Viewing Saturn and a failed attempt of M31 2/9/23

[Olli]

Just a short session tonight but My main target was to try and observe M31. After having a quick browse on sky safari I managed to locate the andromeda constellation fairly easily finding the tail end of Matar and going down until I could find Mirach, Unfortunately the moon is still fairly bright in its wearing  gibbous stage so I was unable to locate the uAnd stars above mirach and was  trying to go in blind. I thought i  did see a small grey fuzzie but I was not 100%  sure that it was m31. Though I knew I was in the general area but the moon and small layer of clouds did not help.

After deciding to not waste my session I moved over to Saturn as previously it was badly positioned though this time it was in prime position to view from my spot. After locating it with the red dot finder and the 24mm eyepiece I swapped to my 14mm and could easily make out the rings as well as possibly Rhea? On the left hand side though it was quite difficult to see. I think I am slowly becoming obsessed with planets ( even more so than before ) which is making me want to get a mak ! Overall a very enjoyable  session even if I could not locate M31.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Olli

[Neil_104]

If your skies are anything like mine this evening then it's definitely not an evening for M31, the Moon reflecting off high level cloud will all but mask it. I'm not sure if you've seen M31 before and so know what to look for or not, but try finding it with your naked eye first. If the skies are dark enough then it always stands out fairly well to me (though of course eye sight will factor in here!). From there it's all the more easy to zoom in on it 🙂

(I've just realised - you may well have been trying to find it with the naked eye 😄)

Edited September 2, 2023 by Neil_104

[Olli]

17 minutes ago, Neil_104 said:

If your skies are anything like mine this evening then it's definitely not an evening for M31, the Moon reflecting off high level cloud will all but mask it. I'm not sure if you've seen M31 before and so know what to look for or not, but try finding it with your naked eye first. If the skies are dark enough then it always stands out fairly well to me (though of course eye sight will factor in here!). From there it's all the more easy to zoom in on it 🙂

(I've just realised - you may well have been trying to find it with the naked eye 😄)

Thanks I must of admit  it was probably the worst night for viewing it. I have seen it before in a dob. But that was ages ago. It was half and half with viewing with the naked eye and scope hopefully will be better next time!

[josefk]

ditto what Neil says re. M31 - i have a new scope i want to observe M31 with but it is appearing very tiny these past two nights (i.e only the smallest brightest part of the core is showing). I was mildly disoriented on the first night and thought initially i could only see M32 and M31 had disappeared it was that small!