M31, or not M31, that is the question...

[ashenlight]

Hello everyone!

A couple of nights ago the cloud cleared in the north-west so I took the opportunity to locate M31, which I have never seen before.

Using my Sky at Night starchart as a guide, I drew a line across from Algol in Perseus towards what I thought was Andromeda (it was fairly low down so my view was decidely orange in colour because of the light pollution). I scanned the area to the right of the constellation with my binos for ages, and kept coming across this speck of light, with a (very) dim cloudy-white oval around it. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I was expecting to see, as I dismissed this thinking it could not be M31 at all, because it was so dim! However, after 20 minutes or so I came to the conclusion that it must be M31, because I couldn't find anything else in the area. It also appeared more clearly when I looked to the side of it, does this always apply when viewing faint objects?

Do you think I managed to find it? Is this a similar description to the rest of you who use mainly binos?

My other question is, does M31 ever appear further up the sky, nearer to the zenith, as I imagine this will give clearer views?

Amanda

[SteveL]

Sounds like you found it! It is sinking slowly into the western horiozn, it is much higher in the sky in Autumn/Winter, so you will have to wait a while for it come round again.

[ashenlight]

Great, thanks for that Steve. They do say the best things come to those who wait

Amanda

[argonaut]

Hello Amanda,

Sounds good to me. Another tick off the list. I really struggle when M31 is over in the West. Bad pollution that way for me. I love the view when M31 is rising in the East.

There is not a lot to see with small bino's,but I always take a look. Some of my best views have come when using my 10x50's and Gt 70's. It's those moments of excellent seeing that surprise me. Lots of people say that M31 is best viewed with binoculars.

Nice capture on a difficult object.

Glen.