Re: The first night out with my 10" dob.

From: Martin R. Howell (martinhowell_at_ilikestarsearthlink.net)
Date: 09/05/04 

Date: Sun, 05 Sep 2004 02:12:26 GMT

On Sat, 4 Sep 2004 18:42:36 -0700, Tom wrote:

> I have dreamed of seeing M31. From what I have read, I knew enough to find
> it. After searching and searching with the 2" in the area to the left of
> the "Great Square", I finally noticed a smudge of light that was in stark
> contrast to surrounding collection of stars in my field of view. I put the
> 9mm in to get a closer look, and the smudge got a bit bigger, but by no
> means did it give me a detailed view of a galaxy.
> I strongly assume this is M31 anyways. How can I make the most of this? 7mm
> Televue Plossl with a good 3x Barlow? The 9mm gave me a 140x mag. and this
> doesn't seem optimal for M31. People say that M31 is visible with the naked
> eye, which could suggest that light pollution in north Scottsdale is worse
> than I think. I never did find it again later that night.

 Hi Tom,

Congratulations on the new scope and welcome to the sleepless society!

Now for a little advice. . .when first viewing most any object, start with
a lower power eyepiece and work your way up until you get the most
revealing view your

As for M31, no eyepiece you can slip into the focuser of a 10" dobsonian is
going to reveal something that looks like what many newbies imagine a
spiral galaxy should. Expect to see a dark dust lane and a stellar-like
nucleus on nights of good seeing when using moderate magnification. For a
real treat, slip in that 2" EP and look for two other galaxies in the same
field of view.

Have fun. 

-- 
Martin
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Whats the difference between searching and searching?
    ... >IIRC it used 捜す to refer to searching for someone('s home base) ... >when they had given their tail the slip. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Customizing right Click Menu
    ... I have been searching for a way in Gnome 2.14 to put the launch terminal back into the right click menu when you right click on the background. ... "A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. ... -Benjamin Franklin ...
    (GNOME)
  • Re: Magnetic field and relative motion
    ... >Thanks for revealing who you are. ... I remember those posts. ... >a little searching through the Googlegroup archives. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)