Hi Guys,

[JJDOBBER79]

HI There,
Just joined the forum and wanted to thank everyone for their help so far, I have spend countless hours reading posts and have found them all a great resource. My story is I just bought a 6 inch dob a couple of months ago, it came with a 10mm and a 25mm EP. I have since aquirred a 6mm and a 3x barlow (I know, I know. Its pretty much useless, I got excited) Having said that the 3x with the 10mm is awesome for the moon, it feels like Im walking on it. Anyway, I guess I joined to ask for some help as Ive kinda hit the wall. Since buying the scope, I have seen Jupiter, saturn, Orion neb, eta carinae and venus but I cant seem to locate anything else. I have read suzy's post on planetary nebs and tried the blue neb and butterfly neb. Also I have tried on many nights to locate the galaxy cluster in virgo with no luck. Problem is, I know exactly where I am looking, I recognize all of the stars around my targets and I feel that I should be looking right at it yet I see nothing. I live in Lismore NSW which is not a big town and I kinda live on the outskirts so I feel like it's pretty dark. I even went out last night (no moon) and tried and I couldnt find anything. I am thinking that its either not dark enough or I dont have enough aperture. Or maybe my EP are poor. What do you guys think? Maybe Im selecting the wrong targets? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance:)

[barx1963]

Hi Jas
A 6" should show those targets even in a large town. I live in the middle of Colac, pop 10k and had no issues with an 8".
Which eyepiece are you using? I would always use the 25mm without barlow to locate objects as it will give a nice FOV and reasonable contrast.
Also make sure you are dark adapted, galaxies are faint and need that to best pick them out.
Also now is the ideal time to explore globs and galactic nebulae in the Sagittarius and Scorpio regions. Lots of Messiers, open clusters, globulars in that area.
Also, how are you locating objects? Using a chart or computer? IMHO using an iphone or similar at the telescope is always a bad idea as it has a very large impact on dark adaption.

Malcolm

[JJDOBBER79]

Thanks for your reply, I didnt realise that not being dark adapted has such an impact, so it can make the difference between seeing objects and not seeing them at all? I think you might have hit the nail on the head. I typically sit in my loungeroom (while my scope cools down outside) looking on my computer at starcharts, UNDER A FLOURO LIGHT!!!!! and then I go outside and look in my eyepiece. I clearly have a lot to learn. I just tonight got my copy of "turn left at orion" and go figure, it backs up your story:rofl:So, should i be sitting outside in the dark for a half hour before looking in the scope? Maybe, I will try this tonight. What are these globs and nebulae in sagittarius you speak of:question:Thanks again

[barx1963]

Jas
Dark adaption is something you really have to be aware of. If you go straight outside from a brightly light room you will be lucky to see any but the brightest stars. Wait 5 minutes and the Milky Way pops into view, want another 10 mins and the Milky Way shows a lot of structure and lots more stars are visible. At that stage I know I am getting close enough to dark adaption to observe.
If like me, your observing site has a bit of ambient light that is probably as good as it gets but at a dark site the eyes keep getting better for up to an hour.
Using a computer, ipad, iphone is really bad, they are very bright so get some charts or print them of from your computer (laminate them if possible to protect from dew) and a DIM red light and you will start to find more stuff.
In Sag you have M8 (Lagoon Neb), M17 (Omega Neb)M20 (Trifid Neb) M21 (Open Cluster) M22 (Showpiece globular) M55 (Glob) and in Scorpius you have M4 (A looser glob) M6 & 7 (Open Clusters). All easy to find and some are vis to the naked eye! (M8 and M7 particularly)

Malcolm

[Ric]

Hi Jas and welcome to IIS

Another good tip is to resist the temptation to have a quick look and jump to the next object. You will find that if you take your time with each object more detail will show up through the eyepiece.

I can easily spend half an hour or more on some objects watching more detail pop out. Also practice using averted vision which is not looking directly at the object but looking to one side, once again you will see more fainter detail becoming evident.

Cheers

[ZeroID]

Hi Jas, do what I do.
Do my research early in the evening, find some objects, then as it gets darker go outside with the binocs and start scanning around identifying asterisms, groups etc for a while ( amazing what you see in binocs or even plain old eyeballs if you're patient ) then switch to the scope as you start to get adapted and also you have some mental markers to follow.
Then it's a matter of patience and averted vision and more patience.
You'll et the hang of it, just takes a bit learning and time.
Enjoy !!

[elfinke]

Good advice, and it's something I am guilty of whenever I'm viewing things other than Solar System entities (I'll watch Jupiter for an entire night no worries!)

But systems, like the Leo Triplet which busted my balls for the best part of a month before I was able to spot even a hint of them, certainly require far more patience, which includes time sitting in the dark!

[FlashDrive]

Welcome Jas .... be prepared to have a great time with your Scope.
Add some ' goodies ' as you go...more quality eyepieces etc..etc...!

