Last night

[blinky]

Well I was all setup for a good nights observing, could see no moon when I got the scope out the hut. Last week I managed to get it alinged North so I had been to B&Q bought a length of Aluminium tube (dunno if thats what it's called) and cut it into three sections, hamered each one into the ground where the mount legs go. I can now be alinged (Roughly, not yet alinged with the polar scope) within a couple of minutes.

Anyway, everything was ready to go around 18:30...just need to wait till 8'ish for the kids to go to bed. My target tonight M1

Out I go around 8:15 realign my finder and red dot finder, get my 'turn left at Orion' book out to follow the instructions, get my laptop all set up with Starry night Pro.

OK then find Zeta Tauri, is this it must be, only star roughly where it should be, OK where is M1 I searched and searched and could not find it. Must have spent around 40mins going up and down left and right of Zeta Tauri and NOWT!! I did get a look at the Orion Nebula but it was not very impressive tonight somehow. Went for a wee wander round the garden then I saw it, the bl00dy moon was up AND it was very hazy around it.

So to cut what is ending up a very long story, I reckon this is why my night was wasted, I just never notice all the haze about (take it, it's just very high cloud?). So....do I need really dark skies to see M1? How bright and easy is it to find?

On another note, (I am a bit down after last nights dissapointing results), When looking at DSO what can I expect to see in an 8" scope? I know I wont see all the colour etc but will I see the general shape of the nebula? Will I see a hint of colour?(Some books say i will see a hint of green in Nebula?).

[Kai]

Back at the start of the year i was looking at the Orion Neb and it was one of those Oh My God moments.

I could see great sweeps of gas in a greeny gray colour,i havent seen it like that before.It was through my a C8 and my 40mm eyepiece.The air was so stable and clear,i think i was at the eyepiece for about 15 mins just gawping at the sight.

[geppetto]

Don't be too disappointed Blinky

If your sky was like mine last night, I'm not surprised you were struggling.

The seeing was very poor here despite what looked like a clear sky.

My look at M42 was poor but then that's astronmy for you

You will see lots of objects in an 8"

Wait for a good sky night when the moon's not up and try again

[blinky]

how do you know when there will be no moon? i.e. at the end of a month or do you have to look at something like starry night?

[geppetto]

Good question Blinky

Starry night will tell you but do a Google for a desktop moon calendar thingy

whch will give you the moons phase in your task bar

[lunator]

Blinky

Down worry about not finding M1.

Visually it is a tough target. I have only seen it a couple of times from London and they were very good nights. Clear & stable.

Best option is to wait until we get a proper Artic cold front. This always gives the best skies in my experience (and the coldest nights)

Cheers

ian

[blinky]

Thanks for the replies. I have downloaded a moon calandar now and it seems pretty good.

lunator thanks for clearing up why I could not find M1 I think now that I was looking in the correct place, but the seeing was cr@p as well as the moon brightening up the ky a bit too much.

[GordonCopestake]

good idea with the Ali tube for aligning your mount, other people mark the floor with paint or similar and get good results. You dont need a perfect alignment for visual observing and plonking your tripod in the right place is usually enough to keep an object in your FOV for a good few hours.

M1 isn't very impressive visually even if it had been a good night. M42 is the best nebular at the moment and nice and bright. You might just catch M13 too if you are quick, which I like and will show up nicely in your 8".

Dont forget that the moon is also a target and not just a source of light pollution hehe

[Helen]

Funny you should say that blinky. I too tried to find M1 last night with the aid of 'Turn Left..' and I too failed dismally and was a bit depressed! I feel happier now. What I did find in the same area though, which were very pleasing in the 8", were M35, 36, 37 and 38. I'd found all but M35 a few nights ago - and was chuffed - but to add M35 felt good last night. Failed to find Andromeda too last night... and then thought I was going to freeze to the eyepiece so went in! A mixed night, but I find looking for specific targets adds to the challenge, and when we find M1 we'll be SO chuffed that everyone here will know about it!

Helen

[blinky]

Andromeda was the first thing i looked for with 'tuen left' found it straight away, thats why I was a bit down at not finding M1 last night. Feel better now though, thats one of the best things about this forum, somebody else is iether in the same or has been in the same situation.

