finding Centaurus A

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

must explain why I am out here at 5'c with almost 60% cloud cover trying to find it again!
The clear sky beckons yet teases, oh fickle sky! won't you leave me be?
Gotta go, clouds have shifted.......
Graham

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Hey Graham. Well done, and really pleased you nabbed NGC 4945. Now the thing to do is have a look at Cent A everytime you go out. Eventually more details comes out and one night you will get great conditions and you will see filaments and a huge halo and just be blown away!

Malcolm

[overlord (Charles)]

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

I could not see it from my home location with a 12"SCT even though I was pointing straight at it. I went to a dark location and had no problem locating and viewing it with an ETX125. So if you have light pollution it may be very difficult to locate let alone see.

Barry

could be cos of the long focus and u got some massive eyepiece with lots of glass?

I wanted to know what u guys were talking about so i got out the 8" and went to the right location and yeah there is a white smudge. I saw it in the melbourne subs so it's visible. but like yeah....

u need a very wide angle. i use a RINI eyepiece 30mm with no coatings 33x mag, it's very good for finding small globs and smudges.

[BrisGreg (Greg)]

I got it with my 10" and a 20mm last week 30kms north of Brissie

I do enjoy the chase though (trying to find the fuzzies that is). I tell everybody it's a bit like the game of "Where's Wally"