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Advice for a target tonight

Abernus

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Abernus

Abernus

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O.K so I have been out on quite a few nights now but I only seem to manage a look at either the Moon or Jupiter. I have been trying to find the like of M51 (I think) in the Milky way, but so far I have never managed to see anything like this.

So I am asking for some help. I am rubbish at star hopping so need help. Can anyone give me a good easy target to look at tonight, and advice on how tro find it.

I have a South facing garden and we are looking like clear skies tonight (clod but clear!) I would love for just once to be able to locate something else. I know Stallerium is good but I have problems when trying to translate distance on the program to the night sky.

My equipment is a 4" reflector on a very unstable EQ1 mount with very ppor EP's (20mm and 9mm supplied with the scope)

Thanks.

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Abernus

Abernus

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Also, have you tried looking for Uranus? A little blue dot just to the left of Jupiter.

Would this be a viable target with only a 4" reflector. I imagine at best I all I will get would be a very small dot???

@everyone else. Thanks for the suggestions and I will check those maps out pvaz. I just hope to be able to locate something tonight.

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JamesM

JamesM

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I was given this exact scope to use in the past and at that aperture you are very unlikely to see anything of M51 I'm afraid, even if you're not experiencing any light pollution. In fact I wish someone had told me this as I spent ages looking for this object and believed that it was me that was getting it wrong - I was not, as a larger scope on a dark site later proved!

My suggestion would be Andromeda which is nice and high at the moment. Facing south look high above your left shoulder and you will see a 'W' made from stars, this is Cassiopeia. A little way below this 'W' constellation is a line of 5 stars that sit beneath it, laid out horizontally across the sky. Almach is on the left of this line and is very bright, so starting from here, count 3 stars along and you will arrive at the next brightest star in this line up and that is Mirach. Go vertically up in the sky past the next two brightest stars and you will see Andromeda as a faint but large fuzzy blob! These instruction are a rough approximation but I'm sure you'll get there.

Clear skies and the best of luck!

James

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Abernus

Abernus

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Well got home and put the scope out to cool while I had some food. Went out about 1 hour later all ready for M31 and Andromeda only to see wall to wall cloud!!!!!!! On the up side the cloud and the moon look very spooky tonight.

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Petrol

Petrol

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I am also new and struggle to find things. Andromeda Galaxy is not easy to find but when you see it, it just looks like a "smudge" of light. I would look for the double cluster next time you are out. It's under Cassiopeia and pretty easy to find. Have a look on Stallerium and you should be able to find it - It was the first thing I managed to find :)

Hope that helps and good luck

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hard luck about the weather though, I suppose there might be a chance that it could clear. 'Petrol' is right about it looking like a smudge but still its a good one to practice on and certainly will help familiarise yourself with that part of the sky.

If you want structure then you could look at Doc's suggestion of M57 (Ring Nebula), I know that you can find it in your scope because I did when I had a similar scope, but it will be very small.

Lyra when facing south, will be high up behind you over your right shoulder, you can't miss it because at the top of this constellation is Vega, the 5th brightest star in the sky. You will see just below it two brightish stars that are near to each other and below them are another two stars in a similar position who collectively form a parallelogram formation. M57 is about a third of the way along the gap between the two bottom stars. If you don't get on with Stellarium, I would suggest a decent star map because as soon as you put your eye to the eyepiece, loads more stars come out which makes distances a little difficult to judge.

Wishing you clear skies on your next attempt.

James

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BazMark

BazMark

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I was out for bout an hour last night after cooling my scope. After checking out the moon and Jupiter I managed to locate Uranus - the little blue dot up and to the left of Jupiter.

Of all the sights I've looked at in the night sky over the last year, I'd never looked at Albereo till last night. It was a beautiful sight. Two very different coloured stars. My 10x50s wont split them but just upped the mag in my scope to 37x and they popped out.

I then went looking for the little dumbell neb but couldn't find it. When I'd packed up realised I was not quite looking in the right place. I'm not even sure my Mak 127 will see it. I can locate and see the ring neb so we'll have to see next time out.

Thanks for the maps pvaz (where do you get those from?)

Thanks for staring this thread Abernus

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ozark1

ozark1

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I'm surprised that noone is suggesting the late summer/autumn globular clusters. M15 near Enif in Pegasus, M2 in Aquarius and M56 in Lyra are all good objects in a small telescope.

Other worthwhile targets in the evening sky are M11 (Scutum) and theta serpentis (best double in the sky imo). Wait til 10 pm and the Pleiades will put in an appearance.

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Petrol

Petrol

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I'm surprised that noone is suggesting the late summer/autumn globular clusters. M15 near Enif in Pegasus, M2 in Aquarius and M56 in Lyra are all good objects in a small telescope.

Other worthwhile targets in the evening sky are M11 (Scutum) and theta serpentis (best double in the sky imo). Wait til 10 pm and the Pleiades will put in an appearance.

Thats my list of things to look for on the next clear night sorted :)

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coffee_prince

coffee_prince

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Hi

I'm new as well, but with the naked eye last night I spotted the Pleiades with squinted or averted vision. Excellent view through my cheap super 25mm

I'm assuming its still there!

-

I don't know about you guys but I have trouble finding things really high up in the sky, as the dobs movement become difficult fcing straight up. I culdn't find andromeda either, waqs looking around cassopiea but nothing :s

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