Best targets for wide field scopes ?

[Olli]

Hi everyone , 

 

As the title suggests I am currently looking for some targets to fulfil the potential of my scope. I’ve currently only used it on Planetary objects such as the moon and Saturn and have been really pleased with the results given its size. However I have only been using large reflector scopes observing DSOs up until now so I’m not really sure how far this can go. I went to try andromeda but unfortunately clouds cut the session short. Any advice on what to observe would be great and would love to know  what are some of your favourites to look at for those with similar scopes.

 

TYIA

[Stu]

17 minutes ago, Olli said:

Hi everyone , 

 

As the title suggests I am currently looking for some targets to fulfil the potential of my scope. I’ve currently only used it on Planetary objects such as the moon and Saturn and have been really pleased with the results given its size. However I have only been using large reflector scopes observing DSOs up until now so I’m not really sure how far this can go. I went to try andromeda but unfortunately clouds cut the session short. Any advice on what to observe would be great and would love to know  what are some of your favourites to look at for those with similar scopes.

 

TYIA

What scope do you have Olli, and which eyepieces? Do you have an OIII or UHC filter?

A lot depends on the above and how dark your skies are too. My favourites at this time of year are objects like the Veil and North America Nebula. To see these in their entirety you need around 3.5 degrees field of view and a good UHC or preferably OIII filter, plus dark skies.

As you mention, M31 is great in a wide field of view and dark skies as you really see the full extent of it.

Other suggestions would be open clusters or groupings of objects such as M8, M20 and M21 which show beautifully in a large fov. In general trawling up the Milky Way is very rewarding too.

In terms of open clusters, the Double Cluster and Stock 2 look great together, and ones like Melotte 111 is large and looks good in wide fields.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

[Ratlet]

How wide is wide?

M31 is always going to be a classic.  Something about a photon travelling unimpeded for 2.5 million years only to end it's life in a Scottish bams retina is amazing to me.

Open clusters in Auriga/Perseus are some of my favourites,  M34-M38.  I find with a wider view some of them take on a slightly organic view, almost like moss or lichen.  It's hard to describe.  Probably better more into autumn.

[Olli]

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

What scope do you have Olli, and which eyepieces? Do you have an OIII or UHC filter?

A lot depends on the above and how dark your skies are too. My favourites at this time of year are objects like the Veil and North America Nebula. To see these in their entirety you need around 3.5 degrees field of view and a good UHC or preferably OIII filter, plus dark skies.

As you mention, M31 is great in a wide field of view and dark skies as you really see the full extent of it.

Other suggestions would be open clusters or groupings of objects such as M8, M20 and M21 which show beautifully in a large fov. In general trawling up the Milky Way is very rewarding too.

In terms of open clusters, the Double Cluster and Stock 2 look great together, and ones like Melotte 111 is large and looks good in wide fields.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Hi Stu, I currently have a Zenithstar 73 and for eyepieces I have a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece and a 14mm 76 degree eyepiece. After looking at the clear outside app it says I’m in bortle 4. I was pondering on the idea of uhc filters but wasn’t sure if they would be worth splurging on. Thank you for the suggestions above I will have note those down. Hopefully I get to have another crack at m31 before it disappears behind my trees!

[Olli]

10 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

How wide is wide?

M31 is always going to be a classic.  Something about a photon travelling unimpeded for 2.5 million years only to end it's life in a Scottish bams retina is amazing to me.

Open clusters in Auriga/Perseus are some of my favourites,  M34-M38.  I find with a wider view some of them take on a slightly organic view, almost like moss or lichen.  It's hard to describe.  Probably better more into autumn.

Thanks, I remember seeing m31 in my first scope and it still blows me away. I will have a look at those clusters.

[Stu]

11 minutes ago, Olli said:

Hi Stu, I currently have a Zenithstar 73 and for eyepieces I have a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece and a 14mm 76 degree eyepiece. After looking at the clear outside app it says I’m in bortle 4. I was pondering on the idea of uhc filters but wasn’t sure if they would be worth splurging on. Thank you for the suggestions above I will have note those down. Hopefully I get to have another crack at m31 before it disappears behind my trees!

Your 24mm in the ZS73 will give you about 3.8 degrees which will be very good. The exit pupil will be 4mm which will work well with a narrowband filter like an OIII. There are plenty of reports that you need an 8” scope to use an OIII but that is just not true. A Bortle 4 sky is what I have at home and I can see the Veil and NAN with filtered 15x50 binos so your scope will certainly show them. It’s worth buying a decent OIII though, but once cry once as they say. A larger exit pupil will also help; potentially with a 32mm Plossl which wouldn’t give any wider a field but would give you a 5.4mm exit pupil and a brighter though smaller scale image. Worth experimenting with as they are fairly low cost.

[The60mmKid]

I highly recommend the Astronomical League Binocular Deep Sky observing list: https://www.astroleague.org/deep-sky-binocular-observing-program/. It's mostly open clusters, but very beautiful ones that look great through a rich-field instrument.

[The60mmKid]

(The Astronomical League and Royal Astronomical Society of Canada observing lists could guide you for a lifetime, so I suggest perusing them and seeing what interests you. Also, Turn Left at Orion is a good guide for beginning deep sky observing.)

[Scosmico]

A rich field is very rewarding. My approach has been slightly different. I normally choose a constellation in the sky and scan it, starting with my biggest field of view. If something catches my attention I change eyepiece and/or filters. Afterwards, I check on my app what object that was and if I missed obvious objects or should revisit the area.

[Elp]

If you've got sky safari there's a list of what's best at the time in the search menu. You can check framing on the telescopius website.

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 02/09/2023 at 11:40, Olli said:

Hi Stu, I currently have a Zenithstar 73 and for eyepieces I have a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece and a 14mm 76 degree eyepiece. After looking at the clear outside app it says I’m in bortle 4. I was pondering on the idea of uhc filters but wasn’t sure if they would be worth splurging on. Thank you for the suggestions above I will have note those down. Hopefully I get to have another crack at m31 before it disappears behind my trees!

I observe from Bortle 5-6 skies and have an Explore Scientific UHC and Olll. I purchased an Sll a few months ago, but yet to try try it on wide field DSO’s. The UHC is an improvement on some of the filters I use.

Also SGL’er @Ags has published some very useful books too, either printed or .PDF - link here... https://discovering-astronomy.eu/index.html

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[Nik271]

Try to look towards the galactic centre in Sagittarius while it's still visible around 10pm. In particular the Small Sagittarius star cloud M24 looks very nice in wide field telescopes. Nearby are M25, M23, M22, the Lagoon, Triffid, Swan and Eagle nebulae. They will show well in Bortle 4 sky.  

[jjohnson3803]

I've found that wandering the Milky Way at low to medium power is quite rewarding, even without a target list or bothering to identify what I'm looking at - pure eye candy.  Aside from that, there are a lot of open clusters that can fill wide field views.  Enjoy!

Edited September 30, 2023 by jjohnson3803