M81 and M82

[pook]

Despite a very bright moon, had a good look at M81 and 82 tonight. With the 25m EP they looked fabulous. I can't wait to see them on a dark night with equally as good seeing.

Seeing tonight was excellent in Blackpool.

I really can't wait to get my scope out to a darker sky site!

[Chris H]

They make a great pair when viewed in the same field of view, love em.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

They are one of my favourite sights. From dark sites you can pick up NGC 3077 in the same field of view as well.

[swamp thing]

Hi

That's a quality bit of observing with the moon so bright. Well done.

They do make a fabulous sight in a low power eyepiece that's for sure.

Regards Steve

[nightvision]

Impressive, I have yet to see M81/82 thanks to LP even though its virtually straight above at the moment.... need to move somewhere dark.

[Thell]

nightvision are you sure you cant see them? I can see them over here in Liverpool. Im only 5miles from the city centre but can make the pair out - and i have a fair amount of LP here.

[West End Wendy]

Other than Andromeda, they're the only galaxies I've seen visually so far from light-polluted North London. Not all that impressive though - just a couple of smudges. They take a bit of practice to find, too, when you can't actually see them in the finderscope.

From darker skies they're superb.

Tim

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

..... They take a bit of practice to find, too, when you can't actually see them in the finderscope.

Tim

Which is why I made myself a 16x70 Finder scope: picks the two up quite easily

[nightvision]

nightvision are you sure you cant see them? I can see them over here in Liverpool. Im only 5miles from the city centre but can make the pair out - and i have a fair amount of LP here.

Hi Thell, they seem to have eluded me up to now, seen plenty of other M's but these 2 drive me crazy. I will try again soon.

Tony.

[Davidv]

Tried plenty of times but never seen 'em. Seems to be lots of people find them no trouble and others can't spot them.

[nightvision]

Phew at last I finally saw them a few a nights ago!

I was having a first light session with a SW 100 ED pro I picked up on Astro-buy&sell. Seeing was good and I noticed I was seeing a lot of really faint stuff so I gave the pair a go. Think the Nagler 17T4 was in for about 52x mag and they both appeared. I could make out the distinctive shapes and the bright core of M81 and some structure with averted vision. They appear a lot smaller than M31 and lot easier to miss. I was still outside at 0300, managed to spot the most northern globular M3 and resolved some speckle with averted vision and finished with Saturn.

What's interesting is that using the 12" dob I have never managed to find them but a 4" refractor did the trick, maybe higher contrast in LP skies is more important with some objects however M42 still looks far more dramatic in the dob.

Tony.

[stolenfeather]

The darker the better! I wish you clear skies!

Isabelle

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Phew at last I finally saw them a few a nights ago!

I was having a first light session with a SW 100 ED pro I picked up on Astro-buy&sell. Seeing was good and I noticed I was seeing a lot of really faint stuff so I gave the pair a go. Think the Nagler 17T4 was in for about 52x mag and they both appeared. I could make out the distinctive shapes and the bright core of M81 and some structure with averted vision. They appear a lot smaller than M31 and lot easier to miss. I was still outside at 0300, managed to spot the most northern globular M3 and resolved some speckle with averted vision and finished with Saturn.

What's interesting is that using the 12" dob I have never managed to find them but a 4" refractor did the trick, maybe higher contrast in LP skies is more important with some objects however M42 still looks far more dramatic in the dob.

Tony.

Dark skies rule in this field of astronomy. Note that most galaxies are FAR smaller than M31, in fact, only the Magellanic clouds are bigger in the sky. None have the surface brightness of M42. Besides, the latter has predominantly line emission, which means it can benefit a lot from LP-filters. Galaxies have mainly continuum emission, which suffers if you use LP-filters.

Clear skies

[nightvision]

That's interesting Michael and I had suspected that LP was the problem, and also as Isabelle indicated it makes sense then to seek out darker locations for galaxy viewing. I think also the character of the local LP can effect observations My next challenge is the furtherest member of the Milky Way NGC2419 . At 300,000 light-years it's a difficult globular to see, just thinking of the view you would have from that far above the galactic core really spikes my imagination.

Tony.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

NGC2419 is nice. I got it with my C8 quite easily.

[nightvision]

NGC2419 is nice. I got it with my C8 quite easily.

The reason I mention 2419 is the other night I was looking at something in a dull area of the sky, I couldn't find it on the charts I had handy. The next day I was trawling through my books and found NGC2419, can't confirm it but need to have another look. I don't use a goto mount just an old Eq as a nudge it in to place device.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The reason I mention 2419 is the other night I was looking at something in a dull area of the sky, I couldn't find it on the charts I had handy. The next day I was trawling through my books and found NGC2419, can't confirm it but need to have another look. I don't use a goto mount just an old Eq as a nudge it in to place device.

I do not have goto either, just a big finder scope. My EQ mount does track however, so once I have nudged it into position, it stays there.