Recommendations / advice please

[ChrisEdu]

I have seen the Orion Nebula, Pleiades and, I think the Little Dumbell Nebula with my Nexstar 4SE. I have tried to view the Cone and Rosette Nebulae but couldn't see anything, or at least that I was aware of. So, are there any other nebulae that I'm likely to be able to actually 'observe / see' with a 4" scope? If there aren't really many others, what size scope does one really need to go for in order to observe these DSOs? Thanks for your help.

[EA2007]

hey Chris,

When were you observing? if you were observing when the moon was up then this usually washes out nebulae, especially fainter ones.

however the moon isn't everything......i had the 4SE and because its a mak. then the light transition is different to that of a refractor / reflector so for faint dso's it isn't as good, also the field of view is smaller.

The best objects to view are planets and the moon, along with star clusters as they are 'solid' objects, nebulae which are gaseous aren't as bright and galaxies are obviously much further away, so the little 4SE has trouble with these.

Have you tried using a barlow lens? I found that M27,42 and 57 were about as good as I could get with the 4SE, bt then again I didn't look for many of them because I only had it a short time.

A newtonian scope of 6"+ will probably solve a few of these problems and you can get really cheap 6"/8" dob these days.

[Doc]

Three options.

More aperture

Darker skies

Filters.

Try NGC 7662 the Blue snowball nebula or the M57 in Lyra

[EA2007]

M57 is well easy to find but really small in the 4SE.....try M27 which is lower down in Vulpecula, you will notice a difference in not only size but also brightness!

Darker skies really do help......alot!

[GazOC]

Try the open clusters on Auriga.

[EA2007]

Good suggestion Gaz,

Also those in/near Cassiopeia and when Cancer gets up try M44 (the beehive cluster), also in that region theres the Chritsmas tree cluster. And if you wait longer, past Leo you will get Saturn

[ChrisEdu]

I was looking for them last night - up until about 4am! No Moon to contend with and over all pretty good viewing conditions. I could certainly make out the Orion Nebula with the naked eye, along with Pleiades.

What sort of filter(s) would help? The only filter I currently have, and rarely use, is the Meade ND96. My lens choices are currently between a 26, 12.4 and 9.7 plossol. What other lenses might be worth getting?

[EA2007]

I don't know too much about filters, perhaps for nebulae you would want a Ha filter.

As for EP's then maybe a barlow would help out. I only ever used the supplied 25mm with the 4SE, so can't comment too much.

[ChrisEdu]

Good suggestion Gaz,

Also those in/near Cassiopeia and when Cancer gets up try M44 (the beehive cluster), also in that region theres the Chritsmas tree cluster. And if you wait longer, past Leo you will get Saturn

I have observed M44 and Saturn - infact, I was looking at them last night.