M31 first timer

[InterGalacticTez]

very pleased tonight being very new to astronomy (about a week in lol) and due to the fact the weather has only allowed me to use my scope 2/3 time's i set myself the small target of finding the andromeda galaxy before the clouds rolled in (again )

anyway i was successful and despite the moon being pretty high and the clouds fast approaching i managed to bag it.

it is indeed a "feint fuzzy" but i enjoyed the fact i could actually see ANOTHER GALAXY !

i only have a skywatcher evostar 120 but will definetly upgrade in time and will be checking out m31 again when the sky is darker.

i dont know my way around the sky to well yet and kinda just use the plough/big dipper and perseus to find my way to things at the minute haha is that cheating ?

as long as im finding things i suppose it's all good and i'll learn as i go.

also saw the iss and shuttle earlier too so all in all not a bad night.

anyway thats m31 found .....what next

[Talitha]

Excellent! After you see M31 in a dark sky you'll never call it a faint fuzzy again, lol. You're doing quite well, keep up the good work. Are you using charts to find your way around?

[InterGalacticTez]

Thanks talitha !

Yeah i have been using the chart from a book i have, as soon as we have some clearer nights here i will be out there trying to learn a bit more but i have a feeling the clouds are going to haunt me lol.

I stumbled accross m45 a few nights ago by pure chance just before clouds rolled in again too wich was nice but i cant wait for some real clear nights

[iamjulian]

Navigating by the constellations isn't cheating at all. It's a great skill to have. I'm new too, and trying to learn the constellations one by one. Glad you found your first object

[InterGalacticTez]

thanks Julian yeah i agree it will be great looking up and having a mental note of where's where in the night sky.

we'll get there mate it takes time but it's really interesting stuff to learn and im having fun doing it,i cant get enough lol dont know why i didnt start observing earlier

[Astro Adj]

I'm new to this too, but have found a couple of DSOs by using Stellarium. I'm sure you have this already but if not, it will make planning you observing sessions so much easier!

I started out by using the 'Summer Triangle' as my anchor. Since I could always find those 3 stars (Vega, Deneb and Altair) I explored the area surrounding them (each point of the triangle is actually part of a different constellation - Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila) and branched out from there. For example, Hercules is not too hard to find from the triangle, and once you're there M13 is a nice DSO to search for. The other anchors I'm using are Cassiopeia (it forms an unmistakable 'W' shape) and the big dipper.

Congratulations on finding M31!

[iamjulian]

Moving outward from known stars to find constellations is a good idea, thanks Adrian.

[nir1978]

I want to know how can I find in the skies using stellarium. In stellarium I've seen that the RA/Dec of the object never change only the hour angle is changing.

now if I have a EQ mount with drive motor, I set the ra/dec on the mount with the coordinates as shown in stellarium how will the mount do the tracking ???

I mean I checked stellarium even after two hrs it showed me the same Ra/Dec coordinates.

please help I am confused.!!!!

cheers

niranjan

[Talitha]

Hi Niranjan. Dec and RA are celestial co-ordinates which tell us where an object is located in the sky, just like latitude and longitude tell us where cities are located here on Earth. The object's co-ordinates are it's "address" in the sky.. that's why they remained the same after two hours.

(I don't use Stellarium and can't help you with that part of your question, sorry.)

[nir1978]

Hi talitha, what software do you use, if any, also I think I had seen M31 after 2 hrs of searching ( I used the W shaped constellation as my star hopping reference) but it was just a tiny dot in my 60mm AZ telescope.

please let me know is it that I saw it or just something else!!!!

niranjan

[Talitha]

The program i use is Sky Tools 3, but all planetarium programs show basically the same thing. M31 should look like more than a tiny dot.. is your sky bleached out with light pollution? I can easily see M31 naked-eye from my location.

[nir1978]

hhhmm...yes I do have light polution and also since I am in the middle east, the air is quite dirty and warmer.

lets hope I can see something in the winter......

