M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

[MartinT]

I think I might have pushed the pixel 4a about as far as it'll go! 

This counts as the very first galaxy I've spotted, so I'm unreasonably chuffed. Also what with the light pollution here and the bright shiny moon last night I realise I didn't make life easy - but I've found picking one target and sticking with it definitely helps me. 

This was too faint to see much of anything through the eyepiece (celestron ultima duo 13mm on my skywatcher 130pds), so I used the phone with astrometry.net (such an amazing resource) to work out what I was looking at and hone in - turning myself into an iterated plate-solving, push-to system. 

Once I was on target - and had the reassurance that I actually was where I thought/hoped I was - I could make out more detail by eye (though not as much as the phone could show). I spent a good while peering at (down?) the whirlpool before the bottom of the scope contacted the tripod - another rookie mistake! - and, not having the confidence to try and reset/refind it swapped to splitting the double double (just because I'd read about t earlier in the week) before heading to bed far later than planned. What a fabulous night. 

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by MartinT

[MartinT]

I did also attempt it with my 2x Barlow, because why not, but I think the view was better without - certainly too dim by eye though the little animation the phone made still impressed me. Although I wouldn't have thought anything was in there without the previous hours observation to guide me. 

[PeterStudz]

I tried this last year with a Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p and iPhone 12 from my back garden in Southampton - Bortle 7. In the eyepiece I could see absolutely nothing and I tried and tried over several moonless nights, even with averted imagination. But given the equipment plus light pollution it didn’t surprise me.

But taking a snap with my phone and there it was! At least I knew that I was in the right place and my star hoping had been a success.

I’ve cropped the image (it was small on the original) but you can just make out some structure to the galaxy. Sure, it’s a grainy old picture but I was chuffed just to capture something… anything!

@MartinT Have you tried M81 & M82? I had far more success on those two. 

Edited May 15, 2022 by PeterStudz

[OK Apricot]

Well done on that, great shot for a phone 🙂. I managed this a few months back with the Skymax 127:

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

On 14/05/2022 at 08:33, MartinT said:

I think I might have pushed the pixel 4a about as far as it'll go! 

This counts as the very first galaxy I've spotted, so I'm unreasonably chuffed. Also what with the light pollution here and the bright shiny moon last night I realise I didn't make life easy - but I've found picking one target and sticking with it definitely helps me. 

This was too faint to see much of anything through the eyepiece (celestron ultima duo 13mm on my skywatcher 130pds), so I used the phone with astrometry.net (such an amazing resource) to work out what I was looking at and hone in - turning myself into an iterated plate-solving, push-to system. 

Once I was on target - and had the reassurance that I actually was where I thought/hoped I was - I could make out more detail by eye (though not as much as the phone could show). I spent a good while peering at (down?) the whirlpool before the bottom of the scope contacted the tripod - another rookie mistake! - and, not having the confidence to try and reset/refind it swapped to splitting the double double (just because I'd read about t earlier in the week) before heading to bed far later than planned. What a fabulous night. 

 

Ahhh! That took me a minute or two to spot. 😀 . You have captured some structure, so keep trying when the moon is out the way.

The thread below may help a bit and has a very encouraging conclusion... @AstroNebulee started the discussion and now two years later has a very ingenius lightweight astrophotography rig. He produces fantastic images.

 

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Ahhh! That took me a minute or two to spot. 😀 . You have captured some structure, so keep trying when the moon is out the way.

The thread below may help a bit and has a very encouraging conclusion... @AstroNebulee started the discussion and now two years later has a very ingenius lightweight astrophotography rig. He produces fantastic images.

 

Thank you @ScouseSpaceCadet 👍, that's very kind of you to say. Christ I forgot all about that original post, that was when I first started seriously in astronomy, wow 2 years gone already and what an astronomy journey, then falling down the rabbit hole to astrophotography (it all started from there) plenty of mistakes and lows but the highs of being under the night sky, discovering beautiful objects image has more than made up for it. Good luck with your journey @MartinT

Edited May 18, 2022 by AstroNebulee