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Originally Posted by Jemmo
Noooooo I only just learnt about that galaxy as I'm a noon and I was so excited I had the 10" dobsonian out ready then started searching for it with an app on my phone only to see it was below the horizon. Knowing I've missed it by a few months is so annoying do you happen to have any photos of it
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Jemmo, go into the imaging forum for deep sky objects and do a search for the Andromeda galaxy. You should see several images that our guys have taken.
Meanwhile, this is September's image in our 2015 IceInSpace calender taken by Attila Bodi. The calender is for sale through the IceInSpace shop.
Don't worry too much about missing Andromeda. In a month or two, and then heading right through winter, it's a galaxy feast to be had. You will be way too busy observing as many as you can and trust me, you won't have time for all of them in the one season
. The 10" dob even thru light pollution will rock many of them. And wait till you see
Markarian's Chain in Coma Berenices. OMG
a whole string of galaxies all lined up, it's utter craziness I tell you!!!
I see Leo starting to get visible now. Here in Brisbane at 11.30pm it's around 34 degrees above my horizon. You want to observe galaxies at least above 40 degrees to avoid the murky lower atmosphere. Leo will bring in some really nice galaxies as it rises higher and higher each night
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Please note tho, that a lot of these galaxies will be faint fuzzies. Embrace the fact that you looking at something that took something like 30 million years or whatever for the light to reach your eyeballs
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In winter, M 104, the Sombrero galaxy will bring you to your knees!
And that galaxy loves high power as it's fairly bright. I found a 7mm eyepiece thru my 10" dob gives the best views. One night I saw it during an exceptionally good night of seeing (again, from my LP backyard) and I didn't recognise it. It was that good! I had to check the charts to do a double take on what I was observing. This comes down to something I constantly urge on here - keep re-visiting those galaxies as the seeing conditions will dictate how the object looks in the eyepiece. Some nights can appear extremely faint. High cloud too is a real killer on DSOs (deep sky objects), and hard to tell at night time
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I found with my 10" dob, my 10mm eyepiece on galaxies does the job the best on most of them. I have a 72 degree widefield eyepiece which makes finding them and observing them a whole lot easier at this magnification. And globular clusters Omega Centauri and 47 Tuc will easily fit into the field of view (fov) of the eyepiece in all their entirety. Where as a 10mm plossl 52deg fov I think? Thereabouts anyway, won't fit them all in. They look amazing thru a 10mm ep, you can resolve many of the stars! Basically, my 10mm is my hardest working eyepiece for my 10".
If you want a really easy galaxy to find right now, here's one for you.....
NGC 5102 in Centaurus.
It sits practically huddled up next to the bright star iota Centauri so this galaxy couldn't be easier to find! In my 72 deg. widefield 10mm eyepiece, both the star and galaxy are within the same fov. Pop the star out of the way so the brightness doesn't inhibit your views of the galaxy. On a reasonable night of seeing, you should see a kind of brick shape; it's a spiral galaxy.
Meanwhile, getting ready for galaxy season in the next month or so, my biggest tip would be observe as much nebula as you possible can right now. This will help prepare you for observing those faint fuzzy galaxies. The more you observe, the better your eyes will get with picking out detail. And learning the art of averted vision is also another good tip for you to practice on those nebulae. Many planetary nebs out there too right now worth a look at.
Hope this info helps. as you're new to this hobby, I'm not sure if you know of these objects yet.
Enjoy!