Keep hunting for Andromeda, its worth it

[John]

Objects like M1 are difficult to see at the best of times and if the conditions are even a little less than ideal it becomes impossible - even quite large scopes don't show much - it is likely that you were staring straight at it and did not notice it - I did that with the Owl and Veil Nebula for ages - I then tried using a narrowband filter (Baader UHC-S in my case) and that made the difference - I could see them !. Now I know exactly where to look and what to expect I can find them without the filter in my 90mm Megrez - I had a look at the Veil last night for example but as soon as the moon rose, even though it was on the opposite side of the sky, the Veil was nowhere to be seen.

M33 the great spiral galaxy in Triangulum is another object that you can easily miss - despite it's large size and the fact that it's magnitude is 5.7. I think sometimes the magnitudes given for these objects are misleading - I believe that the figure given is known as the integrated magnitude - but for an extended object like a nebula or galaxy this "brightness" is spread out. M1 is mag 9 but a mag 9 star is much easier to see as the light is concentrated into a point source - Polaris has a 9th magnitude companion for example which is relatively easy to find.

Keep at it - and don't blame yourself or your equipment when you don't find what you are looking for - it's almost always seeing conditions that are to blame - especially in the UK.

John

[GazOC]

When the moon is out you are better sticking with observing it, planets and open or globular clusters. In most of the nebulous objects the light is too diffuse to be seen when the moon is much past a quarter full, you need objects that are more concentrated (as John has said)

[iancandler]

The seeing was rubbish down here as well allthough there was the odd moment where things cleared. At least we got to nail a few targets last night with some impressive views of a donut like crater on the moon near the terminator, saturn albeit washed out by the moon, the orion nebula, split rigel, and did an hour of star field scanning around cassiopia when conditions allowed.

[Lunar]

The 9th was clear for me as well here in London. It seemed prefect all round because i purchased my first ever 10X50 binos, and was really excited to try them out. Compared to my old 12x30s, I feel as though I was once blind, and now I see. Everything is soooo bright. I found the Andromeda galaxy without much problem. As there were more stars in the field of view so it was a little tricky to centre Beta Andromeda, which is the starting point i always use to hop to M31. Still a hazy oval but at least this time i didn't need averted vision to see the bright core any more. I alse browsed the open clusters in Auriga, oh, and the Pleiades in Taurus. Now that was a shock, before in the 12x30s i could only resolve about 15 stars, but now i can see at least 50!!!!!. It is so bright, it has an almost three dimensional effect. I stared at that for a while untill the neighbours switched on their out-door lights. I went back inside to wait for Orion to rise, but unfortunately so did the moon. M31 was slightly harder to see now, and there was no nebulosity at all in M42. I thought i had seen the nebula in the past. The 10x50s resolved what i had thought to be the nebula into group of stars. Anyway, looking forward for better conditions to see how the great nebula really looks like live.

[Helen]

Great night's seeing tonight - and found M1. Not spectacular, but I found it!

Helen

[John]

Great night's seeing tonight - and found M1. Not spectacular, but I found it!

Helen

Good for you Helen - lucky to have good seeing as well - we are fogged in here and I'm not too far from you as the crow flies (other side of the Severn).

John.

[Helen]

Living on top of hill helps sometimes!! Cardiff has been awful too..

Helen

[daz]

Glad to see someone is not fog bound!!

It's been a pea-souper here for the last three or four days.

Fed up now

[lunator]

Congrats on bagging M1

I was an M1 yesterday but it was the black strip of misery between London & Yorkshire.

I'd have much rather be looking at the celestial M1

Cheers

Ian

[FLO]

I have seen M1 through an 8 inch Newtonian and actually resolved detail. But, I was at Greg's place where the Sky can be remarkeably good.

The telescope was the Helios Newtonian - the fore-runner of the current Skywatcher 200 f5 - so it had the older thick spider-vanes which are often the subject of derision. Nevertheless, it delivered the goods. Just goes to show that time and effort spent getting to a dark sky is amply rewarded!