help to see things clearer

[richbyers]

Hey guys

so i can find DSO's such as M81/82 M13 M51 etc however with my 130mm scope im often having to use averted vision which i know is expected with many dimmer objects

any advice to see things clearer without obviously going up in aperture?

cheers

rich

[John]

For galaxies dark skies are the only answer. I was really suprised how well my 6" refractor did on galaxies when I used it under dark skies at the SGL5 star party - it was like having an additional 4 inches of aperture !.

Obviously wait until there is no moon in the sky and the objects you want to observe are higher overhead so you are looking though less atmosphere.

UHC and OIII filters help with the contrast on nebulae but not with galaxies and clusters, alas.

[Steve922]

I've seen an article somewhere on 'eye training' which could be of use to you. It involves drawing some things on paper and sticking it on your wall then looking at it in various ways which is claimed to improve what you will see in the scope. I'll have a search around and if I can find it I'll post the link for you.

In the meantime, I have noticed that the longer I look at something, the more I see. This is especially so with solar sytem object but works with DSOs too. I'm talking like looking and studying for 5 minutes or more.

Steve

[richbyers]

ok cheers guys

guess practice and dark skies is the answer!

[Chris H]

Try an observing hood over your head when looking through the eyepiece to block out any stray light and an eye patch. When looking through the scope put the eye patch on the eye your not using then when not at the eyepiece cover you observing eye to maintain dark adaptation.

[John]

Speaking of eye training, I'm a firm believer in the saying "the more you look, the more you will see". Time spent at the eyepiece studying objects (both DSO's and Lunar / Planetary) does reap it's rewards - your eye does become more adept at discerning the fine details and the subtle contrast changes which were simply not apparent when an object is first observed.

They say that drawing what you see is a good way of improving observing technique as you tend to study things more closely when you are trying to draw them.

There is also the technique of averted vision where you deliberately look to one side of a faint object - the sensors at the edges of our eyes being a bit more sensitive apparently.

[yeti monster]

I often use a hood (read: upside down black tee shirt with my head through the neck hole) to keep out stray light. And remaining trained on one area of aky for a prolonged period often reveals more and more detail.

Just last night whilst looking at the jewel box I was eventually able to clearly define 10 stars in the cluster after the initial 4-5, and that was sitting about 10 degrees above the horizon.

[richbyers]

cheers guys

hopefully the weather will pick up a bit to try some of these ideas

[Doc]

Using a Neodydium filter adds a little tiny bit of contrast to objects, it helped me see a few of the really faint virgo galaxies, but then I'm using 16 inches of aperture I don't know if it will work in your scope, but they are pretty cheap.