I would love to see how it looks through the 120mm and 80mm scopes that you have...do u have any pictures ???

[Talitha]

Ah yes, that's probably why you can't see it too well, but hopefully things will improve for you in the winter. Good luck!

Sorry, i'm not an imager and don't have any pictures of M31, but i plan on making a sketch soon. The entire galaxy (along with the two satellite galaxies) will fit very nicely into the field of view of my new-ish 120ST.

InterGalacticTez, have you had another chance at seeing M31? I've been wondering what your views have been like without the moonwash bleaching the sky out. Hope you've had some clear nights.

[nir1978]

hey all

I got my new scope!!! its skywatcher 130mm AZ GOTO and its really look...I used it other night and I cud see the M31 but it was very dim and small thru the 25mm EP when I put the 10mm it wasn't a good site maybe because of the light polution....

it looked like a fuzzy oval with the center little illuminated but it was very difficult to see...I mean I also had to keep my eyes closed for 5 mins so I can get accustomed to darkness...

I just hope what I saw was M31...LOL

anyways again its quite warm and dusty (not dusty but the sky is covered)

so I will soon be seeing somethings...

if anyone could help with a catalog that would be gr8 the scope computer asks for object numbers...!!!!

I am seeing the east and southeast sky from my balcony...

regards

Niranjan

[iamjulian]

Interesting idea but I'm not sure closing your eyes for five minutes will allow them to adapt to the darkness. When you are plunged into darkness your pupil widens to allow more light into your eye, to allow you to image more of your environment. I'm not entirely sure what your pupil does when you completely close your eyes, but I suspect you are delaying the process.

[Astro Adj]

I find a good way to get your eyes adapted to the dark is to avidly try to pick out dim stars while your scope is cooling down. My scope needs about an hour to cool down, so I tend to leave it outside for 30 minutes (with the dust cap off), then spend the next 30 minutes outside looking at the night sky. I try to look for the objects I plan on observing with the scope, and during this time I get myself better acquainted with the constellations.

M31 is actually a great target for this - after 30 minutes I can just make it out if I'm at a dark site, which makes getting it in the telescope's field of view much easier.

One word of warning, though - watch out for the moon! It's so bright that it can wreak havoc with your dark-adapted eyes, especially if you view it through bino's or a scope!

You might also like to try a technique called averted vision. I'm unsure as to the science behind this (I believe it is to do with the rods and cones in your eye) but if you look just to the side of an object like M31 it appears brighter.

[nir1978]

what is telescope cooling ???? I keep my telescope packed in the box it came and I assemble when I want to use it...since I am in middle east the air is quite warmer (now the temperatures at night are around 30-33)

how do I cool down the telescope !!!!!

please explain me what it means...

niranjan

[Talitha]

Hi Niranjan, telescope 'cooling' means letting the scope sit outside before using it, so the optics and internal air (in sealed units) reaches the same temperature as the outside air.

If you have a sealed unit like a refractor, Maksutov or SCT, the air trapped inside of the sealed tube needs to be the same as the outdoor temperature or your view will be distorted by internal 'tube currents'.. like little heat waves bouncing around inside of the OTA (optical tube assembly). These sealed units take quite a while to cool down in colder climates.

If you have a telesope which is open at one end (like a Newtonian), the mirror at the bottom needs to match the outside temperature, or the view will also be distorted, because as the warm mirror slowly matches the outside temperature, the heat rising from the mirror will create tube currents as the heat slowly exits the open end of the tube.

In your climate, i don't think it would take too long for the scope to match your night temperature, but you might want to give it at least 1/2 hour just to be sure. Hope this helped.

[nir1978]

I will see...since I am new to using telescopes and dont know what is "good view" except that I always wanted to view the objects as it appears in the photos!!!!

anyways today I will be going out to catch some spectacular views...

thanks for all the help extended by you guys...

Niranjan