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Just a quick report on finding NGC 253 from light polluted suburban skies. My binos are being serviced right now so I used the telescope to "simulate" them.
Town Belt of Dunedin (park that separates inner city from hill suburbs)
60mm f/5.9 Refractor
Seeing 5/10
Transparency 4/10
Light pollution: you bet - probably similar to Sydney suburban
Aimed 1/3 of the way between Beta Cet. and Phoenix (which was at Zenith at the time). NGC 253 was found after about 45 seconds of searching. It was the only DSO in the FOV.
9x60 (40mm Plossl): visible if you knew where to look, very low contrast. Odd looking asterism at first glance.
11x60 (32mm Plossl): readily seen, object was found at this setting
40x60 (9mm Ortho): best setting, easily seen, nicely framed
None of these combinations revealed any structure within the object. Still, it shape and presence were very distinct.
The tripod was a big help. Not sure if I would have found it hand-held.
Conditions were average at best. I wouldn't normally bother under a sky like that. So it should work on any night that's halfway decent.
Last edited by N1; 20-11-2014 at 01:25 PM.
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