Help on m83

[speach (Simon)]

I'm trying desperately to see M83 but up to now nothing. Can anyone give me a star hoping guide to see it.

[simmo]

Hello Simon,

Can you just clarify a few things first.

What are you using as a guide. Stellarium, sky safari, constellation wheel or reference book? Also what type of scope and guide scope are you using? Just need a little more info so as to know your position.

Simmo

[Weltevreden SA (Dana)]

Hi Simon, we've all been through the frustration of trying to pinpoint the location of an object in places where there are few bright stars plus the help of light pollution down here on Earth. I can recommend two very good chart sets you can download for free. The first one, by José Rámòn Torres & Casey Skelton, is called their A set. Go to the bottom of their splash page to find the links.

http://www.uv.es/jrtorres/triatlas.html

It's OK in A-4, but if you take a thumbdrive with the PDF on it to the local quick-print shop they can do it back-to-back on the A-3 size. Those are on a scale that's really nice out in the field. High resolution and easy to hold up to the sky to noodle out what the star patterns are.

The second set is by Michael Vlasov, here:

http://www.deepskywatch.com/deepsky-atlas.html

It's more detailed, so maybe better to save it after you've navigated around enough with the Torres/Skelton set. I printed my Vlasov set out in A3 and put them in a dew-proof flip-file you can get an office supplies shop. These flip-files are basically clear plastic sheet-protectors that have been bound into sets of 10 or 20. Those things have saved my charts on many a soppy night wen I won't give up till the scopes dew over.

Chasing down objects using old-fashioned paper is for me a lot more gratifying than pointing an iPhone to the sky and trying to translate those eensy screens into a big wide sky.

Good luck. =Dana

[simmo]

Considering where you live do you have any light pollution Simon? If you do then it is possible that m83 would be hard to find. Your chances will be much higher if your totally in darkness and the seeing conditions are at their best. Not sure if you have seen this website

http://www.skippysky.com.au/Australia/

But it is handy for knowing how conditions will be in your area. Transparency is the clouds and seeing is how good the atmosphere is. The darker the blue the better.

As for star hopping then here is a guide. If you know where omega Centuari is you can start there. If not then look for the southern cross.straight Below is two very bright stars the brightest being Rigel. Work left of these stars until you see a bright star like smudge which can bee seen with the naked eye. You can definitely tell with binocs when you come across it. This is omega Centuari a huge star cluster.

Keep working almost directly left to the next brightest star being iota Centuari. Work down and slightly to the left to i Centuari. Work directly left of i Centuari to star hr5128. From that star it should only be just above it and not very far. If you are not familiar with these stars then a free program like stellarium (just google it) will be very valuable to you.

Hopefully your aperture is large enough to see it. In the city I have a hard time finding galaxies even the bright ones with a 10" scope. In a totally dark site they really come alive and are quite awesome to see. Good luck Simon and I hope you can find it.

Let us know how you go.

Simmo

[speach (Simon)]

Yep I've found it, been looking for about a year now!!!

[simmo]

Awesome Simon. Must be a relief. Did you get a clear view or was it a grey smudge?

[speach (Simon)]

Originally Posted by simmo

Awesome Simon. Must be a relief. Did you get a clear view or was it a grey smudge?

Grey smudge really, but it was there.

[Pinwheel (Doug)]

Originally Posted by simmo

If you know where omega Centuari is you can start there. If not then look for the southern cross.straight Below is two very bright stars the brightest being Rigel. Work left of these stars until you see a bright star like smudge which can bee seen with the naked eye. You can definitely tell with binocs when you come across it. This is omega Centuari a huge star cluster. Keep working almost directly left to the next brightest star being iota Centuari. Work down and slightly to the left to i Centuari. Work directly left of i Centuari to star hr5128. From that star it should only be just above it and not very far.

I'd love to give these directions to a Melbourne taxi driver..

[speach (Simon)]

Originally Posted by Pinwheel

I'd love to give these directions to a Melbourne taxi driver..

I wounder where would end up? M1 perhaps!