I just gotta know . . . .

[Neiman]

Hiya, I just gotta know - I have an Celestron SCT 9.25 XLT scope. I have just added a f / 6.3 recently and have a 25mm eyepiece. Now this is one of those questions that if you don’t know you don’t know. Now lol . . . . A hell of of a lot of the stuff I slew to I cannot see. Especially nebulae, I can see smudges that I get excited about ie The Andromeda Galaxy. But Bodes and the Pinwheel there’s pretty much nothing there along with a host of M numbers and NGC numbers. 
is this normal ? Are some of these targets only visible with the correct filters ? 
something dumb but I just don’t know if this is normal OR there’s something wrong ? ?

help, help lol

Neil

[wookie1965]

You need dark skies to see alot of things, M81 and M82 should be easy as they are bright. Go for clusters and double stars at home go to a dark site see deep sky objects. They all look like smudges some better than others. Ring nebula M57 you can see as well as the blue snowball NGC 7662. Get a good book on clusters and double stars.

That is what I have done and it has transformed my viewing I leave the deep sky stuff until I go to Astronomy meets or camping in dark skies.

Edited October 27, 2019 by wookie1965

[John]

Most deep sky objects are just smudges of light even with a 9.25 inch scope. Filters such as the O-III and UHC type do help make some nebulae stand out more. The views with a scope don't generally look anything like the images you see of deep sky objects because those are captured by highly sensative CDDs and are the results of many minutes or hours of culmulative exposures.

Light pollution and moonlight can make even the brighter deep sky objects difficult to see. They will seem more impressive if viewed under really dark skies but still won't rival the images I'm afraid.

Practice does help the eye to pick out deep sky objects. M81 and M82 are a couple of the best galaxies. M101 and M51 are somewhat fainter because they are face on to us.

[wookie1965]

As John says M101 and M51 are quite a bit fainter I've never seen them from home I was lucky enough see M51 in a 22" dob in Buxton what a site that was.

[Neiman]

Thank the Lord, thought I was just being a bit of a Div ! !

[Sunshine]

As mentioned above, dark skies away from cities and other forms of light pollution helps a lot.

[joe aguiar]

Norm u should use the scope without the focal reducer and put it on when you look at a big object like double cluster or see m81 and m82 in the same frame etc.

Most times like u should leave it off. The ring nebula could use more power. 

Is that your only ep? 25mm? If so you need to get another 3 or 4 nighter power and I would also get a 2 inch low power one too.

Joejaguar 

[John]

6 hours ago, joe aguiar said:

....Is that your only ep? 25mm? If so you need to get another 3 or 4 nighter power and I would also get a 2 inch low power one too.

 

Good suggestion. A 2 inch diagonal will also need to be acquired as well though, if Neil does not already have one.

[Ships and Stars]

I'm not that experienced but I use M57 Ring Nebula as my first target this time of year to test seeing conditions, as it's easy to find and relatively bright. As mentioned above, a lot has to do with being in a dark sky site. I used a 20" dob last night to view M1 Crab Nebula under town LP and even with quality astronomik filters in a big dob it's relatively featureless in those conditions, just a grey cloud without much detail. Out in the sticks under really dark conditions things take on a lot more detail. Good filters make all the difference between seeing and not seeing as well. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by Ships and Stars

[Jiggy 67]

Sounds obvious, but make sure you're dark adapted aswel, no white light and stand in the dark for 15 minutes so your eyes get used to it, makes a real difference to what you will see.....enjoy

[Pete Presland]

I also have a C9.25 and the views can be at first glance underwhelming, even of the brighter DSO's. Dark skies are obviously the best help, but filters are can improve most nebula's.

Expectation is another thing that can dampen the views, even the mighty Orion nebula looks nothing like the photos. 

The more time you spend observing an object, the more you see.

As other have said, i also do not use my focal reducer much, there are not many objects you need it for.

[baggywrinkle]

I have owned a 9.25 SCT for 5 years and it produces grey fuzzies. That is because our eyes are tuned t the greener wavelengths. However as you observe and use averted vision you will see more and more.

In January I bought 12" Meade (I have kept the Celestron 9.25 as it is a superb tube for outreach) and the views it provided were much more detailed, however still grey fuzzies. 

It is not until you start imaging that you start to see structure.

Very soon M42 will be visible before midnight and that will provide some really good structure to see and train your eye.

[Ben the Ignorant]

On 27/10/2019 at 21:37, Neiman said:

A hell of of a lot of the stuff I slew to I cannot see. Especially nebulae, I can see smudges that I get excited about ie The Andromeda Galaxy. But Bodes and the Pinwheel there’s pretty much nothing there along with a host of M numbers and NGC numbers. 
is this normal ? Are some of these targets only visible with the correct filters ? 
something dumb but I just don’t know if this is normal OR there’s something wrong ? ?

Look carefully for predictions of DRY air, cloudless doesn't mean dry. And reserve those nights for observing if no obligations are in the way; even inside a city an air mass free of haze does a lot to help see the fainter targets. Of course a darker countryside sky does more but better have both. I can't help but blame the people in charge of public lighting worldwide, except for places like Arizona where there is enough of an organized public mind to keep light pollution at the very lowest level.

All the current problems due to light pollution, save for those lately-discovered impacting human health, were known and solved on paper in the 1930's, and yet the solutions are applied to only a few rare places. Like only lighting engineers and elected officials have no internet, and never got the memo that's clamored everywhere for decades: don't waste energy, and don't go ruining nature!