Orion nebula

[Mark68]

Hi just a quick question. 

I am using an orion xt10 and looking for orion nebula.

I thought I found it last night, but I wasusing a 2x Barlow and a zoom lens at 8mm.

What I thought was the nebula didn't fill the whole eye piece and had 4 stars just behind it. 

Have I found the right one?

[John]

It sounds like you have seen the central part of the Orion nebula and the Trapezium cluster.

You were using a lot of magnification (300x !). To see the whole of the nebula you need to use much less magnification - about 50x is fine so a 25mm eyepiece (no barlow) will do the job.

 

[Mark68]

OK thanks, so that would be true even if it seems to have a shape?

I would see a cloud and it looked like a horse shoe then it was clear round the outside I think. 

[Pixies]

Here's a rough comparison of the 2 views: 8mm and barlow  (assuming x2) and 25mm alone. Using https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

 

[tea_subtle]

Hi. I’m new to the hobby so no expert but as stated above it sounds like you have found the trapezium in the centre. 
if it helps at all when I started this voyage with my grandson I thought getting up close was the secret. For us it certainly isn’t now. Much better views and perspective are to be found using lower strength eyepieces. 
last night was clear here and spent the evening looking at Orion, the beehive cluster to name a couple on a 20 and 26mm lens. 
maybe as time moves on we will get more orientated and observe things in more detail but at the moment it’s really interesting just seeing a bigger picture of the clusters etc. 

[Mark68]

2 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Here's a rough comparison of the 2 views: 8mm and barlow  (assuming x2) and 25mm alone. Using https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

 

Yeah I use that quite a bit,  but airways doubt it. 

Is a clear day so will try again tonight without the Barlow.

Thanks

[Mark68]

4 minutes ago, tea_subtle said:

Hi. I’m new to the hobby so no expert but as stated above it sounds like you have found the trapezium in the centre. 
if it helps at all when I started this voyage with my grandson I thought getting up close was the secret. For us it certainly isn’t now. Much better views and perspective are to be found using lower strength eyepieces. 
last night was clear here and spent the evening looking at Orion, the beehive cluster to name a couple on a 20 and 26mm lens. 
maybe as time moves on we will get more orientated and observe things in more detail but at the moment it’s really interesting just seeing a bigger picture of the clusters etc. 

Yeah,  it did go against all logic. 

You would what's think getting closer is getting better. 

I need to get my head around that. 

[tea_subtle]

2 minutes ago, Mark68 said:

Yeah,  it did go against all logic. 

You would what's think getting closer is getting better. 

I need to get my head around that. 

The Beehive cluster definitely needs to be appreciated from pulling back on magnification. 
you have more light pulling power than our 8 inch dob so it will look even more amazing. 

[John]

3 minutes ago, Mark68 said:

Yeah,  it did go against all logic. 

You would what's think getting closer is getting better. 

I need to get my head around that. 

Most deep sky observing is done at low to medium magnifications. Not all, but most. So 40x - 100x or similar ?

The Orion Nebula is quite a large object - a large as the full moon, so high magnifications just show parts of it:

 

 

[Mark68]

Thank you. 

Will have another look tonight. 

I'll forget it is millions of miles away😄

[Orange Smartie]

It is millions of miles away, but it is also massive! 

[maw lod qan]

The Orion's Nebula is beautiful!

After looking at it through the eyepiece, I decided to try just a single image of it with my Canon. Even with that simple set up, seeing some of the color in the image was a wow moment!

 

[Mark68]

Did you manage to see colour through the eye piece?

[Tiago Ferreira]

12 minutes ago, Mark68 said:

Did you manage to see colour through the eye piece?

yes. greenish blue. And sometimes, rare, a red tint which i though was impossible to see but it is not.

[John]

I see very subtle greenish tints in the central parts of the Orion Nebula with my 12 inch scope. Not so apparent with my smaller aperture scopes.

Nothing like the images you see - very subtle indeed.

 

 

[tuckstar]

I have seen a slight green tint but only in a very dark sky with a 10".

[Pixies]

I can't see any colour but my son (15) can see green.

[Louis D]

Once you know you have the Orion nebula centered, shine a light on a white card for a few seconds and stare at it to activate the cones in your fovea and then quickly look back in the eyepiece to see if you can detect color.  I've seen hints of green in an 8" scope using this technique.  Of course, this totally obliterates any dark adaptation you might have had, but you make your choices.