Help with finding something!

[Button Moon]

Hello everyone

I'm only a beginner with astronomy and have a 5" skymax 127 supatrak auto telescope. I bought the book 'turn left at orion' and went out last night (nearly froze!) to look for the Orion Nebulae. I found the 3 stars of the belt and it said to look down for a row of stars like a sword hanging from the belt and one would be a fuzzy patch, that's the nebulae. I just couldn't find it can anyone give me any help?

Thanks

[pbyrne]

Hi there.

Go the the middle of the three belt stars and drop straight down. You will see four bright stars staring in a vertical row. If you look at the third star down with the naked eye you will see that it doesn't look right, not sharp. This is the Orion Nebula. Look for it first with your finderscope and then through the scope, starting off with the lowest magnification eyepiece you have, 32mm or 25mm, something like that and then zoom in with a higher power eyepiece.

Hope this helps.

[orions-knight]

Hi Button Moon and welcome.

Finding the Orion Nebula (M42) is really easy if you know where the belt of Orion is. Find the middle star (Alnilam) of the belt and drop down a couple of degrees and you should come to a hazy patch of about 3 stars. It is the middle of these that is actually the nebula. You should be able to just make this out with just your own eye sight.

If you look a little further down and to the right and left, you will come to the bottom of his skirt with the stars Rigel and Saiph on the right as shown in the book. Check the book out again and match what you can see with your eyes and with what the book is showing and check out page 49 for a more detailed view.

Hope this helps

OK

Or even see what pbyrne has replied above my post

All the best

[Button Moon]

Thanks everyone that's great I was looking down from the lowest star on the belt so I was definitely in the wrong place. Just got to wait for another clear night now. Woke up this morning to thick snow!!

[orions-knight]

Were glad to be of help Button Moon. Remember also to make sure you align your finder with your scope or you will have trouble locating virtually everything, even the Moon.

OK

[coxie]

i managed to find it easy, i saw the fuzzy part but no colour, will i be able to see colour on the nubula through my 130p

[Bizibilder]

You won't see colour (you might in a 300mm+ size scope) so disregard all the pretty pictures that you get in books and just marvel at the "faint fuzzy" that you see in your scope!

[LukeSkywatcher]

You won't see colour (you might in a 300mm+ size scope) so disregard all the pretty pictures that you get in books and just marvel at the "faint fuzzy" that you see in your scope!

On the very rare occassion it is possible to just start to detect a slight tint of colour. Some see it as green...other see a more redish colour. Its very faint and if you blink you will miss it. Ive seen a redish colour ONCE. Other then that it is B&W.......or grey/white.......monochrome.

[brantuk]

I agree with pbyrne's approach with increasing magnification gradually. On a clear dark night it's just about visible with naked eye, and definitely with binocs. No colour as stated above.

Other things to consider - light pollution, high whispy clouds, poor seeing, scope temperature, dew, etc can affect the view. Try filters, averted vision, or a darker site.

But it should be one of the easier neb's to pick out on a clear night, and absolutely no problem with your kit.