Requesting help in finding galaxies and planeteries advice

[Blu]

Hi everyone,

I am a complete newbie to this. I have a saxon 10inch dob F/4.7 which I use only from my backyard in Shepparton, Victoria. I have not linked in with any astronomy club or other amateurs and have been doing this on my own in my free-time slowly (very slowly) finding my way around the night sky. I am interested in DSOs and iceinspace and other forums have been my primary resource. However, I seem to have hit a snag. I have not been able to spot any planetaries or galaxies (not LMC/SMC) and I would appreciate any advice on easy to find DSOs (except open clusters) considering I am looking from my backyard.

In relation to DSOs, so far I have seen M41, M42, M43, M44, M45, M78, M79, C79, C84, NGC2808, Omega Centauri, Jewel Box cluster, Eta Carinae Nebula, Running Chicken Nebula (I think so..I can see the cluster but can't quite make out the nebulosity), Tu 47, either C104 or NGC361, and Tarantula Nebula. I have particularly tried finding Centaurus A and Blue Planetary repeatedly without any success.

Please please give me suggestions :(

Vijay

[glend]

A good nebula filter is useful for all the usual bright nebulas that you can see visually. These filters bring out the cloud detail.
As far as galaxies are concerned, try to work on the brightest ones first, like M104, M83, etc but they are only rising to a decent altitude after 3am right now. Centarus A is fairly bright and can be found very close to the east of Omega Centauri. Just keep working at it, and use a good planetarium app to guide you. Galaxies will be faint objects so use your averted vision , ie don't look directly at it but use your good black and white side vision to spot it. Centarus A may show up better with a light pollution reduction filter.

[webtubbs]

Dark skies. DSO's benefit greatly from dark skies. The darker the better.

Also, try to shield any stray light from streetlights, neighbours, etc.

And take your time. Let your eyes adjust. Looks for a good 5 minutes before deciding you can't see anything.

[Nab]

Hi Vijay,
Also take note of the angular size of objects. Many DSOs are much smaller and much dimmer than you might imagine. Remember also the relative magnitude is spread out across the entire size of the object - so a Mag 10 galaxy is much harder to detect than a Mag 10 star (where the light is concentrated to a point).

The Blue Panetary is indeed blue, and should be easy to find if you star hop to it.. but it is small at low magnification (~50x) and a non-dark adapeted eye might miss it.

Clear skys.

Darren.

[Robh]

Hi Vijay,

Go here ...
http://wsaag.org/index.php/resources/guides-and-tutorials

Download The Galaxy and Planetary Nebula Observers Guide.
It's free.

Regards, Rob

[doppler]

"Centarus A is fairly bright and can be found very close to the east of Omega Centauri". If you have 50mm finder scope, move Omega Centauri to the western edge and Centaurus A will be in the same field of veiw to the oposite side of the finder scope.

It will look a bit like this through the 10"

[Cimitar]

Hi Vijay,

1) I use an app with my iPad called SkySafari - http://skysafariastronomy.com/. Best thing I ever did! With a little patience I can find almost anything :thumbsup: , I run an older version, SkySafari 3 Plus, however the newer ones look even better and well worth the price (PS. I have no affiliation etc).

2) I suggest considering the use of an eye-patch to cover one of your eyes (unless of course you're using a bino-viewer). I found the eye-patch made things a lot more relaxing and enabled me to see things more clearly.

3) When you do see the galaxy, in many instances you'll see a fuzzy cloud. To see more, you'll need to use "averted vision" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averted_vision. Pretty easy to do and once you get the hang of it things will really start to pop out.

4) and finally, unfortunately galaxies are pretty faint so there's not a great deal to see sadly. Don't be discouraged though. I started doing observing and gradually moved into astrophotography, it's made a huge difference! Even just a camera on a tripod with 30 sec exposure can show you so much :thumbsup: . You can also get small adapters that connect to your eyepiece and allow an iPhone etc. to capture objects. Even with a 10sec image, you'll see quite a bit :)

Cheers, Evan

[Blu]

Thank you guys so much!

@Glen - I use a DGM NPB filter and it mildly brings out the cloudiness with running chicken as opposed to eta carina where it makes it stick right out.:)

@Darren and Wayne - I will keep trying. I think I am looking in the right area but nothing stands out or looks particularly blue. What I have been doing so far is going from Beta Crucis up to Delta Crucis and then go up again the same distance and look in that area. Am I doing it all wrong?:help:

@Rob - Thank you for this amazing resource. I will take a long while to go through it all. I truly appreciate your efforts.:thanx:

@Rick - Thanks for the picture. This was exactly what I needed - that is much harder to see than I thought. :thumbsup:

@Evan - Thanks for the resources. I am using stellarium but I will try this one out!!

I will keep trying until I catch these two!

Vijay

[doppler]

Thats why they are called faint fuzzy's, but if you put a digital camera in the focuser and do a short exposure you get a bit of colour.

[croweater]

You are looking in the right area. Try a bit more power (maybe 100x). Sometime planetaries then stand out more . Use averted vision on likely candidates and will maybe pick it up. Cheers Richard.

[RobF]

You might also find it helpful to scan the area you're looking (e.g. for Centaurus A) with binocs, then your 50mm finder, then the main scope.

Even if you don't see the object in binocs/finder, you can still use the surrounding stars to zero in.

