Whirlpool galaxy

[spitfire12]

Hi

im just about to go out and enjoy the spontanious clear sky tonight!

im wanting to have a look at the whirlpool galaxy, just wondering what will i be able to see using an 80mm A 800mm FL Scope?

i assume im going to be looking for a black/grey smudge like andromeda?

Cheers!

[Nexus 6]

Hi

im just about to go out and enjoy the spontanious clear sky tonight!

im wanting to have a look at the whirlpool galaxy, just wondering what will i be able to see using an 80mm A 800mm FL Scope?

i assume im going to be looking for a black/grey smudge like andromeda?

Cheers!

Hi spitfire, M51, the Whirpool Galaxy, is more elusive to pick out than M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, but with your scope, you did'nt mention what eyepiece's you have, it may be possible if you are lucky enough to live or can get to a dark sky location. Yes it will look like the ubiquitous grey smudge but that does'nt take away the fact that its amazing when you see an image of it and think thats what I have been oberving

Let us all know how you get on

[John]

It looks like 2 tiny faint grey smudges in my 4" refractor, one smaller than the other. I get the best view of it at around 80x magnification but use much lower power to find it as it's pretty hard to locate with that scope.

If there is any light pollution in the sky or moonlight then it's going to be very difficult to find with an 80mm scope I think.

[spitfire12]

just got back in! i was using TLaO (turn left at orion) to find it and managed to see 2 faint smudges "a badly focused double star" as TLaO puts it.

i was in my back garden with a street light overlooking me and the moon was beginning to rise above the fence too so conditions werent that great!

i used my 20mm Ep to find it and then had a look with my 10mm and i could make out the 2 smudges nicely. decided it wasnt worth pushing it to the 6mm! it is amazing that im looking at another galaxy

i decided to have a cheeky look at saturn whilst i was out too, i managed to get a really nice focus on it using a 3x barlow and the 10mm, it was one of my best viewingsa of the planet yet.

[John]

Thats good work - well done !

A lot of folks have to work hard to find M51 with larger scopes than yours - shows what can be achieved with a modest aperture scope.

[spitfire12]

Hah really? i mean they were the faintest of smudges but i was pretty sure that i was looking at M51 as the surrounding objects looked the same as those in TLaO.

thats my second galaxy now, pretty chuffed

[John]

I think you can count it as 2 galaxies:

- Messier 52 or NGC 5194 (the larger galaxy)

- NGC 5195 (the smaller companion galaxy)

[umadog]

Good stuff! You should try for M81 and M82. Those are brighter than M51 and will be higher in the sky.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice work. Much depends on the sky being dark and transparent, but even a 10x50 can under good condition just pick out M51, and it is easy in 15x70s (under good conditions).

[Astro Imp]

Well done mate :hello2:

It's great when your plans all come to-gether.

Clear skies.