Attempting to spot M31 in Andromeda

[pidgeyjake]

Hi! 

Tonight I was trying to find a dark spot on the Arve in Geneva, to see the M31 galaxy.

Some of the light pollution was pretty intense, so I am waiting for my Bike to be delivered and hoping I'll get a better view next week (despite increased moonlight!)

I have two questions- firstly, will it be possible to the galaxy next week or even towards the end of October from Geneva?

Secondly - tonight I located the Andromeda constellation and using x8 magnification binoculars could see a very faint dusty scattering of light at the tip - there was no bright centre. I just wanted to confirm that I had found it from this description?

Thank you for any answers or advice! It has always been a very interesting object for me ever since I saw it described in a documentary!

Perhaps someone knows of a place accessible by public transport or within cycling distance of Geneva also for observation!

I am hear to learn and hope to get good at this!

Jake

[Rob Sellent]

Hiya Jake and welcome to SGL

Maybe this picture can help? I think it's easier to do the star hop naked eye and then once you're confident, try using binoculars or the finder of your scope. If you can try to head out around 23:00 hrs and look south-east. Hopefully, you'll be able to see the Square of Pegasus up in the night sky. From that corner star, Alpheratz, count 2 stars along to your left and then 2 stars up and around that area will be M31. Depending on your skies, you may also be able to see M31 naked eye (I see a fuzzy patch of light from my Bortle 4 back garden, for example). 

Needless to say, if you can't see those 2 stars that hop up, let us know and we can work out a way to hit the area using our fists, thumbs and fingers 😀

For a rough idea of what M31 would look like in a small scope (around 3"/4"), here's a little sketch. In this sketch, about 2/3rds between M 31 and 6'clock is M 110 and the smaller smudge just above and to the left of M 31's core is M 32 (hope I got that the right way around ). Needless to say, your own orientation may be different, but it gives an idea. 

To check out your average light polluted skies, this site is worth a look. And if you haven't done so already, Stellarium is an excellent free planetarium software.

Look forward to meeting you on the boards and good luck with your hunting

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Rob Sellent

[pregulla]

From a city (Bortle 8 ) with 8x42 binoculars Andromeda looks like very faint, barely detectable fuzzy patch, no core or other details. As skies get darker it gets brighter, larger and the core becomes visible

[Carbon Brush]

Hi Jake and welcome to SGL. The best astronomy forum in the world.

M31 can be difficult. I remember spending ages trying to find it without success. Then one night it literally jumped out.
After that I could easily point binos straight there and, depending on the sky, sometimes get the visual 'smudge'.

Keep trying and the more you look, the more you will see.

HTH David.

 

[joe aguiar]

ok iam from Canada so I had to google lp map then your city

ok so first that a red zone 2nd worst iam in Toronto white zone even worse than yours.

dso will be hard from either or any heavy lp zones BUT there are a few things you can do to over come somewhat WITHOUT driving hrs to the country sites.

first is try to get somewhere that has no streetlights cars head lights passing house/ porch lights. this can be your back yard a courtyard if its an apt/condo. if you can do that that helps the most as your eyes need to fully adapt to the dark to see fainter objects. any light source will hinder this.

2nd you can get a bit larger scope to capture more light so you can see there is a limit until the size becomes too large and the gain stops.

so I would say an 8" to 12" scope being a reflector or sct type, whatever u prefer.

just to give you an idea in my lp white skies I could see m31 but its a faint small fuzzy patch. this is bascally just the core. with large scopes helps BUT as an example using a 16" dob then getting to a green zone with a 80mmf/5 refractor acro blew the 16" from the city. m31 was HuGE and I could easily see the whole thing not just a fuzzy dim patch.

getting to blue  or better skies helps the vies even more. so if u really cant get to country skies then make the best of things try to have no lights shine on you and get a bit larger scope like I said 8 to 12 inches

 

joe jaguar

[pidgeyjake]

Thanks everyone! This really helped, I think I could just about see it from the descriptions - like nothing I've seen in the night sky!

The map look brilliant, and I've found some 'green' and even some 'blue' sites not too far from me - and the weather looks like it's going to be good next on Thursday. I don't think it'll be long until the 8x32 naturewatching binoculars are replaced by a 'scope!

Thank you for all of your help!