M31, found it!!!

[Aceph]

Well, I'm very new to observing. That being said I'm finding my way around. I used the Celestron sky portal app, and found M31, using a pair of Nikon Binocs I saw it!!!! It looked like a faint smudge in the sky, for lack of a better word. I tried to find it with my astromaster with no luck. That was last night. I had better luck tonight. I believe it was luck but I found it through my eyepiece. I'll take it as a win! What I was rewarded with was a little closer view of the "smudge".

A very rewarding experience!

Dark skies be yours!

Aceph

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[Dave In Vermont]

Congratulations on your first "capture!" Very satisfying, isn't it?

Now you're ready to bag many, many more of these "faint-fuzzies." You seem to have done your homework well by knowing what you were looking to find. Many people are deluded by either photos in magazines of glorious coloured galaxies and nebulae, or by poor marketing practices showing such on the box that cheap telescopes come in from department-stores. Along with ludicrous claims of "578X Model!" Yup. S-u-u-u-u-u-r-e!

Have fun!

Dave

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Congratulations on that find. Even after many years of observing, I love to have a look at our "next-door neighbour" galaxy. Well done finding it. Once you have found a few of these landmarks in the sky, finding other objects becomes easier.

[ronin]

M31 has that ability to be difficult to find to just about everyone the first time, then when first seen and located you can find it at almost complete ease under almost all conditions. As you used binoculars are often the easier way to see it.

[Gazabone]

Well done, it's a great object to look at and a lovely sense of achievement to find things by yourself (i.e. not relying on a computerised mount to do the finding for you).

Happy hunting :-)

[laudropb]

Congratulations. Only 109 Messier objects to find.

[xtreemchaos]

great stuff mate, thats one off your list,good luck with the rest.  clear skys  charl.

[Owmuchonomy]

Excellent news.  Now go for M13 with the binos.  The stars in Hercules guide you in nicely.

[jetstream]

Aceph, your hooked now!

[John]

Congraluations !

On a dark night you can get a "3 for the price of one deal" with Messier 31 because the galaxy Messier 32 is the "fuzzy star" just to the south of the core of M31 and M110, another galaxy, is a somewhat fainter oval patch on the other side of M31. All 3 can be seen in the same field of view of a low power eyepiece on a dark night

[Astro Imp]

Well done on catching our near neighbour, it's always a satisfying feeling when you finally track something down.

Good luck and clear skies.

[Charic]

Well, I'm very new to observing. That being said I'm finding my way around. I used the Celestron sky portal app, and found M31, using a pair of Nikon Binocs I saw it!!!! It looked like a faint smudge in the sky, for lack of a better word. I tried to find it with my astromaster with no luck. That was last night. I had better luck tonight. I believe it was luck but I found it through my eyepiece. I'll take it as a win! What I was rewarded with was a little closer view of the "smudge".

A very rewarding experience!

Dark skies be yours!

Aceph

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If you get the chance to view M31 from a darker site, that smudge could fill your binocular view as M31 is huge! especially  viewed through a telescope with a low powered eyepiece, as pointed out by John

[pyrasanth]

Well done, it's a great object to look at and a lovely sense of achievement to find things by yourself (i.e. not relying on a computerised mount to do the finding for you).

Happy hunting :-)

.....not sure about the "not relying on a computerised mount to do the finding for you".

It can be very frustrating for a new user to be constantly not being able to find an object they seek. I would sooner observe than spend precious time looking for objects. Sadly England has so little very good nights of seeing so the time saved using a computerised mount is easy to justify. Your statement is analogous to saying we have calculators but I'm going to carry on using my slide rule.......

​However I do accept that ones knowledge of the sky becomes more intimate and that knowledge is very useful when your computerized mount fails......sigh!

Clear skies to you all which ever way you choose to observe- this is my opinion so may not be to everybodies ethos!

[Highburymark]

Congrats - to me only the first view of Saturn compares with M31 - and if pushed I'd have to go for M31 as the best

[rockystar]

.....not sure about the "not relying on a computerised mount to do the finding for you".

It can be very frustrating for a new user to be constantly not being able to find an object they seek. I would sooner observe than spend precious time looking for objects. Sadly England has so little very good nights of seeing so the time saved using a computerised mount is easy to justify. Your statement is analogous to saying we have calculators but I'm going to carry on using my slide rule.......

​However I do accept that ones knowledge of the sky becomes more intimate and that knowledge is very useful when your computerized mount fails......sigh!

Clear skies to you all which ever way you choose to observe- this is my opinion so may not be to everybodies ethos!

I was got told that there are two types of amateur astronomers, those who want to view and those who want to find, so I guess it depends on which category you fall into as whether you computerise or not.

[John]

I was got told that there are two types of amateur astronomers, those who want to view and those who want to find, so I guess it depends on which category you fall into as whether you computerise or not.

There are many types of astronomers. The hobby offers so many options - pick the way to do it you enjoy the most. It's all good

[Aceph]

Congrats - to me only the first view of Saturn compares with M31 - and if pushed I'd have to go for M31 as the best

Saturn was my first! I was absolutely enthralled!

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[2STAR]

.....not sure about the "not relying on a computerised mount to do the finding for you".

It can be very frustrating for a new user to be constantly not being able to find an object they seek. I would sooner observe than spend precious time looking for objects. Sadly England has so little very good nights of seeing so the time saved using a computerised mount is easy to justify. Your statement is analogous to saying we have calculators but I'm going to carry on using my slide rule.......

​However I do accept that ones knowledge of the sky becomes more intimate and that knowledge is very useful when your computerized mount fails......sigh!

Clear skies to you all which ever way you choose to observe- this is my opinion so may not be to everybodies ethos!

I agree, the synscan eased my initial frustration at finding things and is great for first timers/beginners especially if used in conjunction with a manual scope mount. 

[Knighty2112]

M31 is a great sight through some good binos too. I can see it much better (and easier too!) through my Celestron 15x70 binos then with my telescopes. With care you can also view quite a few other Messier objects too, especially M42, M13 quite easily. M27 in Vulpecula is quite easy to see on a good night too. In fact at a good dark site you can see many more too. The late Patrick Moore always recommended that you start off your astronomy route with binoculars rather than a telescope, and this is very much the case for viewing a lot of the Messier objects.

I never tire of seeing the Andromeda Galaxy on a good night. With good viewing you can also make out M32 just to the south in the same binocular view of M31 too, looking like a fuzzy star.