#21  
Old 27-03-2012, 08:12 PM
squeak (Andrew)
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psyche-

well, perserverance and patience seem to be required. sore neck and numb feet an unfortunate necessity. my reference is 'skywatching' by david h levy. ive found it to be a great starter, but charts only go to mag 6. so i point the scope to where the object is meant to be, and start looking. it takes time, but, that is part of the allure. relatively easy with big furry things like galaxies, but as i want to see 3c273 virginis, i might need more detailed charts. i dont have any dramas finding the likes of sombrero, centaurus edgewise (4945), virgo and fornax galaxies. have you found sombrero, yet, or any others?

andrew
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  #22  
Old 28-03-2012, 05:54 AM
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ZeroID (Brent)
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Hi Psyche. I'm in Auckland NZ and have a 10" Newt. I spotted M104 (Sombrero) Monday night over in low eastern amongst our CBD light dome. Air was reasonably clear for a change, southerly blowing rubbish away but it is very faint in those conditions. I only just saw it knowing where to look having found it under better ( high north) conditions last year. You will probably find it easier much later at night when it is higher in the sky or wait a few months and it will be further advainced earlier in the evening. My best time at present would be about 4 am so in Australia it will be even later.
I have also found Sculptor in Fornax, again in winter months and at home. Also very dim but quite distinguishable when you recognise it finally. The best way to confirm sightings I find is to recognise the star pattern from a chart and identify where it should be. Then look very carefully using averted vision and well dark adapted eyes. If you've got the location right then all of a sudden something willl flicker through your vision as you search and there it is. A very satisfying moment the first time, or that matter any time !!
As has been previously mentioned they look nothing like you see in the pretty pictures...

Hang in there, patience and perserverance will reward. Then you will want to take pictures .. $$$$$ and more frustrations....
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  #23  
Old 28-03-2012, 06:47 AM
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GrampianStars (Rob)
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Cool

Quote:
Originally Posted by psyche101 View Post
Hi All

Galaxies have always been something of a problem for me. I have trouble finding them altogether. ........ Is it possible to define say the Sombrero galaxy with my 10" Dobsonian?........ I mention the Sombrero galaxy as it is one in particular I have been trying to see for some time now.......
Cheers.
G'day Psyche
Try 1st the Centaurus A "Hamburger Galaxy" highly visible dark dust band that crisscrosses this giant elliptical galaxy.....
Very bright in your 10".....
Much brighter than M104.....
Ideally placed high in the south at the moment close to the SCP so won't drift off view as quick....
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  #24  
Old 28-03-2012, 08:56 PM
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Tinderboxsky (Steve)
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Hi Psyche,

GrampianStar's suggestion to target Centaurus A is a good one. It was one of my early successes when I started looking for galaxies.
I found I could find it with a little patience, star hopping from surrounding brighter stars. It was a small fuzzy patch in my 7X50 binoculars that I almost missed. My 85mm scope revealed the faint glow of the galaxy and the dust lanes were visible with averted vision. Very satisfying to find it.
I can only imagine how brighter it will look like through your dob!
Happy hunting.
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  #25  
Old 29-03-2012, 01:25 AM
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glenc (Glen)
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M104 has a higher surface brightness than Cen A (11.6 vs 13.5) but Cen A is brighter with mag 6.8 vs mag 8.0 for M104.
Cen A is 4.5 degrees north of omega Cen. Use binoculars to find it then use a low power eyepiece on your scope.
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  #26  
Old 02-05-2012, 08:30 PM
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Hi everyone

For those seeking out an easy way to find the Sombrero Galaxy (M104), please take a look here at post no#36 (by pgc hunter) and no#37 (by eric).
An easy star hop explained and star hop map provided.
In fact, the whole thread in it's entirety is very helpful.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...light=sombrero

Learning to measure that 4 deg. using your hand really does help (unless you have a Telrad). Also- four deg. (re Sombrero) may not seem much but once you measure it in the sky with your hand, you will actually see that's it's quite some ways away.
Unfortunately, I'm not using my lap top at the moment to give you my bookmarked link, so just google "measuring the sky with your hand" for some results.

And just purely my opinion, not sure how others agree here....
For the first two years of observing, I stayed well clear of observing galaxies from my light polluted backyard. M104 was an exception.
I concentrated on polishing up my observing skills on nebulae in preparation for galaxy observing. Stephen O'Meara's book, "The Messier Objects" is a teaching book for observing- it focuses on pulling out detail from faint fuzzies- has been one of my most helpful guides during this period.
And trust me....
the more you observe, the more trained your eyes will be at picking out detail. Eventually, just about EVERYTHING is bright... yes, those really faint fuzzies you once thought were barely there in the eyepiece, are now glaring bright in your eyepiece- I kid you not! You will bump into them everywhere!
So after two years, I've now spent the last 6 months observing galaxies, and boy oh boy, I'm glad I waited.
Perhaps you don't need to wait as long as I did, but I think you get the message here- the more you observe, the better your skill at visual observing will be. So I'm still relatively new to this- I can't wait to see what the next few years of observing will bring me, so far it's been the most fantastic journey of my life and I can only get better- yaaay!
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  #27  
Old 18-05-2012, 09:55 PM
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dannat (Daniel)
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I Tracked down m104 in my 25x100 tonight the 2.5 degree field makes it easy to see the two 3 star asterisms in Sab's post Suzy links to.
It was a nice elongated fuzzy, not large or bright but easy to pick out. I started at Saturn jumped to spica then moved to the bottom 2 stars in corvi-was a quick jump down from there..prob took me 3 mins to bag it
It was good to make out a diff shape then the usual circular smudge
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  #28  
Old 22-05-2012, 09:48 AM
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Suzy
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A very nice bino report there Daniel- thank you.
I'll have to throw my 10x60's onto it and see what I get.
I don't expect elongated at those powers though.


Some further tips for finding M104- The Sombrero Galaxy...

In a 9x50 finder it's easy to make it out as the core is so bright- it'll just look like a star (tho slightly more diffuse- comparatively if you look at the surrounding stars and look at it, you can tell the difference. ).
The star hop that leads to it (the 3 star asterisms mentioned in the link I supplied and what Daniel's talking about) combines to look like the constellation Scorpius next to it through the finder- it's a very bright pattern & hard to miss. In the finder, get that Scorpius asterism on the right edge of the finder, then look left of the finder about a 1/4 of the way in and on the same line pretty much, and then look for a slightly diffuse star.

Lots of study through the finder will prove invaluable as you'll get better and better at picking out objects to differentiate from what you probably thought at first were faint stars. I spend as much time looking in my finderscope as I do through the telescope in trying to pick out faint fuzzies (the widefield views alone are worth it). Having a right angle finder makes this task much more comfortable and enjoyable.
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