Messier targets

[Nathan UK]

Without the obvious andromeda, ringed nebula, dumbbell nebula and Crab Nebula what other messier targets are worth a go with a 130mm/5" apperture telescope? 

[domstar]

I'm hoping all of them. I have a 4 inch and have seen over 70 in a year. Open clusters are wonderful but I mostly love the faint smudges that are galaxies. M 51 is the most rewarding for me. If it's still high enough for you, all the Messier objects  around the top of the sagittarius teapot are beautiful. Don't forget the brighter globular clusters. All Messier objects are open to you.

[Nathan UK]

5 minutes ago, domstar said:

I'm hoping all of them. I have a 4 inch and have seen over 70 in a year. Open clusters are wonderful but I mostly love the faint smudges that are galaxies. M 51 is the most rewarding for me. If it's still high enough for you, all the Messier objects  around the top of the sagittarius teapot are beautiful. Don't forget the brighter globular clusters. All Messier objects are open to you.

Thanks mate I'm actually inspired by your answer to get in the garden when I've finished eating this steak. It's clear where I am tonight 

[wookie1965]

http://www.chuckhawks.com/what_can_see.htm

Have a read of this.

[Nathan UK]

7 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/what_can_see.htm

Have a read of this.

I've just read that thank you very much, been observing a little more then a year but just been having the odd go now and then.....

i felt like I was running out of targets  due to the apperture ??? silly me hahahahaHahahaha

[wookie1965]

There are loads of objects NGC catalogue, IC catalogue, Caldwell catalogue loads of double,triple and multiple stars. I used to be the same looking for Messier`s and galaxies then a friend said look for globular and open clusters plus the double stars  I have 20/30 objects on a list a session still thousands of objects out there.

[Nathan UK]

10 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

There are loads of objects NGC catalogue, IC catalogue, Caldwell catalogue loads of double,triple and multiple stars. I used to be the same looking for Messier`s and galaxies then a friend said look for globular and open clusters plus the double stars  I have 20/30 objects on a list a session still thousands of objects out there.

I tried downloading a few target lists to my phone before but they wouldn't open , will check them out thanks buddy 

[wookie1965]

https://in-the-sky.org/data/catalogue.php?cat=NGC&const=64

https://in-the-sky.org/data/catalogue.php?cat=IC&const=18

http://astropixels.com/caldwell/caldwellcat.html

http://www.theskyscrapers.org/three-leaps-of-the-gazelle

http://www.eaglecreekobservatory.org/eco/doubles/

Here you go something to get your teeth into.

[Nathan UK]

3 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

https://in-the-sky.org/data/catalogue.php?cat=NGC&const=64

https://in-the-sky.org/data/catalogue.php?cat=IC&const=18

http://astropixels.com/caldwell/caldwellcat.html

http://www.theskyscrapers.org/three-leaps-of-the-gazelle

http://www.eaglecreekobservatory.org/eco/doubles/

Here you go something to get your teeth into.

Nice 1 brother

[Nathan UK]

21 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

https://in-the-sky.org/data/catalogue.php?cat=NGC&const=64

https://in-the-sky.org/data/catalogue.php?cat=IC&const=18

http://astropixels.com/caldwell/caldwellcat.html

http://www.theskyscrapers.org/three-leaps-of-the-gazelle

http://www.eaglecreekobservatory.org/eco/doubles/

Here you go something to get your teeth into.

I'm literally over the moon with them links ??? unfortunitly cloud has descended ?

[wookie1965]

Your very welcome thats what this site is for to help each other.

[Littleguy80]

Definitely don't let your aperture limit your viewing. If you come across objects you can't see then the chances are you just need to view them from darker skies on a moonless night. I use a 130mm scope the same as you and have seen and logged well over 100 objects including open clusters, globular clusters, galaxies, nebulae, double/triple star systems, a comet, an asteroid and a Nova! All of this from my back garden with some moderate light pollution. I only got my scope last Christmas. I take a lot of my inspiration from the observing reports that get posted on here.

Good luck and clear skies!

[Nathan UK]

47 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Definitely don't let your aperture limit your viewing. If you come across objects you can't see then the chances are you just need to view them from darker skies on a moonless night. I use a 130mm scope the same as you and have seen and logged well over 100 objects including open clusters, globular clusters, galaxies, nebulae, double/triple star systems, a comet, an asteroid and a Nova! All of this from my back garden with some moderate light pollution. I only got my scope last Christmas. I take a lot of my inspiration from the observing reports that get posted on here.

Good luck and clear skies!

