The search for M1

[The Warthog]

I envy Charles Messier his clear skies. I have now tried for the second time to see M1, and this time put a lot of time and study into it. To be brief, I identified zeta Tauri, and using CDC, carefully put my finder in the right part of the constellation, then refined the position using my 24mm ep with a field of nearly 2 degrees. I am sure beyond doubt that I was in the right place, but half an hour of peering, using different ep and Barlow combinations, with a towel over my head to block stray light, showed nothing of M1.

Should mention that I tried this with and without my UHC filter. Also found that the combination of the 24mm Speers-WALER and the Antares Apo Barlow kidney-beans like crazy. You can get your head in the right position after a while, but it takes some doing, and it is very distracting, especially as you have to refocus for the Barlow.

Picked up Mars in Gemini, but then dropped it as it was a featureless blob.

I had looked at M42 when I first set up, and the view wasn't great, so I suppose it was a bit quixotic (i.e. idiotic) to try and see a very dim target, but the view of anything else wasn't going to be great either. To explain how bad my skies are, I could not see the entire sickle of Leo, even after half an hour of dark adaptation, and can barely make out anytning in Cancer.

I should sell my house and move.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I should sell my house and move.

It's an option if you retire mate. I can see the place in my mind. Cowboy style log cabin next to a lake full of fish. Fishing boat tied to the pier, beer in the fridge, shoot your own mosquitoes, Bambi for lunch most days.

Sounds like a place not far from you.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Casus belli]

My little test is, if I can see the beehive cluster with the naked eye then I can see M1 with the scope.

M1 really suffers from light pollution.

[thing]

I can barely see it from my location either. Some nights are better than others. It's usually a case of staring for 5 minutes and noticing that theres a lighter patch somewhere but if you try and look it disappears........one of the reasons I photograph stuff is so I can see it..............

[peeceeTal2M]

I've managed M1 with an 8" Newt but not yet got it in my 10"

[Vega]

I've only ever managed it in the 10"..... Hang on a sec... I've never tried in the 120mm .. hmmm.

Matt

[barkis]

According to John Mallas, who co wrote Messiers Album, Hand held 7x50 binoculars show M1 as a dim patch, and was easy in the 10x40 finder of the 4" refractor. Mallas was observing from Covina California. He must have had damned good skies, although he complained of LP from

LA's Lights. I have struggled at times with a 12" f6, but my sky was rubbish also.

Ron.

[Sam]

I can see it without too much difficulty in my 8" reflector - certainly need dark adapted eyes though!

[Talitha]

Under my dark sky it's a patch of smoke at 40x through the ETX 90-RA (32mmep). Never tried using the 11x70s, but it'd be interesting to give it a go sometime.

[algol]

also have major trouble finding this one, convinced i may have seen a star infront of it or near it but no nebulosity at all.

[jgs001]

I managed to see it once after a lot of searcing in my 80mm. It wasn't even as much as a patch of smoke, more a tiny grey smudge. It was a really good clear night here though and it was my third attempt, and it was at a decent height in the least light polluted direction (South).

[Talitha]

Here's a sketch done in December using the 80ST... wow, LP must really bleach this one out. M1 was only 41° above the horizon at the time, but east is my darkest horizon.. nothing there except wild county land where one of the local Wolf packs lives.

The fov of the sketch is pretty big and might be helpful as a guide of sorts for anyone trying ot locate it. The bright star at the bottom of the sketch is (mag 3) Zeta Tau, and the star directly below M1 in the sketch is (mag 10.3) HD245010.

[The Warthog]

The problem for me with LP is that in the winter when M1 is available I have few opportunities to get away to a less LP site, especially as I am not supposed to drive at night. I don't think a bigger telescope is going to do it for me with this object, I'm just going to have to find a better sky, or perhaps get to a cottage in October and stay up real late. :sleepy1:

[Mark at Beaufort]

I arrived home at 10pm last night (7 April) and the skies were very clear so after reading this thread during the day I decided to seek out M1 with my 15x70 celestron binoculars. I live in Hereford and my horizon from east to west faces the Welsh border and dark skies. I pointed the binos towards Zeta Tauri checked out the two stars that form a small triangle and there was M1 - quite clear in 15x70. I must admit that I knew the location of M1 from previous observations and I cannot be sure that I would have found it, in the binos, without this prior knowledge - anyway M1 can be seen in binos. Having checked this Messier I decided to continue my quick grab and go evening by sampling the three clusters in Auriga M36 ,37 and 38, M35, M3 and finally M51 before retiring to the red wine. Just shows what can be seen with good binos and dark clear skies.

Mark

[The Warthog]

I hate you!

[Sam]

I arrived home at 10pm last night (7 April) and the skies were very clear so after reading this thread during the day I decided to seek out M1 with my 15x70 celestron binoculars. I live in Hereford and my horizon from east to west faces the Welsh border and dark skies. I pointed the binos towards Zeta Tauri checked out the two stars that form a small triangle and there was M1 - quite clear in 15x70. I must admit that I knew the location of M1 from previous observations and I cannot be sure that I would have found it, in the binos, without this prior knowledge - anyway M1 can be seen in binos. Having checked this Messier I decided to continue my quick grab and go evening by sampling the three clusters in Auriga M36 ,37 and 38, M35, M3 and finally M51 before retiring to the red wine. Just shows what can be seen with good binos and dark clear skies.

Mark

Mark, that's some very dark skies you had in finding M1 so easily - though like you say, it does help to know where to look .

[vemarstar]

I arrived home at 10pm last night (7 April) and the skies were very clear so after reading this thread during the day I decided to seek out M1 with my 15x70 celestron binoculars. I live in Hereford and my horizon from east to west faces the Welsh border and dark skies. I pointed the binos towards Zeta Tauri checked out the two stars that form a small triangle and there was M1 - quite clear in 15x70. I must admit that I knew the location of M1 from previous observations and I cannot be sure that I would have found it, in the binos, without this prior knowledge - anyway M1 can be seen in binos. Having checked this Messier I decided to continue my quick grab and go evening by sampling the three clusters in Auriga M36 ,37 and 38, M35, M3 and finally M51 before retiring to the red wine. Just shows what can be seen with good binos and dark clear skies.

Mark

I know hereford well have followed hereford united for years , back on subject i live in malvern worcestershire and also the sky is fine can see M1 , and other faint objects M97, M33, for example i guess hereford /worcester are not big places so the light polution is not as bad M1 is not the best object just dim blob of light even with averted vision i own a skyliner 200 telescope.

[Astroman]

M1 is visible, if unremarkable in big binos and small scopes up to ~10". I observed it when I first fixed the 10" F/7 and saw quite a bit more than in the C8, but I yawned and moved on.

Last Saturday night during the marathon, I saw M1 in the 20" F/4.3. I've since run out of socks, having had them knocked off so many times. I could actually see tendrils within the cloud, and some brighter knots along them.

Finding M1 is a challenge, as it's easily missed due to its low surface brightness. There are some good descriptions here, smoke, barely noticeable brightening of the sky and so on. To locate it, I center on Zeta Tau with an EP giving a half degree field, (one which would show the entire full Moon), and head one FOV at a time to the northwest. I'll then sweep a circle around Zeta Tau in ever larger circles until the smudge shows itself. It usually shows upo after the second sweep, as it's just over a degree away from Zeta.