Faintest Stars That Can Be Seen Versus Sky Brightness

[beka]

Hi All,

It seems I can't find information on the limiting visual magnitude in relation to sky brightness and aperture. For example if the naked eye limiting magnitude is 4.5 then what can I expect it would be with different aperture instruments - eg 10 x 50 binos or 11 inch SCT. There are calculations that can be performed for astrophotography which consider various factors like sky brightness, aperture and integration times need to get a particular signal to noise ratio but I wanted information for visual observation.

Cheers

[Mr Spock]

This calculator looks useful http://www.nature1st.net/bogan/astro/optics/ccdlimit.html

Looks a bit complicated for my tiny brain though 😜

[Deadlake]

This is quite a complex subject for instance take Barnard loop, this requires a dark site (at least +21 SQM) and H-Alpha filter to really see. Aperture will not help you, all about contrast. So what type of objects do you want to apply this calculation too, are you including or excluding extended objects like those found in the sharpless catalog?

[beka]

11 hours ago, Deadlake said:

This is quite a complex subject for instance take Barnard loop, this requires a dark site (at least +21 SQM) and H-Alpha filter to really see. Aperture will not help you, all about contrast. So what type of objects do you want to apply this calculation too, are you including or excluding extended objects like those found in the sharpless catalog?

I am interested in stars rather than extended objects.

[beka]

12 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

This calculator looks useful http://www.nature1st.net/bogan/astro/optics/ccdlimit.html

Looks a bit complicated for my tiny brain though 😜

This seems to be for astrophotography - I am interested in visual observations.

[Voyager 3]

This is a calculator recommended by @Don Pensack , though it still is variable depending on few other factors .

https://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm

 

[beka]

23 hours ago, Voyager 3 said:

This is a calculator recommended by @Don Pensack , though it still is variable depending on few other factors .

https://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm

 

Thanks, seems to be exactly what I am looking for.