Can't find any Dso's

[johnkirkpatrick]

While I had a few hours clear sky last night I wanted to start looking for some Dso's so got stellarium chappin and went out to find them and I tried to find Andromeda and various others. but no luck at all. I know I was pointing in the right direction and ended up moving over to Saturn then a good look at the moon.

I have an 5" reflector and in one of my books it says with a 5" I would be able to see Andromeda?

Any help here would be good.

thanks..

John:BangHead:

[russ]

Hi John,

Your scope will have no problem seeing M31. It's a naked eye object under half decent skies and looks good in a small pair of binoculars too. The problem you would of had last night is, 1 - a bright moon and 2 - M31 is badly placed at the moment.

M42 early in the evening is the DSO you want to track down for starters. It's an easy naked eye object from almost any location. And looks fab in any scope.

DSO's require a good transparent sky. Minimal LP, no mist and no moon. Give it another try with M42, get used to star hopping and seeing the main stars needed to find the DSO's. It helps to workout in your head easy ways of finding them by placing imaginery lines. Anyway, like anything, it comes with practice.

Russ

[Space Bat]

It is getting pretty low and into the muck so to speak - plus the moon makes it pretty hard on DSO's especially Galaxies with feint structures - you may have been on it and not seen it due to this.

Yes with a 5" you should see this smudge - but thats all it is I am afraid even in my scope - why not look away from the moon at M51 and around Ursa Major...

M31 is not the greatest galaxy to observe - what others did you try?

[Space Bat]

Oi Russ time stamp Hog

[hemihaggis]

hey john , you not havin much luck ! . do you have some sort of star chart ? you should have decent dark skies round dumfries .... find orion ..look for the sword in orion ..in between bottom star and middle one in sword ..bingo .. m42 with mad batwing ,,kinda blue in colour gassy nebula ..can you see the four tiny stars ??

m31 ..find cassiopia ..like a w liying on its side just now ..just below lowest star in cassiopia is a little fuzzy patch

..bingo m31 !!

im sure if you went ae forest or mabie you would get great darkskies ..

cheers

[John]

I think the best galaxies at the moment (and arguably all of the time !) are probably M81 and M82 which, being in Ursa Major, tend to keep high overhead and out of the "murk". Stellarium will show you where they are - use your lowest power eyepiece to find them. I first found them with a 60mm refractor over 25 years ago and was so thrilled as they were the 1st galaxies I had ever seen.

Here is a useful map of how to hunt them down:

http://www.popastro.com/moonwatch/moonweeks/Mar%20m8182.jpg

[mdstuart]

I think you could do with the book, turn left at Orion. It takes you through the brightest objects and how to find them with maps etc...

I recommend it!

Mark

[johnkirkpatrick]

Cheers, I tried for M65 and M66, I knew They were just up and across from Saturn and I also tried for M51, If weather good I'll try again tonight. M42 was the first thing I looked at when I got my scope, It was right out side my front window, Looks good dunit.

Thought about Mabie Forest might try there. Only 10mins in car.

Cheers for the link john I'll check it out...

[Space Bat]

M65 and M66 are tiny and are a pretty stiff challenge, I have an image of these in my album.

M51 is a pretty easy spot - although you may struggle seeing structure and the branch that joins its companion.

As John said M81/M82 - M81 is visible as a smudge difficult to see structure however M82 is very viewable and takes magnification well.

Chris

[Sierra Golf Mike]

John,

Just got my first scope delivered yesterday, I assembled it and got a bit of clear sky. Got M42 no bother, scope hasn't been set up I just pointed it in the general direction and tweaked it (luck probably) what a site though. You'll get there, let us know how you get on.

Cheers

Steve

[johnb]

Steve

http://stargazerslounge.com/observing-deep-sky/91488-galaxies-listing-easiest-observe.html

This is a great resource and worth printing out - Ive used it loads

Regards

John B

[John]

Galaxies are even more adversely affected by light pollution (or moonglow for that matter) than nebulae like M42 are. I was amazed how easy galaxies were to find, even with my 4" scope, under the dark skies of the SGL star party last April. I had no problem finding two sets of Leo triplets with that scope then. Someone on another forum has quipped that the best use of money to help see galaxies better was to fill a car full of fuel and to drive to a dark sky site !.

[PeterW]

Observers Sky Atlas

The Observer's Sky Atlas: With 50 Star Charts Covering the Entire Sky: Amazon.co.uk: Erich Karkoschka: Books

Designed for small scopes, has a 'brightness'collumn to help you avoid faint stuff if the local lighting is not good. Also you don't mention what kind of finder (scope) you have. Finding stuff without good finding kit can make things harder than it needs to be. I have a red dot/laser for getting me in the right area and then I use a finderscope (right angle and with a correctly orientated image) with finder charts to get me much closer, then I know I am pointing in the right spot, if I can't see anything then the skies are not good enough... rather than me not pointing in the right place.

Galaxies are a hard place to start. Get the Sky and Telescope moon map

Sky & Telescope's Field Map of the Moon: Amazon.co.uk: Gary Seronik, Antonin Rukl: Books

Refractor/SCT owners need to get the mirror image one.

All the best

PEterW

[Sierra Golf Mike]

JohnB,

Printed out that list, thanks for the link. I've seen Orion ans Andromeda through Binos and got Orion through the scope on my first night. I'll laminate the list and keep them handy.

Cheers

Steve

[Talitha]

John, how about going for other types of DSO's till there's no lunar interference? Lots of open clusters up there, and some planetary nebulae, too.

[AndyH]

I second Carol's suggestion.

Open clusters at low power are always a lovely sight(eg: M36,37,38 in Auriga) and higher power for globular clusters(eg:M13 in hercules) and planetaries(M57 in Lyra). All are relatively easy to find objects, even with the moon about.

Cheers,

Andy.