First time deep sky viewing - any tips?

[ashenlight]

Hi everyone,

As some of you know, I've had my scope for about 3 weeks now. It's a 5" inch newtonian reflector, f/5. I'm after some tips for viewing galaxies and other DSOs. Can anyone recommend some galaxies I could start with that will be visible in my scope? I've only really observed Saturn and a few double stars, I'd like to get onto galaxies now!

Haven't polar aligned the scope before, so I'm guessing I will need to do that to find the objects that aren't visible with the naked eye. The weather people a predicting a few hours of clear skies for S. Wales around 10pm tonight so I'm hoping to get out then.

Any help much appreciated,

Amanda

[Psychobilly]

If you have got decent views to the west you'll still just catch M42 the Orion Nebula after sunset.. it would be a pity to have to wait until later in the year...

M57 is always worth a look...

M13 Great Cluster in Hercules...

M81 and M82 maybe M31 is and early bird target at the moment need to catch it a few hours before dawn but will be low in the East... before dawn...

Sure there are lots more...

Peter...

[Sam]

M81 is a nice bright galaxy and it should show up really well, M82 will also stand out and you'll probbaly get them in the same field of view.

M51 might be a bit more challenging but certainly well worth a go. There's a bunch of galaxies in the Virgo cluster and some of them are quite bright so it's a good area to just browse and see what you can find.

There's some real nice Globular Clusters around at the moment. A must is M13, as Peter has noted but also M3 is very nice as well.

The galaxies don't look too spectacular in the eyepiece but keep in mind that what you're looking at has taken tens of millions of years for it's light to reach you - I think that's what makes them special! Take your time with the galaxies and use plenty of averted vision to see the faint detail - it takes a while for the eyes to adjust to detecting very faint changes in contrast in the background sky.

Sam

[ashenlight]

Thankyou for your suggestions Sam and Peter

Peter, I've been trying to catch a glimpse of M42 for a few days now, but it is slowly slipping into the urban glow and is getting rather hard to locate, I will try my best in the next couple of days

Sam, with you there on the time the light has spent travelling, my jaw touches the floor when I see a star and realise how far away it is. Averted vision has certainly become one of my best friends, it is even helpful when I have been viewing Saturn to pick up the moons

Thanks again, I've noted your suggestions down.

Amanda

[Psychobilly]

Pity your losing the chance to catch M42 but never mind if you miss it in the next few weeks you'll have it to look forward to later in the year... it will be definitely another wow moment...

What EP's do you have at the moment...?

Peter....

[starstruk]

M81 and M82 in Ursa Major are well worth a look with your scope,I have the same one and had a grin from ear to ear when i found them,use 25mm ep they both fit in same fov.

You will need to be a contortionist to get them in the finder but well worth it.

While you're up there have a look for M108,not so bright galaxy and near it M97 Owl nebula very faint grey blob

[Vega]

I agree, M81/82 is always worth a look. I would also mention some clusters... M35 in Gemini is quite nice and the M36-M38 clusters in the Auriga area too. You mention doubles.. did you check out Iota Cancri ? A very pretty contrasting double.

Matt

[ashenlight]

Thanks again everyone, great suggestions. I've been eyeing up M81 and 82 on my skychart for some time now, I will definitely get on to it next time. Unfortunately that 10pm clear sky window never did happen silly weatherpeople.

Peter - I have the standard eyepieces that came with my scope. 2x barlow, 10mm and 25mm. I'm thinking a wide FOV would be best for DSOs, and as Sam suggested, use plenty of averted vision?

At least I've got plenty of time to get used to the mount looks like the cloud is in for a few days

Amanda

[red dwalf]

Amanda, have you got a laptop of pc you can use as there`s a free program off the net called STELARIUM (hope i spelt it right) this shows you whats in the skys at your location and makes it very easy (well fairly) to find all sorts of interesting objects, i managed to locate the Andromeda galaxy a few weeks ago but it was fairly faint and somewhat of a small smudge BUT i had seen it ! and another one to cross of the list.

[acey]

If you have clear skies this week then Leo is a good place for galaxy hunting - a few Messiers are there. Neighbouring Virgo has even more. Lots of NGC's will be visible in your scope but the M's are best to start with - any of them will be seen well in a 5-inch as long as your sky isn't too light-polluted.

This is the best time of year for viewing galaxies, the weather forecast looks good and there's no Moon in the way, so make the most of it!

Andrew

[Casus belli]

I use a 25mm ep for faint fuzzy bagging. It gives me the right combination of magnification and contrast in my scope.

[DemonicOmelette]

Ok, I'll bite. What's this Averted Viewing everyone seems to rant about?

[Talitha]

The central part of your eye is dominated by color-receptive 'cones', whereas the area outside the cone is dominated by contrast-sensitive 'rods'. Averted vision is when you 'avert' your vision and look aside your target so the rods can detect a brighter image. Try it naked-eye on a star some night.. you'll see how much brighter the star gets when you don't look directly at it.

[Wayne Roberts]

Better make the most of saturn, from southampton end of may i think we loose it for 6 or so months due to summer sunsets. the plough is a good place for galaxys, M101 to the left and M51 to the right (plz correct me if i am wrong might have them mixed up with each other) at the bottom the plough, quite easy to find if all esle fails u can look in your next door neighbours window to "test" the scope out .....

BUt serously (soz Rubbish spelling) at the top u will have M81/M81 next to each other, its a good place for starting out as its a big constallation, and your scope should see it wih good conditions.

M51 (orion) is above us during the day atm and is out in about 2 months time (maybe 3, i will check with stary night) no galaxy's there but a very very beautifull nebula work taking pics of.

[Beulah]

Amanda,

I am a total DSO junkie - I cannot offer any more advice that has excellently been provided already - but one thing I love doing is re-observing the same celestial objects, night after night; one reason is to track it as it gradually moves through the sky and getting to know the geography - secondly, I found the brain is a marvellous imager...it seems objects such as M13 gets better and better the more I view it, as you notice new things time and time again which creates a type of composite live image.

Another side effect of this is during a boring day at the office, I can often recall those DSOs in my minds' eye.

Oh yeah, goes without saying..patience is definetely a virtue...

[DemonicOmelette]

(sorry to hijack the thread..)

Talitha, so you mean instead of looking right at the star, you look sorta out of the corner of your eye? Or you aim the scope slightly off-centre? I've never tried this... Does it really make a big difference?

-eli

[Talitha]

It makes a tremendous difference.

You don't do anything with the scope, just your eye. Look in the area immediately surrounding the target instead of looking directly at it, keeping in mind not to let the target fall into the eye's natural blind spot.. it's in the 9:00 area of the left eye, and the 3:00 area of the right eye.

To try it out on a naked-eye star, look above or below the star by about one finger width or so. First look directly at the star, then away from it.. you'll see the difference immediately.

It's tempting to use direct vision, because that's the way our brains are wired, but you'll soon see how averted vision benefits you as an observer. You'll get used to it, and eventually your eye will 'train' itself to more easily detect the brighter areas of the target which the rods have boosted the contrast up in.

You might want to try Googling 'averted vision' and 'blind spot'... there's lots of info out there which probably explain things much better than i can.