The Andromeda Galaxy

[AstroB]

I spent an hour trying to locate it on saturday, and simply couldn't find it. I live in the suburbs, so I guess the failure was partly because of some light pollution.

Is absolute darkness a must when looking for Andromeda? Will it reveal itself in binoculars? And what magnification is good for looking at it?

In advance, thanks for all replies.

[MorningMajor]

Obvioulsy the darker the better but I've seen it in average conditions with my 127SLT although it was a feintish haze - I've heard it is visible with bino's but not tried it myself yet

Good luck

[Peter Drew]

Although M31, the Andromeda galaxy is getting a little low in the NW sky, it should still be possible to spot it without too much difficulty in 10x50 binoculars. The Moon, however, is not going to help much over the next week or so.

[rocketandroll]

M31 is VERY low in the sky at the moment and doesn't even get much above the horizon until the early hours of the morning.

To get a half decent view of it you need to be viewing in July/August I think... that's certainly what my planisphere has been saying, as I've been wanting to start having a stab at imaging the thing :-)

It's also fairly feint. Big, but feint... LP and it being near the horizon will make seeing it very hard.

Ben

[swamp thing]

Hi

M31 is really a lot easier later in the year (around Autumn) when it gets high in the sky and can be seen with the naked eye even in quite LP areas.

At the moment it is very low and the views will be somewhat disappointing.

Regards Steve

[alowen]

Last month I saw it with my 15x70 binos. Took a bit of searching from the village I live in, opposite a street light, but it was still visible.

Al

[Beyond_Vision]

It's a good binocular object as it's apparent size is quite large. You can see it with the naked eye in a reasonably dark site but you should be able to see it's core with binoculars in light polluted area. From a dark skies sight you may be able to see a dust lane or two with the bino's.

First locate Cassiopeia which looks like a 'W' and use the right hand 'V' as pointer to a line of three stars that are perpendicular to it (in the constellation of Andromeda). Use the middle star and go up to the next dimmest star then up to a slightly dimmer one. Andromeda should then be in the field of view.

Regards

Kevin

[John]

In the Autumn, on a good dark night, I can just about see M31 with the naked eye. Personally I think that binoculars give some of the best views of it - it's a bit disappointing in a scope sometimes.

[Photohound]

good luck with m31 i hope you get a glimpse - for me it is behind next doors hedge until about august... sigh.

[jayjt29]

Nice image to show where it is Kevin, thanks ive saved it for future ref.

Jay

[ollypenrice]

I agree with John. I can see it naked eye here with my now poor eyesight. It is great in bins but in telescopes it looks similar to the bino view till you get to a big scope, maybe 20 inches or so. Around this size the view changes gear and you get the dust lanes very clearly, though it won't all fit in the FOV any more. I don't know what it looks like between 14 and 20 inches so I don't know when the 'gearchange' happens.

Olly

[milkyjoe]

In the Autumn, on a good dark night, I can just about see M31 with the naked eye. Personally I think that binoculars give some of the best views of it - it's a bit disappointing in a scope sometimes.

I couldn't agree with you more John, I always have trouble finding this little [removed word], and when I do, there (sometimes) isn't much to see, but i use averted vision and that really helps. ;-)

Not tried looking at it through a pair of bins, will have to give that a go.