It really is a revelation the first time you observe from very dark skies. In fact its somewhat dis-orientating too - so many stars you find it hard to star-hop, even though the DSO are much more obvious :)


Did you say you haven't seen the magellanic clouds yet?

[Blu]

Thanks Richard and Rob I will try tonight if the weather is right and see if I get lucky. Sorry, Rob I meant to say in my original post that I can see the LMC and SMC but I want to see some others like the full form of a galaxy in an eyepiece which has been eluding me.

Cheers!

Vijay

[RobF]

Hopefully an experienced observer will chime in.
My only other thought would be to focus on galaxies that have some concentrated brightness to see against your urban'ish skies.

Perhaps M104 or 83, later in the night, currently. Light pollution should be a bit less then too.....

[raymo]

Unfortunately Vijay, most of the brightest galaxies are in the same part of the sky [Sculptor-Cetus-Fornax-Eridanus-Grus-Aquarius], and are
setting as it gets dark at this time of year.
As you have now seen quite a few objects, I will assume that you are
improving your observing skills, and further assume that you have a star chart of some sort.
How about a little bit of star hopping. NGC 3918 is a very small bright
green planetary. Look at The Southern Cross. Visualise the distance
between the left most star [Beta] and right most star [Delta]. Go from
Beta to Delta, and continue moving in the same direction for 3/4 of the
distance between Beta and Delta. When you stop moving 3918 should
be up a bit from the centre of the field of view; very small, but bright green. If you can't find it try a bit more magnification quickly before it
moves out of the field. If you find it you can use a lot more
magnification to get a better look.
raymo

[Blu]

Thanks Raymo and Rob,

I will try with the higher power. What I have been doing is going up from beta crucis to delta crucis in the finderscope and then going up further the same distance in the finderscope, and then looking in my 25mm eyepiece and not seeing anything that looks particularly blue or remarkable even after moving things around.

Yesterday I printed out Rob Horvat's tutorials and put it in plastic sleeves but I don't have any other printed material. I have been using Stellarium on my laptop and recently my phone along with an app called Skyeye to find interesting things to try and search for with my scope. Then if I find it with the scope, I look it up on wikipedia for some background information. Apart from the open clusters, I have more luck with the globular clusters and the brightest and largest nebulae than anything else and am yet to see a planetary or a galaxy.

Incidentally, yesterday was clouded out so I could not put your collective advice into action so I will try again and let you know.

Cheers!
Vijay

[raymo]

You've got virtually no chance of seeing 3918 in a finder. Use the 25mm,
and remember only 3/4 of the distance between B and D, and then up
a bit.
raymo

[kens]

You may already be doing this but just in case: Make sure you are protecting your night vision or you have almost no hope of seeing the faint fuzzies. Use only a dim red light to read by, cover the monitor with red plastic and turn the brightness down and use it only if you absolutely have to. Use an eyepatch as suggested and cover your viewing eye with it when not viewing.
You need to protect the rhodopsin (aka visual purple) in your retinal rods to see faint objects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodopsin

[Blu]

Managed to see Centaurus A last night and it was a lot dimmer than I expected. So Yes! my first galaxy! Just a little fuzzy patch. I am still unable to locate Blue planetary Raymo but I will keep trying with your tips. I must get lucky at some point right?:)

cheers
Vijay

[raymo]

It is very small, but a very bright green/blue; Once you think you're in the right place, try an EP around 15mm. If you have a star chart, note
that there are two 5th or 6th magnitude stars at 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock
from 3918, and a red 5th mag star a bit further out at 6 o'clock.
raymo

[Blu]

okay found the blue planetary...just kept looking in the general area with the 25mm and found what looked like a very tiny ball (looked like a dim star at first) between two small but bright stars, one of which was red. Then used higher power and saw it was not a star at all but a blue ball as compared to the other stars around. It was much smaller than I thought. Thank you all and especially Raymo because I think seeing that red star made the difference in me zoning in on that area. I have finally seen my first planetary!

Cheers
Vijay

[grimsay]

High five Vijay!

I bagged the Blue planetary last night too (my first also. Beautiful colour in the 25mm (basically same setup as yourself but 8" f6). 10mm was less colourful and I could only make it out with averted vision. Need darker skies.

I also found but could really say that I saw Centaurus A. If I looked far out of field or moved my view I noticed a grey smudge with what looked like a dark band running through. Was definitely there but I don't really feel like I observed it.

Still pretty chuffed with last night.

[raymo]

Well done. Another pair of planetaries in that general area. Put the cross
vertical in a low power EP. Memorise the distance from the top star of the
cross to the bottom one. Sweep at 8 o'clock from the bottom star of the cross slightly more than the distance you have memorised, and you will see NGC 5189 which is quite different from 3918; it is irregularly shaped
in a sort of a spiral, and a lot larger. More detail will be seen with an O111 filter in larger scopes. The 10" might do a bit better than the 8" on this one.
If you continue on from 5189 about another third of the distance between the top and bottom stars you will come across NGC 5315
which is like 3918, but will be a test, as it is only half the size.
raymo

[Blu]

High Five Iain! Thanks Raymo and the rest of you for opening new vistas up for us. I will try your next targets real soon weather and wife willing :lol: Considering how small and faint these planetaries and galaxies are, it beggars belief how they were noticed for the very first time. Incredible powers of observation and patience.
Cheers,
Vijay