Help for Tonight

[charmedkelly]

Hey Guys and Gals

Need some reccomendations of what to look at tonight, I have lost my turn left at orion book ( i know nightmare)

I just need some good DSOs to look at tonight.

Any help would be great

just to let you I have a 12" dobsonion not bragging or anything like that just letting you know just in case i might be able to see a object that isnt easily viewable with a smaller scope.

Thanks Fellow Astronomers

Kelly

[DeepSkyBagger]

You could start with Leo. The constellation is just bursting with fine galaxies. There are no less than five Messier galaxies to start with - M65 and M66, next to each other. M95 and M96 next to each other, and M105, next to two other pretty bright galaxies, NGC 3384 and NGC 3389. Close to M65 & M66 is a testing object, but brilliant if you can see it, NGC 3628.

Given reasonable skies, these objects should present no problems for a 12". Of course with the daggy skies we've been having (or at least I've been having) you may struggle. I couldn't see any of them on Wednesday, a supposedly clear night. Hate that hanging moisture!

Good luck,

Patrick

[charmedkelly]

Hey Patrick 

Thanks so much for the obects writing them down as we speak, yeah i kinda hate anything that stops me viewing these fine beauties 

What eyepiece would u say use.. i like to use the 32mm to find the object. but what should i use to get possible a little more detail/color

Thanks Patrick

Kelly

[DeepSkyBagger]

You won't get any colour in galaxies. Forget that.

I use an 18mm Kellner, which gives me x81 as a 'finder' eyepiece, and then for the detailed look I use a 10mm Plossl, which gives me x150. I also have a 12" reflector, so we're probably talking about the same values here. Mine's f4.9 for comparison.

I know you are often told use a low power when looking at deep-sky objects because it makes them smaller and brighter. Trouble is, that's not usually true. I have found that the ideal power for looking at most galaxies is around x150, though I sometimes go higher. I often find that although I can identify the field of a galaxy at x81, I need the higher power actually to see the galaxy itself.

Of course there are occasions when a lower power gives a better view, but the generally held view that this is always so is quite wrong.

Have a good evening - it looks terrible here.