Great stuff mate, that's good to know you've seen so much with a similar scope

[Dave In Vermont]

Nathan - are you familiar with Stellarium yet? If you are wondering what on Earth is this - it contains most everything available you to observe out there in deep space - and you tell it what type of objects (planets, Moons, galaxies, nebulae, etc) you wish it to show you. It can be set for anytime - now, tomorrow, 10,000 years from now... ad infinitum - and you'll see a very realistic screen of what you'd when looking up in any direction in your sky.

Similar programs can cost over £200, but Stellarium is absolutely free. And one of the best! So here's my 'copy & paste' which will get this to you with instructions included:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On this link is the main page for downloading Stellarium. Choose which version is correct for your computer. Here you go:

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
As for instructions, a full copy of them is bundled with the program that you download. But if you need another copy for some reason, these can be downloaded here:
 
https://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/files/Stellarium-user-guide/0.15.0-1/stellarium_user_guide-0.15.0-1.pdf/download

This program is quite large, so download when you have a few minutes. I'll leave you with a screenshot of mine, and also one of the screen approximating - roughly - of how it looks when you begin. Please know that I am an experienced user. I do this to help you understand the immense range & versatility of this amazing software-program.

 

Approx. beginning screen:

 

 

My advanced copy:

 

Hope you - or somebody out there - find this helpful,

Dave

 

[Nathan UK]

Thanks Dave I've never used stellarium before, I'm sure it will be a big help I can see how much u rate it I will be sure to check it out after some sleep buddy thanks  for the recommendation 

Nathan

[ronin]

By general opinion you should get the whole lot. It is often said that Messiers scope was about the equivalent of a 4" scope today. But he did have darker skies and that a huge difference.

He was further south so the ones at the limit of his southern view will be difficult. May have to pick the right night and stand on Dover cliffs.

There is this Messier Planner, fill in the bits and press the button: Messier Planner

Another good thing to keep available is the simple list of Messier Objects on Wiki: Messier List  The list can easily be reordered into the diffeent types of objects, constellation, RA, etc.

Read the introduction on Wiki, one wonders how many he found, it seems he was cataloguing "fuzzy" objects that were not comets. The classic tale being these were objects not to bother with as they were not comets. Presume people reported things to him, and he searched them out, confirmed them and catalogued them. Which is what the catalogue is called. Pierre Mechin also seems to have performed a lot of the work for Messier - hope he got paid well.

 

 

[Nathan UK]

7 hours ago, ronin said:

By general opinion you should get the whole lot. It is often said that Messiers scope was about the equivalent of a 4" scope today. But he did have darker skies and that a huge difference.

He was further south so the ones at the limit of his southern view will be difficult. May have to pick the right night and stand on Dover cliffs.

There is this Messier Planner, fill in the bits and press the button: Messier Planner

Another good thing to keep available is the simple list of Messier Objects on Wiki: Messier List  The list can easily be reordered into the diffeent types of objects, constellation, RA, etc.

Read the introduction on Wiki, one wonders how many he found, it seems he was cataloguing "fuzzy" objects that were not comets. The classic tale being these were objects not to bother with as they were not comets. Presume people reported things to him, and he searched them out, confirmed them and catalogued them. Which is what the catalogue is called. Pierre Mechin also seems to have performed a lot of the work for Messier - hope he got paid well.

 

 

The messier planner is great!

ive just had a little play with it then I think I'm going to use it for a messier marathon on my next clear    Night thank you for such a great tool mate. I believe my understanding and observations are going to be reaching a new level with all the good information and links you guys have posted,

i feel the urge to start purchasing more equipment ??

[N3ptune]

3 hours ago, Nathan UK said:

The messier planner is great!

ive just had a little play with it then I think I'm going to use it for a messier marathon on my next clear    Night thank you for such a great tool mate. I believe my understanding and observations are going to be reaching a new level with all the good information and links you guys have posted,

i feel the urge to start purchasing more equipment ??

I noticed at the beginning of my journey in astronomy, it seemed like there was only a few objects to look at. But with the years and experience I am now spending much more time on less objects and am overwhelmed with things to look at.

Everything is interesting at some point even the simplest new thing and it should improve with experience whatever the aperture.

===========

At some point I decided to go from 130mm to 200mm and honestly it was a major upgrade in overall quality and capacity, it gives access to many more objects from the NGC catalogue, enhance details and magnitude of everything.  But now, I hardly can imagine me handling more weight and bulky things then that.. Of course, I dream of a 12" Newtonian.. but my location is not favourable to that and I need to relocate to a darker spot has often has possible with a small Honda Civic.

