M51 - or lack of.

[Daz Type-R]

Evening all.

Just spent the last 2hrs or so trying to find M51, I`m not 100% certain that I have even found Alkaid to which M51 is "near".

So a few questions.

1. With hardly any lp (tonight and last night have been very good out my way) would I be able to see M51.

2. Should I be able to see it with my current kit (see sig below)?

Hopefully it is just my inexperiance at galaxy hunting but I was lead to beleive that this was one of the easier objects to find.

Regards,

Daz.

[John]

Yes, you should be able to see M51 from reasonably dark skies. I can see it with my 4" refractor from my back garden - it looks like two faint patches of light, close together and with brighter cores. It's not "in your face" impressive by any means but you will be able to see it.

Use your lowest power eyepiece to find it, combined with a red dot finder. It's a bit off to one side (tecchie talk there !) from the last star in the "tail" of Ursa Major but will not appear in the same field of view as that star with a scope.

[cs1cjc]

I have found M51 (and M101 close by) really hard to make out, much harder in particular than M81 and M82.

[bish]

A good sky atlas or software etc and a pair of bins makes like much easier to male sure you are in the right area. When you find M51 it will seem very faint but spend some time with it and you should make out some of the structure. As said above though it's not 'in your face'.

[Bigdaddyjeff]

I'm also struggling with it...have my turn left at Orion book too but still can't manage to clasp my eyes on it ...out again tonight though so i'll be giving it another go... i've tried it with the 40mm and the 20mm but still no look....might try the 28mm ler ep that came with the tube ...think i'll try the lil astromaster too

Gaz

[bish]

I'm probably in the minority but I bought Turn left at Orion when I started out and hardly ever used it. Decent star maps have always been my preference. Lots of people swear by TLAO though.

[tbird]

I'm probably in the minority but I bought Turn left at Orion when I started out and hardly ever used it. Decent star maps have always been my preference. Lots of people swear by TLAO though.

You might be in a minority Bish, but you're not alone, I prefer to use a star map.

[West End Wendy]

I am completely unable to see M51 from where I live because of light pollution. I think face-on galaxies are particularly susceptible to it.

I know exactly where it is because it's an easy find and looks great with my Watec CCD video camera, but through the eyepiece - zilch.

I did once fail to find it even with the Watec until I realised my finderscope alignment was out - it's worth checking because it's a relatively small target and little errors can make a lot of difference.

From your location you should have less light pollution than me so you have a reasonable chance of seeing it. Dont expect to see spiral arms though, just the core and that of neighbouring NGC5195.

Tim

[Rob L]

Hi Daz,

As John has already mentioned a red dot finder - Telrad or Quikfinder will make things much easier, you'll wonder how you ever managed without one.

I never had any problems with M51 but I do have the benefit of living in a rural location - I struggled far more with M81/M82 and it took me several nights before I found them.

I notice in your sig you list a Wixey, if you have an iphone or phone with android download Star Walk or similar this will give you the altitude for any object at a given time. Armed with this, aim your scope at Alkaid adjust the altitude and very slowly pan right whilst looking through your 25mm you should hopefully find it.

Remember though it is very easily missed you are looking for a very faint smudge that at first glance you might not notice. The more time you spend looking at it though, the more detail should emerge.

Once your eyes have been "trained" to recognise these smudges you'll start to find them much more easily.

[Doc]

Hi Daz East Midlands Stargazers are having a meet tonight down the dark site at Sawley come along and we will find ya M51