How to find some "easy targets"?

[turboscrew]

I've been trying to find M51, M101, M81 and M82 without luck. I have 300 mm F/4 tube, so I think I should be able to tell if I see them.

I've tried with 25 mm eyepiece (48x), but either not found them or not recognized them.

Any advice? I could find M57 quite easily.

Also, do you think that replacing my current 6x30 finder with, say, 8x50, would help?

I'm going to replace it anyway because I'm not a yogi that can bend enough to look into straight finder scope end that's 4 inches above my navel.

(Hmm, maybe I should add my gear in the signature...)

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by turboscrew

[Pixies]

I found the best upgrade I've done was to replace the straight finder with a RACI (right angle, correct image) finder and a Telrad. There are multiple threads discussing this arrangement, and I think that there will be several more posters along shortly, to suggest the same thing.

You can use the Telrad (or Rigel Quikfinder) to find the starting target, then on to the RACI to start star-hopping. Because the RACI displays the sky as you see it (and as sky charts show it) it does make star-hopping much easier. Your Bortle 5 skies won't be any issue with finding these things. M101 is going to be the hardest to find, but M81 and M82 are relatively bright - but small.

Here's how I find them:

Start with Ursa Major. There are more stars than just the 'big dipper'. With Bortle-5, you should be able to see them all.

 

Find the 2 stars parallel to and beyond Dubhe and Merak, follow their line to a small bright triangle of stars. The telrad would be good for this. Then with the RACI, follow the direction back along to the bowl of the Big Dipper - almost like the way the triangle points to - until you find another bright pair of stars 

These two stars are good indicators to the location of M81 and M82.  If you have the stars in the finder view, you should have the galaxies too.

Switch to a low powered eyepiece and hunt them out. Remember - in the EP, the view will be reversed.

If you have a pair of binoculars, you can test out the star-hop before you use the scope.

[turboscrew]

Thanks! I think that should do it.

 

[Waddensky]

All these objects can be found under Bortle 5 with your scope, but their appearance differs a lot from M57.  M81 and M82 are bright smudges, but the 'star hop' as described by Pixies may be a bit difficult. M51 is more subtle, but not so hard to to find from Alkaid. M101 is large and has a low surface brightness - try this one once you've found the other ones.

I think the main thing is to know what to expect. If you've found the M81/M82 duo, you'll have a good idea of what a galaxy looks like. Good luck!

[popeye85]

Personally I use a star atlas rather than a app and plan out my star hops with that before heading out. The ring nebula is a good target to find and get the hang of star hoping.

[wookie1965]

I have seen M81 and M82 in my 4" Refractor from bortle skies M51 and M101 I have never seen from home I have seen them from a dark sky site. 

[Zermelo]

Tony Flanders's Messier Guide has been mentioned before as a good resource.
In particular, he created the following guide, which has been linked to before on this forum (but I can't remember where, nor can I now find the original on Tony's site):

You can see that M101 in particular is listed in the hardest category - big enough, but low surface brightness.

On the subject of locating the objects, there are maps for Telrads on the web (again, I'm sure these were linked to from posts on this forum, but the only ones I can find now are dead. Apologies to OPs).

 

[Waddensky]

31 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Tony Flanders's Messier Guide has been mentioned before as a good resource.
In particular, he created the following guide, which has been linked to before on this forum (but I can't remember where, nor can I now find the original on Tony's site):

 

I was of course familiar with Tony's guide, but I've never seen this chart. It's very convenient and broadly matches my experience. A great resource!

Just trying to figure out what the thought behind the order of objects within each category is 🤔

[Zermelo]

On 19/10/2020 at 15:05, Zermelo said:

Tony Flanders's Messier Guide has been mentioned before as a good resource.
In particular, he created the following guide, which has been linked to before on this forum (but I can't remember where, nor can I now find the original on Tony's site):

You can see that M101 in particular is listed in the hardest category - big enough, but low surface brightness.

 

 

I've relocated where I found that graphic originally, it was  Astrid  responding here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/364509-first-few-times-out/?tab=comments#comment-3970053

Apologies for stealing some likes! 🥴

[turboscrew]

On 19/10/2020 at 18:05, Zermelo said:

Tony Flanders's Messier Guide has been mentioned before as a good resource.
In particular, he created the following guide, which has been linked to before on this forum (but I can't remember where, nor can I now find the original on Tony's site):

You can see that M101 in particular is listed in the hardest category - big enough, but low surface brightness.

On the subject of locating the objects, there are maps for Telrads on the web (again, I'm sure these were linked to from posts on this forum, but the only ones I can find now are dead. Apologies to OPs).

 

That's a great chart!

 

[Louis D]

The only other galaxy (core) I found to be super easy from Bortle 6+ skies besides M31 was NGC253.  However, I don't know if gets high enough for UK observers to see.