Galaxy fails..10x50s

[mark81]

I had another nice session last night with the 10x50s - I really do love using them - Ursa Major is in a great position for Binocular viewing at the moment which saves the poor old neck - but it's an area I don't often look at because looking North for me is looking towards the street and the wonderful streetlamp...

Had a go at M101. Easy to find the right location but much harder to spot. Starting at Mizar and then following stars 81 83 84 and then over to 86 but no sign of it.  Anybody have much luck with it in a pair of 50mm?  Maybe it was a little too low.

I had the same result with M51 - which I imagine is even tougher to spot - the right location but no sighting.  M63 was certainly too low and too close the the streetlamp so I didn't attempt that one.

I did have a go at a square of galaxies below Dubhe. 3643, 3610, 3613 and 3690, I could definitely make out 4 faint points of light making the square but couldn't tell if I was seeing the galaxies or just a random pattern of actual stars... Again, any luck with these?

I went on to pick out a few clusters and also got my first look this winter of M46 and 47. Of course I checked out Orion's Nebula and was also able to resolve some stars in the cluster 1981 which sits just above it...

I'm really thinking about getting some 80mm just to go a little deeper and bring a whole load of clusters within my grasp.. but I really do want a low mag, so any recommendations would be great.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Edited December 21, 2019 by mark81

[PeterW]

They’re all quite low surface brightness so don’t feel too bad. If you have good skies they might become easier. Try for M31 and M81, which are easier to spot. I’ll leave it to others to comment on 70:80mm bins, but you’ll need a way to keep them still to make best use of them.

good luck

peter

[Stu]

What are your skies like Mark? With darker skies these low surface brightness galaxies become possible in binos but you will struggle under LP.

I have no experience with these, but often fancied a pair of 10.5 or 11x70s. Quite a large exit pupil so best under dark skies and they do probably need a tripod still. 4.8 degree field of view is reasonable for the mag.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/helios-binoculars/helios-stellar-ii-70mm-wp-binoculars.html

Just had a look up whilst putting the bunnies away, lovely skies here but bed for me now. While I remember, have a look between Alnilam and Mintaka and there is a lovely S shape of stars running through, worth a look if those pesky galaxies won't play ball!

[mark81]

17 hours ago, Stu said:

What are your skies like Mark? With darker skies these low surface brightness galaxies become possible in binos but you will struggle under LP.

I have no experience with these, but often fancied a pair of 10.5 or 11x70s. Quite a large exit pupil so best under dark skies and they do probably need a tripod still. 4.8 degree field of view is reasonable for the mag.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/helios-binoculars/helios-stellar-ii-70mm-wp-binoculars.html

Just had a look up whilst putting the bunnies away, lovely skies here but bed for me now. While I remember, have a look between Alnilam and Mintaka and there is a lovely S shape of stars running through, worth a look if those pesky galaxies won't play ball!

Thanks Stu,

Nice skies here, Bortle 3/4. Yeah, I'm sure it was just the conditions for that night - but it's not an area I really ever look at....

I have had a good look at those Stella bins before and really like what I hear.  Definitely something to consider for next year...

Looks clear for tonight, so I'll check out that s shape...

Mark

[Stu]

Good stuff @mark81, some nice skies so you should do ok with the bins. Which scopes do you have? I can't remember!

[mark81]

@Stu I have the ST80 -low power grab and go has always worked for me and this scope and a set of bins keeps me busy... So another set alongside my 10x50s should work well...

[mdstuart]

I once created a web page to show the brightest galaxies to try with binoculars. Try a few of my suggestions.

http://bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/Galaxy viewing with binoculars.php

 

[BinocularSky]

On 21/12/2019 at 11:38, mark81 said:

Had a go at M101. Easy to find the right location but much harder to spot. [...]

I had the same result with M51 - which I imagine is even tougher to spot

M101: Very difficult unless it's high enough not to suffer from atmospheric extinction and the sky is dark enough that it is distinguishable from the background (but still easier in a 10x50 than a 60mm junkscope!). Use averted vision ans expect to detect a patch of over-so-slightly-brighter sky that will probably disappear with direct vision.

M51: I find this slightly easier to detect, possibly because it is more compact but also because its surface brightness is (from memory, so worth checking) about one mag/sq.arcsec brighter.

[mark81]

Just a quick update... Had another go at m101 tonight with much crisper skies and m101 was available with averted vision! There was the faintest of stars underneath which could have been 5474 at mag 10.9 .....not sure about that one..

[Ciaran Meier]

On 26/12/2019 at 17:51, mdstuart said:

I once created a web page to show the brightest galaxies to try with binoculars. Try a few of my suggestions.

http://bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/Galaxy viewing with binoculars.php

 

Great page. Bookmarked.