepieces will be great for the Ring (M57) and Dumbell (M27) nebulae once the moon goes away.

You will need a lower mag eyepiece at some stage for the bigger targets / groups of galaxies etc.

As for M31, you get a pretty good view through a normal pair of binoculars.

Paul

PS. Good choice of scope.

[ronin]

You want a long and if possible wide eyepiece, certainly not a 6.7mm or even 14mm.

I doubt that you will in effect "see" Andromeda in a 250PX, "see" being all at once, it is simply too big to get it all in.

What then happens is that a piece of in sits in view and half the time you do not realise that it is even there.

To get it all you need a 3 degree view if you used plossl's the a 30mm plossl would give 40x and that means a 1.25 degree view in your scope, you need something like 3 times this so very low power. No-one makes a 75-80mm plossl but that is the sort of thing.

The reality is that you should find it by eye, it is a vague patch that will usually disappear when you look "at" it. Then aim a set of binoculars at it. The surface brightness is very low and being extended it can fade into the background very easily

[Paul M]

I've got a 250 PDS  and can't get the whole of M31 in the field of view even with a 40mm eyepiece.

It's a big diffuse object that will show no defined edges visually.

Like the others say, a dark sky is important to maximise contrast.

The more prominent dust lanes can be discerned but it's won't ever look like the photographs. Pretty much like a supermodel on the front cover of Vogue, they've all been photoshopped!!

You will make out it's satellite galaxies, M32 and M110.  In fact they'll help you match your eyepiece view with the photographic views. Then you'll be able to pick out more detail once you have the scale right in your mind.

[astronymonkey]

Hi,

As many have said there is okenty of stuff out there to see with the eyepieces you have but at some stage you may want to get a lower power eyepeice.

In general id say stick to 28mm max with your scope as this will keep the exit pupil to just below 6mm so would be ok if yoh have a light polluted sky. To get a good field of vkew the 82degree fields will be good although they arnt cheap but do give lovely views.

Clear skies,

[SpoonyPizzas]

Thanks all

Yup loving my ES 14mm and 6.7mm eyepieces so far - although these are my first eyepieces with my 250px Dob so I've nothing to compare them to :-).  Recommended by someone very kindly on here.

Think the ES 28mm 68 degree EP will be ok?/next step?

[Gasmac]

As an owner of a 250px and an ES 28 i can recommend this combo. Coma in the outer 10% or so but more than livable with. Then all yoi need is a nebular filter (UHC or OIII) and you have great views of the veil which is definitely my favourite DSO at present (though not with this moon). First saw it while on holiday just south of exmoor and i keep having to back to it whenever i can.

[AndyWB]

I doubt that you will in effect "see" Andromeda in a 250PX, "see" being all at once, it is simply too big to get it all in.

Yup. I looked at it at the beginning of August, from somewhere dark enough that it was visible naked-eye. Using a 28mm 68 degree MaxVision eyepiece it was clearly too big to see all at once. That said, there were plenty of features that I could see - the dust lanes, and M32 & M110. I'm kicking myself that I didn't chase down NGC 206 as well.

And Gasmac is right - add an OIII filter and point it at the Veil nebula - fantastic. Though it too is too big to fit all of it in the field of view - but when you're looking at that, so what?

[acey]

I doubt that you will in effect "see" Andromeda in a 250PX, "see" being all at once, it is simply too big to get it all in.

What then happens is that a piece of in sits in view and half the time you do not realise that it is even there.

People who observe the Moon don't expect to have the whole thing in view and I don't see why DSOs are any different. If there is any difficulty seeing 31 it's not because of the object's size, it's because of the brightness of the sky.

Is it supposed to look like a shiny star in the eyepieces 6.7mm and 14mm without the barlow?  (looks like a faint star without the telescope).

If you could see it with naked eye under strong moonlight then you must have been at quite a dark site. But I'm surprised it looked like a star. I suspect you were looking in the wrong place, and that's why you couldn't see it in the telescope.

To see M31 with the naked eye you need a limiting magnitude of about 5.