Anyone actually seen Andromeda galaxy?

[clarkpm4242]

10 hours ago, alanjgreen said:

 

Yep, it's easy naked eye from my back garden. M33 is a bit harder, need your eyes to open up first.

 

Likewise from here in Swaledale.  Am very fortunate to live somewhere where it is dark!

Cheers

Paul 

[ronin]

Not too much trouble to see, just usually the idea of what you expect to see bears no resemblance to what is actually seen. So it gets ignored as "That cannot be it/anything."

The sort of slightly lighter small patch of sky then the rest of the sky is the reality, the expectation is a glowing spiral galaxy with dark lanes, glowing arms and red star forming regions. It was always the Andromeda Nebula until around 1923 when Edwin Hubble determined it was another galaxy. And nebula basically means cloud.

Was pointing it out to people last week by eye.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Andromeda isn't particularly difficult to spot, I can see it from half a mile outside town up here in Hertfordshire despite the light pollution. Its surface brightness is similar to that of the Milky Way, if you can see one you should be able to make out the other. the core is much brighter than the disc, it appears larger from a dark site.

[Owmuchonomy]

3 hours ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Likewise from here in Swaledale.  Am very fortunate to live somewhere where it is dark!

Cheers

Paul 

Hi Paul I would be interested to know of a good dark site in Swaledale as its not far for me in Ripon to bring the caravan for a couple of days?  (Apologies in advance for hijacking the thread).

[laudropb]

I can see it as a fuzzy patch of light given decent sky conditions from my back garden and I live only 10 mile from Glasgow. As has been said, I is mainly down to knowing where to look and what to expect to see.

[alexbb]

55 minutes ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Andromeda isn't particularly difficult to spot, I can see it from half a mile outside town up here in Hertfordshire despite the light pollution. Its surface brightness is similar to that of the Milky Way, if you can see one you should be able to make out the other. the core is much brighter than the disc, it appears larger from a dark site.

I never saw the Milky Way from the city, but I saw many times the Andromeda('s core) from between the blocks or from darker streets in the city. Especially late autumn, beginning of winter, of course, when the transparency is good.

From a truly dark sky, you can see it entirely and it's orientation. Knowing hot it looks in a scope or in binoculars, definitely helps to recognize it naked eye.

[Peter Drew]

I can see it naked eye from here, at least how it looked a couple of million years ago!, on any clear Moonless night with its current high position. I can no longer see M33 unaided due to ageing eyes and increased light pollution. 

[billyharris72]

I think I've just about seen it, but borderline, from my new(ish) back garden just north of Chepstow. An almost invisiible patch of nebulosity, only detectable with AV. Clocking where it was and pointing my bins took me right there so I'm calling it a postitive spot!

Billy

[LukeSkywatcher]

Its visible naked eye from here and was also visible from my last house. Once you know where/how to find it once, you'll usually pick it out in seconds.

[Ant]

I can see M31 most clear nights when I go for a walk around our town. Usually with averted vision in the town, but in the outskirts - I can see it directly. 

Ant

[barkis]

Easy to see on a clear night. Nowt  but a Smoky Smudge a couple of degrees North  East of the Square of Pegasus.
Now!, If you are still here in about 4 Billion years time, you will have no problem seeing it, It will be swallowing up 
the Milky Way Galaxy, the one you live in .

[Nyctimene]

Easy for me in about 60-75 % of the time in SQM-L 20.4-21.4 skies, with direct vision. Like SilverAstro and others I use its appearance as an indicator for transparency and sky brightness; with glasses for correcting moderate myopia (to me, it makes no sense to exclude wearers of glasses).

Never was able to spot M 33 naked eye, even in Bortle 3-4 skies.

Stephan

 

 

[DHEB]

On 1/23/2017 at 22:01, Pluto the Snowman said:

Being the most distant object visible to the naked eye

Sorry for being pedantic, but M33 is possibly the most distant object visible with naked eye, not M31. See Wikipedia. It is very dim, as others have pointed out, and difficult to observe in all but the darkest skies. .

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Under dark skies I can regularly see it. Even in my (fairly dark) suburban garden I can spot it frequently. Averted vision is best. When I was younger I have spotted M33 on occasion (Negev desert, August 1980, I think was the first time)

[Paul M]

When I had the eyes to possibly succeed with I never actually tried to find M33 from a dark sit unaided. Really wish I had but was probably put off by having already failed from home using a 6in reflector

I wonder what the sky would look like from the night side of the moon (without Earth above the horizon!)? More so with 12 year old eyes  

[wimvb]

On 2017-01-23 at 22:01, Pluto the Snowman said:

Anyone here seen M31 without any optical aid whatsoever, including specs, contact lenses etc. Being the most distant object visible to the naked eye, I often wonder about this. It wasnt lookin too bad through my 20*60s but still dim. There is not a chance I would see it without binos from my sky. Sometimes I can make out the Milkyway, but tonight wasnt such a night, altho the Orion Nebula looks fantastic through my binos. As does M45.

Being dependent on my specs, I wear them all the time, except when viewing through other optics. I wouldn't see much without them. I don't understand your exclusion of specs and contact lenses. They don't increase the eyes aperture whatsoever, and are therefore no help in gathering more light from the galaxy. But, to still make it into the exclusive club of naked eye m31 observers; I have on occasion looked in its direction without glasses. It was blurred vision. Since I can see it without aid (but with glasses) from my dark site, I can safely infer that enough photons must have nade it to my retina to register as an increased brightness. So my conclusion can only be that I indeed have seen it without any aid. I know how the hubble space telescope must have felt before it got its glasses.

[bingevader]

Can't comment, wear glasses

[VilleM]

M31 with naked eye is easy from dark site. Ive also seen M33 and M42.

[StuartJPP]

Could see M31 from my "dark site" unaided in rural Lincolnshire (at the in-laws)...Though that was before the new and improved LED street lighting...

From the above post, I can easily see M42 even from Leeds.

[Davesellars]

When the skies are good enough and I can see to approx mag 5.2 - 5.3 ish then M31 can be seen naked eye.  I don't think my skies are anywhere near good enough for M33 though!

When I'm out I do a quick check after dark adaption of what I can see...  Double Cluster is a favourite and M31 and M44 is a decent target and of course the Milky Way structure (albeit rather ghost-like...).  I've yet to pick out M13 but I believe this should be possible from my skies so probably just failing to identify it.

[chiltonstar]

M31 is easy from her when it's towards the E (not N as I have LP-galore). M33 is just visible when it's overhead; I don't think I've seen M31 but I'll certainly look....

Chris

[SilverAstro]

Up to about 30y ago I could get M13 NEye, it was another of my standard tests, since then nothing   Could be due to global warming putting more moisture into the atmosphere or it could my my eyes getting old, what do you think ?

It is much smaller than M31 so not really testing the same bit of the visual range. (requires best far focus )

[Stub Mandrel]

On 23/01/2017 at 21:38, Gina said:

Since I'm short sighted I can't enter this competition if glasses are not allowed!!!  I can't even see M42 without my glasses and that is seriously bright.

I struggle to see the moon without my glasses...

I've seen andromeda at a dark site.

M42 is easy here, with unadapted eyes I can see it with averted vision, but very obvious once eyes adapted

[rockettsue]

yes I found it after weeks of looking and saw a fuzzy patch. Now whenever its clear I cant seem to miss it and wonder why I didnt see it in the first place!  funny that when I can never find a thing Im looking for in the house...