M42 What it really looks like

[mdstuart]

Oftern beginners expect to see things as in photos. Well after looking at M42 tonight with my 6 inch scope and an OIII filter I found this picture of what it really looks like at the eyepeice in my scope. Do others see it like this?

(click to enlarge)

Regards

Mark

[GazOC]

yep, thats what it looks like to me with decent aperture and a OIII/ UHC-S filter. The more aperture the further the wisps can be followed outwards.

[John]

Thanks Mark,

Yes that what it looks like to me as well - with my 8" scope on a decent night. We could do with some more pictures like this - showing objects the way they actually look through a scope. The American magazine Astronomy used to publish artists impressions of Saturn and M13 though 3", 8" and 12" scopes a few years ago - I found that useful to guage expectations. I'll look out for similiar images on the web I think.

John

[sasykes]

Well, here's a shot I took tonight just before the clouds rolled in. It's through my 6" reflector using a Nikon D40 at prime focus. I live in a major city with heavy light pollution and I had to track this by hand, so it's just a single 6 second exposure and a bit blurred. Anyway, it does show what it looks like through a 6" reflector.

Large >>

[Talitha]

Sasykes, that's a great representation of an eyepiece view... nice job!

Mark, where'd you find the pic? It looks similar to what I see, too. Here are 2 sketches done with different scopes (no filter; SCT is an f/10, 80 achro is an f/5).

[Sam]

That's a very true representation of what M42 looks like. The views of M42 through my 16" are amazing. There's the motley centre and really well defined trapezium and streamy bits of nebula heading out from the trapezium like great big wings - right to the edge of the FOV in the 32mm eyepiece - very cool!

Sam

[mjcp]

A section in astropedia for objects and their true life/in eyepiece representation would be really handy. We had people round the other night and got the scope out. They saw M42 but I had to explain about 4 times to look for the "7" and the cake with a wedge taken out etc etc....

mjcp.

[John]

I've posted this today in the beginners section:

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,36966.msg377849.html#msg377849

It links to a simulator that covers M13 and M31 though various apertures.

John

[lunator]

Hi Mark

That is a pretty good representation of the view through the 8" scope from London.

I saw M42 last night from Greg's garden using his 10" scope and despite the Moon the view was stunning and the amount of nebulosity was unbelieveable.

Cheers

Ian