Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroID
The stunning picture on the home page inspired me to attempt M83 visual tonight.
Auckland turned on a cold southerly to clear and stabilise the skies and despite an 80% moon giving some problems with glare I managed to find M83 in the 80mm Achro in the high eastern sky. Took about 20 minutes of watching before it began to appear in averted vision and I had to sheild the ambient glare from my eyes. Found the location with a 20mm SV EP, a small curved asterism with three 'pointer' stars directing to the centre of the curve. Pinwheel is the third part of the triangle formed by the last star (Mag 9, no ID in Stellarium) and HIP66539 (Mag 7.15). I then went to a 15mm SV and then finally 2 x Barlowed it which surprisingly gave the best view due to contrast improvement I think.
Mag 9 was the limit of the 80mm, not too bad considering.
Very very dim, slight glow of the core, occaisonal glimpses of the swirl of the arms and what appears to be a triangle of brighter points at the outer edges. Not sure if these are stars behind the galaxy or within.
My third confirmed Galaxy. Sculptor, Sombrero and now M83.
Still haven't quite got the Ob going yet otherwise I would be using one of the bigger scopes. Hopefully I may find time to wire and organise it more over the weekend. With Daylight savings gone and much colder nights it gets hard to get much done after work.
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Good Observation for an 80 mm in a moon lit sky.
Just one thing , all the stars you see in your telescope and with the naked eye are in OUR galaxy
Cheers