M76 HELP

[oldfruit]

Hi all and forgive me if this is a silly question but:

The other night i was lucky enough to find M76 "THE LITTLE DUMBELL". I have been doing a little reading up on it and am a little confused. Sometimes it is listed at about visual mag 10 and other times i have also seen it listed as about visual mag 12.

I am no expert but with my scope mag 12 objects should be fainter than M76 appears so i would say it was probably around mag 10?

This being the case is there any reason for the conflicting magnitudes for this object or am i just being thick?

Thanks

Mark.

[acey]

Confusion over magnitudes can arise because of different measuring techniques. Or maybe it was just a mistake. Seems to be mostly listed as 10. In any case the really important thing with extended objects is the surface brightness, and because M76 is very small its surface brightness comes out high: one of the highest in the Messier list, in fact. Yet it's considered one of the tougher Messiers because its integrated magnitude, even at 10, is a bit low compared to many of the others. I've had a very nice view of it from my light-polluted back garden with an 80mm scope and a UHC filter.

[oldfruit]

Thanks for the reply.I was looking at M76 the other night from my

garden which is quite dark and as you say it is quite small but once found was quite easy to make out and took magnification quite well also. I have yet to try it with a filter but i understand that UHC or O111 filters would enhance the view?

[acey]

Either filter would help.