Andromeda help

[sammy1404]

Hi guys

Its sort of clear down here with clouds coming over every now and then. Ive looked at the moon in detail some more and jupiter. I think i saw the orion nebula (i saw a grey smudge of cloud with around 4 visable stars inside it underneath the bottom star of orions belt), i looked for andromeda but cant find it, i can clearly see casiopeia and i know roughly where it should be but i just cant find it! please help id like to see it tonight, Im going to stay up til about 3 to see saturn

thanks

[Steve C]

Look for the Great Square of Pegasus, currently fairly low in the West. Its tilted about 45 degrees from the horizontal. Find the top of the square, then count three stars up (the first of your count is the top star of the square). Once you've gone three up then count three to the right.....bingo, there it is!

[Simms]

I use a bit of a convoluted way around to find Andromeda, but if conditions are good, I can pretty much go straight to it. Once I learn more constellations hopefully I will be able to pick it out much quicker.

[sammy1404]

right well can see casiopeia and i can see andromeda (the constellations) but i just can find m31. I looked where i thought it should be by taking mintach (the middle star of andromeda constellation) going along 2 stars and the dropping down a bit, i saw one fuzzy bit. I thought it was a galaxy but im using a 10 inch dob with a 10mm eyepeice in so its not andromeda is it! either way im staying out for a while so plenty of time, but the moon is right next to the constellation so that side of the sky is very hard to look at. Its actually blinding to look at the moon tonight!!! i know i tried it lol maybe thats why i cant see andromeda lol

[callisto]

Try using the 25mm eyepiece instead

The moon will not help in trying to locate it also

[brantuk]

You can dim the moonlight a fair bit by replacing the tube cap and taking the cover off the small hole - makes it a lot easier on the eye when the moon is half to full

[Moonshane]

hi Sammy

it's tricky tonight with the moon being so bright. I have just found it in 7x36 bins - better with bins first to get the position - you won't see much more tonight with the moonshine. look at Cass and use the sharp V pointing toward the moon. it points at a bright yellow star (Mirach). from Mirach go back toward the V in Cass about a full binocular width and slightly down. You'll see a small grey smudge. This is M31.

Good luck, Shane.

[sammy1404]

oops i just realised i called it mintach rather than mirach lol massive fail. Yeah that is basically how i would locate it, what i would do is take the V of cassio and take the distance from the top of the v to the base and move along that distance twice towards mirach. I tried how you said it and i did see a grey smudge. But surely with a 10 inch scope it shouldnt be just a smudge?!

[xboxdevil]

Alas, it's white smudge in my 12" dob! albeit on an angle with a bit of definition.

[sammy1404]

oh ok, so i saw the andromeda galaxy today then lol. But i think it would look a lot better with more clarity without that moon there... damned moon! lol

[Moonshane]

darker skies definitely improve this. at a dark site it's naked eye and really superb in the eyepiece of my 12" - similar in your 10" I suspect. also better at home when the moon's gone. most galaxies are like this (in fact M31 is the biggest, brightest and most obvious one. again dark sites really make them stand out more and you can see a little more detail but they are always grey smudges at best.

[Quatermass]

Took this shot of it this evening it was really faint when I was looking at it in my telescope just a little gray blob but the ccd in my camera brings out the detail. Its est to look at it on a dark night when the moon is out of the way. A 17mm wide field of view lens makes it look awsome.

[John]

Nice pic !.

I can see a dust lane and M32 in there

[Lurker]

Love the pic is the M32 at top left ? big green dot?

[Quatermass]

Yes that's the one very hard to get it all in the picture but great fun