Galaxy Question

[chich0 (Chris)]

Hey guys,

Its almost a full moon tonight, took out the scope for a bit. (10" Dob)

Just wondering how much of an effect the moon has? I couldn't find many DSO's tonight, only the really bright ones.

How does it effect galaxy viewing etc...? I was trying to find the galaxy in Centaurus NGC 5128 to no avail.

What lens should i use when searching for a galaxy? I have been trying to locate with a 26mm Wide field that came with the scope, or do i need more magnification?

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by chich0

Hey guys,

Its almost a full moon tonight, took out the scope for a bit. (10" Dob)

Just wondering how much of an effect the moon has? I couldn't find many DSO's tonight, only the really bright ones.

How does it effect galaxy viewing etc...? I was trying to find the galaxy in Centaurus NGC 5128 to no avail.

What lens should i use when searching for a galaxy? I have been trying to locate with a 26mm Wide field that came with the scope, or do i need more magnification?

Chris, this is not the time to look for galaxies, Most galaxies are fainter than Mag +8.the full Moon is Mag -12 so the sky is muuuuuuch to bright for a novice to find any galaxies except maybe the Large Magellenic LMC and Small Magellenic cloud SMC.
so stick to looking for clusters and double stars and of course the Moon
Cheers

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

I totally agree with Ron, full Moon is a real killer of DSO's.

You can also try for the gas giants of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune in the wee hours of the morning. I've seen Uranus and Neptune in an 8" dob, so your 10" won't be a problem with them. Neptune is to far away to really have a discernable disk, so its very distinct blue colour is its tell-tale sign. It is just too blue to be a star. Uranus has a bit of a disk, not much though, but its colour is greenish.

[chich0 (Chris)]

Yeah, not too into planets!

I did have a look at Saturn tonight though which looked pretty cool.

Cant wait to get a dark night and see the real potential of this scope!