the easiest galaxies to find

[erick (Eric)]

Yes, Jen. In nice dark skies I reckon you will see it, especially with your young eyes!

Starhopping there from Corvus is a delight in itself:-

See my diagram of the starhop in this thread:-

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=28880

"In this starhop to M104, those asterisms - the isosceles triangle arrowhead pointing the direction to "Stargate", then on in the same direction to "Jaws", then follow where Jaws is pointing to M104 - are so distinctive that you will quickly find yourself centred on M104 or its location. I take the point made that city light pollution may be a problem, but M104 is a bright little fellow, I expect you'll see it in your 40mm, unless your observing location is lit up too much and your eyes poorly dark adapted."

[Jen]

Originally Posted by erick

Yes, Jen. In nice dark skies I reckon you will see it, especially with your young eyes!

Starhopping there from Corvus is a delight in itself:-

See my diagram of the starhop in this thread:-

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=28880

"In this starhop to M104, those asterisms - the isosceles triangle arrowhead pointing the direction to "Stargate", then on in the same direction to "Jaws", then follow where Jaws is pointing to M104 - are so distinctive that you will quickly find yourself centred on M104 or its location. I take the point made that city light pollution may be a problem, but M104 is a bright little fellow, I expect you'll see it in your 40mm, unless your observing location is lit up too much and your eyes poorly dark adapted."

Thanks Erick i cant wait for the next new moon now to see if i can see this beautiful galaxy i love it i have beautiful dark skies here except for one street light in the north that is mysteriously not going to work properly for much longer
Jens next mission is to see M104 woop woop ardious omigos

[erick (Eric)]

Start with your binoculars to get a sense of distances and directions. Getting from Corvus to the "arrowhead" can be a problem - it's further than you think, in a telescope eyepiece.

While you are at it, look for M104 in your binoculars. You might pick it out of the dark sky!

[Jen]

i dont own a pair of binos yet

[pgc hunter]

Jen,

M104 will look nice with your scope from your darkish Swan Hillian skies. You should be able to resolve the dark lane at moderate powers of around 100-150x, and it is quite cool to see. Should you fail; you need to lay off the alcopops!!!!

[Jen]

Originally Posted by pgc hunter

Jen,

M104 will look nice with your scope from your darkish Swan Hillian skies. You should be able to resolve the dark lane at moderate powers of around 100-150x, and it is quite cool to see. Should you fail; you need to lay off the alcopops!!!!

ok i will check out M104 before i have an alcopop and make sure the watering system is switched off

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by Jen

ok i will check out M104 before i have an alcopop and make sure the watering system is switched off

haha trust me, you wont be dissappointed!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Hi Jen,

Even my "little brother" of your 6 inch scope could see M104 from Linden (dark sky site) quite clearly and fairly big at about 80x Mag, so your Skywatcher should have no problems. Once you get the hang of where it is, you will find it in no time and will ALWAYS look for it around this time for a cool view of another galaxy. On really clear nights the black stripe of the edge of the galaxy really stands out. Having said that, it reminds me of the last time I was at Linden about 3 weeks ago and I could see Centaurus A through my 8x50 FINDERSCOPE which was VERY impressive!

Good luck with your star hopping and your Jen handling......

Cheers

Chris

[Jen]

Originally Posted by Screwdriverone

Hi Jen,

Even my "little brother" of your 6 inch scope could see M104 from Linden (dark sky site) quite clearly and fairly big at about 80x Mag, so your Skywatcher should have no problems. Once you get the hang of where it is, you will find it in no time and will ALWAYS look for it around this time for a cool view of another galaxy. On really clear nights the black stripe of the edge of the galaxy really stands out. Having said that, it reminds me of the last time I was at Linden about 3 weeks ago and I could see Centaurus A through my 8x50 FINDERSCOPE which was VERY impressive!

Good luck with your star hopping and your Jen handling......

Cheers

Chris

Hey there Chris thanks cheers i will see how i go woohooo