Tonight....

[Frostyricho (Stephen)]

Hi members of IIS,

tonight i am going to be taking the telescope out to look at some objects in the sky. I have a 8" dobsonian and want to know what i can look at. I live in sydney so it has a fair amount of light pollution. I want to know what DSO's i will be able to see.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Hey Frosty
The moon is going to be your biggest issue tonight. That said exploring the terminator on the moon can be fun especially if you have a good moon or ND filter.
The fainter DSOs are going to be hard to grab, so open clusters will be the best bet. Obviously NGC4755 (Jewellbox) and there are a few Messieer OCs in Scorpius and Sagittarius that are worth a look. Namely M7, M6, M8 incorporates an OC and the nebulosity is bright enough you may pick it up with a low power eyepiece, M23, M25, M16 has an OC but the neb is much fainter, M18, M26 (Wild Duck Cluster) and M11 (these last 2 are in Scutum). Some Messier Globulars would also be possibilities. Try M15 in Pegasus, M2 in Aquarius and M22 in Sagittarius to start with, maybe for a challenge try M71 in Sagitta.

Cheers

Malcolm

Originally Posted by Frostyricho

Hi members of IIS,

tonight i am going to be taking the telescope out to look at some objects in the sky. I have a 8" dobsonian and want to know what i can look at. I live in sydney so it has a fair amount of light pollution. I want to know what DSO's i will be able to see.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Here you go, mate: http://skymaps.com/skymaps/tesme1409.pdf

Skymaps.com put out monthly charts for the different hemispheres.

You can take it out with you.

H

[Frostyricho (Stephen)]

Well tonight i managed to get a fair amount of DSO, Managed to get The Butterfly Cluster, NGC 6752, M25, M22 ,M54 (barely could see it but i could tell it was it), M7, M4 this part was full of stars. And that was my session tonight my best one so far with my brand new telescope. So far really happy.

I want to start doing nebule. I tried to get the Lagoon Nebula and Trifid Nebula but i could seem to get them. I dont know if i was viewing it wrong. Do i need to do something to my telescope to be able too see them. Planing to stay up late on Saturday Night to try and get Andromeda Galaxy and Triangulum Galaxy is it worth staying up this late and will i be able to see them. Can you view these DSO's in summer are they only viewed in this time of the year.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Well done on getting so many!
The thing with nebulae and galaxies is that they are quite faint and are extended objects. Light pollution and the moon will kill them off. Best bet is to wait a few days when the moon is past full and rises later (this chart will help to calculate http://www.timeanddate.com/moon/australia/sydney )so you have more time before the sky is washed out.
M8 is interesting as it is actually very bright, even here in Colac it is easily visible with the naked eye. the problem is it is also very large, so the surface brightness is low and you need a wide field of view to get it all in. Trifid is smaller and fainter but should be possible.

You don't need to do anything to your scope, it is largely about getting the conditions right, although a light pollution or UHC filter may also help to improve contrast.

Keep at it!

Malcolm

[Frostyricho (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by barx1963

Well done on getting so many!
The thing with nebulae and galaxies is that they are quite faint and are extended objects. Light pollution and the moon will kill them off. Best bet is to wait a few days when the moon is past full and rises later (this chart will help to calculate http://www.timeanddate.com/moon/australia/sydney )so you have more time before the sky is washed out.
M8 is interesting as it is actually very bright, even here in Colac it is easily visible with the naked eye. the problem is it is also very large, so the surface brightness is low and you need a wide field of view to get it all in. Trifid is smaller and fainter but should be possible.

You don't need to do anything to your scope, it is largely about getting the conditions right, although a light pollution or UHC filter may also help to improve contrast.

Keep at it!

Malcolm

Well i have a 30mm eyepiece and this has a wide field of view. Then a 15mm,9mm and 6 mm but the last two are for planetary viewing. Im planning to go west one night during these holidays with my dad we will spend a few hours with my telescope out there. May even go camping with my cousin and take my telescope.