Leo trio - how easy to find?

[domstar]

Nice thread. I like the Leo Triplet. The star-hop is pretty easy but I often muck it up if I'm not prepared. It's far enough away from a naked eye star to miss. The Hamburger gave me all sorts of problems and I didn't get to see it for a long time. One advantage is that I knew I was in the right place because of the other two. That meant I could spend a good amount of time trying for it rather than conclude that I was in the wrong place. 

[wookie1965]

The Leo Trio is one of the objects I have never seen from home with a 6" reflector a 8 " reflector and both my 4" and 5" refractors. 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

10 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

The Leo Trio is one of the objects I have never seen from home with a 6" reflector a 8 " reflector and both my 4" and 5" refractors. 

Nor me. Probably impossible under Bortle 8 skies. 🙄☹️ Easy in Bortle 4. Especially with goto. 😉😁

[Nik271]

1 hour ago, Orange Smartie said:

It's sounds like I was looking in the wrong place then maybe.  I'll take another look tonight, weather permitting.

I've seen the triplet in a SW 127 Mak with effective aperture only 119mm. So a 6 inch scope is perfectly capable of showing the triplet.

I find them by pointing the scope roughly halfway between Chertan and Iota Leo.

Just wait until they are at least 40degrees above horizon to avoid as much of the light pollution as possible.

 

 

[Orange Smartie]

Still no joy yet.

There was broken cloud last night, which never quite cleared enough to allow a proper look at the lower part of Leo. We managed to split Algieba though, and we took a look at the beehive cluster, M35 and the double cluster in Perseus again (easily visible to the naked eye as a smudge of light).  All this accompanied by the slightly off-putting vibration of the telescope as our cat rubbed himself against the table legs....

Since Orion will soon be lost to us for a time, we took the opportunity to once again admire the nebula and to split the easy double Mintaka. One cheeky peek at Beta Monocerotis and the cloud rolled in!

I will be back out to look at Leo at the next possible opportunity. 

[bish]

They were a struggle with my 6", where I live.  Easy from a dark site though.

[Nik271]

11 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

Still no joy yet.

It's the sky conditions: even the slightest decrease in transparency can make these near invisible. I decided to give it a try with my 6 inch Newtonian last night but there was too much cloud initially. I went to sleep and got up at 3am when it was supposed to be clear. However mist was rolling in from the west where Leo was.

I knew exactly where to look but even with the 20mm EP at x37 and 4mm exit pupil I had a lot of difficulty spotting M65 and M66 between the banks of the mist and I was using averted vision, tapping the scope, towel over the head, the works. They were just faint ghostly blobs appearing and disappearing as the mist went by. There was not even a hint of NGC 3628.

By contrast the M51 the Whirlpool was right at the zenith in a patch of clear sky and the mist around it was acting as a screen from the light pollution. I enjoyed very good views of its two cores. Last year I struggled a lot with M51: I was trying to see in when it was lower down and through light polluted skies. I'm in north Oxford where it's Bortle 5/6 so can only get a clear view of the DSOs when they are near the zenith and in ideal conditions. 

Keep trying, you can see them but the conditions have to be good. 

 

[bish]

19 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Nor me. Probably impossible under Bortle 8 skies. 🙄☹️ Easy in Bortle 4. Especially with goto. 😉😁

I think air quality is a huge thing. I saw the triplet under bortle 8 skies with a 6" reflector. I lived on a hill and I think a lot of the surrounding sky murk sank below me. I moved 2 miles down the road in a dip. Despite having a street light shielded garden the sky is never as good as my flat balcony. Don't think I would see them from my garden in the 6", even though it"s much more shielded.

[Orange Smartie]

Yes! I think I just saw them. Very very faint, pretty much smack bang between Iota Leonis and Chertan. Three fuzzy blobs, all very dim, but very definitely there.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Orange Smartie
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[Gfamily]

On 15th, the asteroid Vesta will be pretty much half way between the triplet and Denebola - the bright star at the 'tail' of Leo.

 

[Paul73]

2 hours ago, Orange Smartie said:

Yes! I think I just saw them. Very very faint, pretty much smack bang between Iota Leonis and Chertan. Three fuzzy blobs, all very dim, but very definitely there.

Congratulations. Now that you know what you are looking for, you’ll spot them every time. 
I tried for them this evening but could only see two of the three. Turns out that my secondary was half iced over!

Paul

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Well flippin eck. I decided to try the Triplets (again) from home. The 4" Altair Starwave Ascent managed it, well almost. M66 spotted as an elongated smudge through a 7mm OVL es-uwa 82°. One out of three isn't bad considering the city sky. It's only taken me two years!

 

[wibblefish]

Had a go towards the end of the session last night but much to low in the sky so it was mostly full of light pollution where I am sadly though I think I got in the right area  

If I manage a Fri / Sat night at some point I'll stay out a bit later (post-10pm) and see if I can get them when they are higher in the sky!

[Stu1smartcookie]

Great thread ... i am very guilty of  going out without a plan . Mind you i haven't got an eastern sky as such , so i am a bit thwarted , and have to take whats on offer at reasonable times in the evenings . But , at the weekend ( clear nights permitting) i am going to give this a go . Enthused by this .. thank you all 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

2 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Great thread ... i am very guilty of  going out without a plan . Mind you i haven't got an eastern sky as such , so i am a bit thwarted , and have to take whats on offer at reasonable times in the evenings . But , at the weekend ( clear nights permitting) i am going to give this a go . Enthused by this .. thank you all 

I've done the same, but recently taken to planning sessions and logging observations. Like a proper astronomer. 🧐😁 The prep does make a huge difference.

There's no great tech or time taken, just a look at Sky Safari in the directions I'll be viewing, and what will be up at the time. Taking into consideration limiting magnitude from the garden with the 4", which is approx 8.9.

I'll also flip through the Sky at Night calender for the month to check that night, and double star tables, or one of the other almanacs in the arsenal. The forum's celestial events section is checked out too.