M51 & M101

[starscy]

Tonight I managed to observe M51 and M101 with 10x50 and 20x60 binoculars. I saw M51 before, but this was probably my first observation of M101 using binoculars. M51 appeared brighter and was easier to find, but M101 seemed larger in size. Ursa Major was almost at the zenith and this probably made things easier. I would not call either of these objects easy as I had to check their position on a star atlas a few times before actually locating them.

[661-pete]

Respect, Starscy! M101 is very difficult, I have managed it in 10x50 but only under near-perfect conditions. Where were you observing from and what was the sky like in general?

[Talitha]

Well done, Starscy!

[starscy]

The sky was clear with no clouds at the time of the observation and of course moonless. The conditions were not perfect as the sky was not very dark, but they were quite good. My intention was to find these objects using the 20x60 because the extra magnification sometimes helps with faint objects, but after finding them rather easily I decided to try with the 10x50. Both targets were still visible in both binoculars about 2 hours later when Ursa Major was lower although they were much harder to see. M101 lies very close to a star of similar brightness and this makes observations more difficult because of the light coming from the star.

[Taff]

Hi' Weldone on your find with your bins.Mark

[luxastronomy]

Hi,

Congrats on finding M51 and M101. I also tried to find them but wasn't so lucky. I have Barska 15x70 X-Trail binocular, very good set of binos. I will definitely try to seek them again when the sky permits, it was a little bit cloudy the last few days. Do you have some good star chart that you could recommend me?

Cheers,

Zoran

[bish]

Well done. I saw M51 with my 15x70's the other night but couldn't see M101. Even with dark skies I struggle with M101 in the bins.

[shemy]

hi im new can anyone tell me where the ring nebula is and its magnitude from shemy:hello2:

[Doc]

Under my skies I have yet to see M101 so congratulations for capturing with bins.

[Doc]

hi im new can anyone tell me where the ring nebula is and its magnitude from shemy:hello2:

Ring nebula is in the constellation of Lyra. Half way between beta and gamma Lyra and has a mag of 9.3.

[shemy]

thank you is it north east south or west

[Vulpecula]

thank you is it north east south or west

It depends what time of night it is

If you imagine the constellation of Lyra "hanging" off Vega (it's brightest star) Lyra forms a diamond shape. The ring nebula is halfway along one of the bottom edges (I can't say which, since I don't know if you're looking through a binocular or telescope).

It's part of a right-angled triangle with two rather faint stars, and looks like a faint, fuzzy ball. However, even in Central London in summer night skies, you can still see it if the sky is not too misty. It's not particularly spectacular from London - just a faint fuzzy blob with two dim stars next to it.

In dark country skies it's probably more striking.

[shemy]

thanks for ur help

[starscy]

M57 is pretty easy to find in a telescope with a low power eyepiece. You just need to center your finder between the stars β and γ Lyrae and it should be in or near the field of view. Using low magnifications it is rather small in size, but it is quite sharp and definitely not stellar in appearance with its "ring" shape visible and a very small "hole" in the middle.