Flash.....:D

[JJDOBBER79]

Hi Everyone ,
Thanks for the welcoming. Ric, I am definately guilty of having a lack of patience, especially with a new hobby. For example, I tried butterfly nebula, looked in between the two scorp stars, couldnt see it so I moved on. Next time I have a go I think I will take my dog for a walk on the dark streets first to adapt and then I will go straight outside, choose 1 target and spend a couple of hours on it. I like the butterfly because I was very confident that I was looking in the right spot and scorpius happens to be right outside my back door at the moment. Is this a good place to start or is it a hard one to see? I might leave the virgo cluster for camping somewhere really dark. The other thing I wanted to ask may sound like a silly question. Will I know when I see these nebula? Are they just going to be a tiny spec through a 6" that is indistinguishable from the tiny spec next to it (or the one next to that)? Obviously, my scope is not as good as hubble so I know it wont be like the pictures, but basically when I was looking for the blue planetary and butterfly, all I could see was some tiny specs that looked like the smallest of stars. I am just trying to gauge what to expect. Will the objects Im looking for "stand out" from the crowd?(with dark adaption and patience of course) It certainly appears that they will from what i have read in turn left at orion, the pictures of what they should look like in the FOV of a dob is pretty exciting. Anyway, hopefully I can see something that will keep me hooked. I will let you all know how I go.

[barx1963]

Jas
A good habit to get into (and please take this as advice, not a criticism) is to use correct designations for objects. I assume when you say the Butterfly Neb you are referring to Messier 6 also known as the butterfly cluster. Many objects have popular names (Bug nebulae, Andromeda Galaxy, Pinwheel galaxy etc) but it always helps to use a catalogue designation. This makes it clear what object you are talking about and is a way of improving your own knowledge. My habit is to use the Messier designation or NGC/IC and put the popular name in brackets.
Anyway, if it is M6 (Butterfly Cluster) it is the smaller of the two Messier clusters lying east of the Stinger in Scorpius's tail, M7 is often visble naked eye and M6 is easy to spoy in a finder pretty much in the same field but condsiderably smaller and fainter.
I have attached a quick chart showing their positions

Malcolm

[JJDOBBER79]

Ok, M7 is now my target and I am not going to move on until I find it. Rain and clouds just rolled in so it wont be happening tonight.:mad2::mad2::mad2:

[JJDOBBER79]

Hi guys,
I am thinking of getting a UHC or 0III given that I want to view DSO's (I am getting the lingo down now) Any thoughts on how these would go with a 6"? Would I be wasting my money because of the aperture? Also I only have the cheap skywatcher plossls that came with it so would I be better off spending my money on better EP?

[JJDOBBER79]

ok, I just read a whole thread on how awesome this filter is. And only $75. Is there any reason I would not buy this for a 6 inch dob.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HPOIII-1-25-DGM-Optics-OIII-Astronomy-Filter-/160462186370?hash=item255c4aa782

[JJDOBBER79]

had a good night tonight. Observed M6, M7 and Omega Centauri for the first time. I only just found out that ngc4945 and 5286 are in that vicinity. I might try for them tommorow night if clear skies.

[barx1963]

Well done Jas! Omega Centauri is just awesome. It is a matter of conjecture as to whether Omega C or 47 Tucanae is the better globular.
Personally I think 47 Tuc as in scopes 12" and above you can see more in the core and in my 20" it is just awe inspiring. If you are able to stay up a bit later you can have a crack at 47 Tuc. On reasonably clear nights it is naked eye here.
M6 is a lovely little cluster. My personal favourite OC is NGC3532 (sometimes called the Pincushion Cluster) not far from Eta Carina. Have a try for that!

Malcolm

[noeyedeer]

hi Malcolm, is that software based charts? if so ...what's its called?
cheers

matt

[ZeroID]

Jas, are you running any astro programs on your computer ? Like Stellarium or similar ?
I ask because you haven't mentioned it and noone else has asked. If not, get Stellarium, free, and use that to learn where things are and you will have a better idea of where to look and what to expect.

Also works on cloudy nights when telescopes don't ... :D

[JJDOBBER79]

Thanks for the tip Malcolm. I will look for it. Hey Brent, can stellaruum work with mac as that's all I use. Tried virgo galaxy cluster again tonight after adjusting my eyes for about an hour and saw nothing. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?

[skfboiler]

The specs on the vendor's website usually state that OIII filters are better for 8" (200mm) or larger. My UHC filter seem to work good on my 6" (150mm) scope. I have the Ultrablock filter from Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.

[JJDOBBER79]

Thanks skfboiler I ended up buying a dgm npb filter which came highly recommended by IIS members. Hopefully will be ok with 6". I would prefer more aperture but stuck with what I have at the moment.

[ZeroID]

Yep, there is a Mac version.
try at www.stellarium.org (http://www.stellarium.org)

Icons along the top row for all the OS's
Even Linux is catered for

[bigjoe]

Hi buddy.Sometimes putting a towel or similar over your head and ep can help to dramatically increase contrast so these dsos stand out more cleary.I know this can sound a bit drastic but it WORKS.Cheers and keep perservering.