All packed up, the 200mm with equatorial mount and the rest of the gear, will monopolize more then 1/2 of the cargo space of the car.

In the process of upgrading, it has to remain easy.

 

[Nathan UK]

30 minutes ago, N3ptune said:

I noticed at the beginning of my journey in astronomy, it seemed like there was only a few objects to look at. But with the years and experience I am now spending much more time on less objects and am overwhelmed with things to look at.

Everything is interesting at some point even the simplest new thing and it should improve with experience whatever the aperture.

===========

At some point I decided to go from 130mm to 200mm and honestly it was a major upgrade in overall quality and capacity, it gives access to many more objects from the NGC catalogue, enhance details and magnitude of everything.  But now, I hardly can imagine me handling more weight and bulky things then that.. Of course, I dream of a 12" Newtonian.. but my location is not favourable to that and I need to relocate to a darker spot has often has possible with a small Honda Civic.

All packed up, the 200mm with equatorial mount and the rest of the gear, will monopolize more then 1/2 of the cargo space of the car.

In the process of upgrading, it has to remain easy.

 

After seeing all the planets and a couple of the M's I thought I'd maxed out on my 130p

i did not realise there was so much more to see.

i plan on purchasing the skywatcher 200p dob

thanks for your reply

[N3ptune]

Many things are subtle, a good example, the stars inside a globular cluster like the great Hercules Cluster or M92.  With a 130mm all I could see was pretty much a grey patch with a few stars, but with more aperture many faint stars will appear obviously at the eyepiece, some without averted vision, some with averted vision, one thing for sure it's easier to enjoy M13 with more aperture.  For me that's a major improvement over the previous grey patch, better resolution and the capacity to capture fainter stars.

On Jupiter the 200mm will support more magnification, the planet will appear bigger in the EP with a good resolution at around 150x to 200x. This will reveal more interesting details on the planet like the festoons and even some details inside the GRS, new nuances of color too. The festoons are very small on the planet and not visible all the time due to atmospheric condition but still it's an important improvement for me.

Some small planetary nebula will reveal more color and be brighter, it will be possible to put more power on them too to be able to see a hint of their shape.

Better resolution will reveal more details.

With the 200mm you get a 2" focuser providing wider fields of view using 2" eyepieces and the possibility to use 2" OIII or UHC filters, for large nebulas like the Veil and North America, or to enjoy dense star areas (with even more visible stars)

If this can help.

[JOC]

What seems to make sense is what I often read on here about needing dark skies, even with my telescope which is a little bigger I think the lighter the sky the less I see - in fact apart from M13, M42 etc. my list of DSO's found and viewed is pretty limited/non existent.  I've gone after them, but am mostly unsuccessful in finding them.  The biggest problem I find is when I go to find one at a certain magnification is knowing the size of the object I should be expecting to see in the EP - am I looking for a pin sized smudge or a pea sized smudge or will it fill the EP view?

[Nathan UK]

15 minutes ago, JOC said:

What seems to make sense is what I often read on here about needing dark skies, even with my telescope which is a little bigger I think the lighter the sky the less I see - in fact apart from M13, M42 etc. my list of DSO's found and viewed is pretty limited/non existent.  I've gone after them, but am mostly unsuccessful in finding them.  The biggest problem I find is when I go to find one at a certain magnification is knowing the size of the object I should be expecting to see in the EP - am I looking for a pin sized smudge or a pea sized smudge or will it fill the EP view?

I couldn't agree more about that I'm unsure what mag to use on the dso's 

[cloudsweeper]

2 hours ago, Nathan UK said:

I couldn't agree more about that I'm unsure what mag to use on the dso's 

Nathan - most DSOs take magnification well - galaxies, globs, open clusters, planetaries.  Just big nebs need lower mag to optimise FOV and exit pupil (relates to brightness).  

In terms of targets, Stellarium is of course great, but just to browse without having to go on a computer, I would recommend Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas.  You can look at a given patch of sky, and see what treasures are up there waiting for you.  Some you'll miss, but there are plenty you will see, and it's fun searching!

Doug.

[Nathan UK]

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

Nathan - most DSOs take magnification well - galaxies, globs, open clusters, planetaries.  Just big nebs need lower mag to optimise FOV and exit pupil (relates to brightness).  

In terms of targets, Stellarium is of course great, but just to browse without having to go on a computer, I would recommend Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas.  You can look at a given patch of sky, and see what treasures are up there waiting for you.  Some you'll miss, but there are plenty you will see, and it's fun searching!

Doug.

Thanks for the info Doug