Why Can't I See That Galaxy?

[Peter802]

Great and useful article Alan.
Thank you for taking the time out to share this knowledge.

[kt4hx]

Great and useful article Alan.
Thank you for taking the time out to share this knowledge.

Thanks for your kind words Peter. I hope the article proves useful for you during your observing opportunities.

[Peter802]

Hi Alan.
It certainly gave me some food for thought. And did put some light on to my failures!!!!
Thank you

[helicon]

I just re-read the article. Thanks again Alan. The impetus was trying to do some galactic observing with my relatively new 5.1" Newt, which is now my grab-n-go.

[kt4hx]

I just re-read the article. Thanks again Alan. The impetus was trying to do some galactic observing with my relatively new 5.1" Newt, which is now my grab-n-go.

Thank you Michael. Hope you find your new GNG scope a lot of fun. As you well know, no matter the aperture level, the factors I outlined in the article are important to consider.

[turonrambar]

Hello kt4hx,

This the first time I have read your article. I know I’ll read and study your article for a long time.
Your article taught me and reinforced what I have learned in the past. Thanks for a great article
On Messier’s DSO’s list and his work. Your observing tips and tricks sure adds to your article and
must come from years of experience.

turonrambar

[kt4hx]

Thank you Kip and I'm very happy that you find the article useful. For those folks starting out, there is an understandable tendency to place too much reliance upon DSO magnitude. While for very compact DSOs that can be a bit more realistic, with extended objects like galaxies, relying too heavily on its integrated magnitude can give one a misleading impression of their visibility.

[kt4hx]

Alan -
Very good the article traveled with you. A great resource for understanding what to look for and realistic expectations. It needs to be in a "before you start" primer & should be included with the shipment of any 8"+ dob

Many thanks,
Steve

I see I missed your comment here Steve, my apologies. I appreciate your kind comments. Indeed there is a lot of information that could be in a primer for those getting ready to start. So much so I fear it might scare some folks away! As you, I and a lot of folks here now know, there are so many variables associated with visual observation that can make or break our endeavors. The beginner's learning curve is significantly steep, but through experience behind the eyepiece and a sincere desire to learn, we work our way through the trial and error process to become the kind of observer that we wish to be. By gaining a deeper appreciation and understanding of the objects we observe, we are encouraged to keep going back for more. I've always been fond of saying "the more fun we have the more we learn, and the more we learn the more fun we have." A bit of circular reasoning that I truly believe.

[dagadget]

Thank you Kip and I'm very happy that you find the article useful. For those folks starting out, there is an understandable tendency to place too much reliance upon DSO magnitude. While for very compact DSOs that can be a bit more realistic, with extended objects like galaxies, relying too heavily on its integrated magnitude can give one a misleading impression of their visibility.

This article was an awesome read and it also points out why I have always had better success with my 8 and 11 inch aperture scopes. My CPC 1100 and my current Carbon Fiber C11 are the best at finding the faint fuzzies and one night last year we had a list of over 300 targets to hunt. We nailed a lot of them but faint fuzzies sometimes are hard to find. Still the bigger the light cannon, the more likely you will see those dim photon's.

[kt4hx]

Thanks David. For these denizens of the deep, aperture and dark skies are indeed your friend. There are some brighter ones of course that can be seen in smaller apertures, and often visible even from areas of significant LP - or at least their brightest portion, typically the core. But there are far more that simply cannot overcome higher levels of sky glow and many more yet that are out of reach of small apertures. Given that they are far and away my favorite category of DSO, there is little wonder that I favor using my 17.5 inch at our dark site. It does in fact open up a whole new universe for me.

[dagadget]

Thanks David. For these denizens of the deep, aperture and dark skies are indeed your friend. There are some brighter ones of course that can be seen in smaller apertures, and often visible even from areas of significant LP - or at least their brightest portion, typically the core. But there are far more that simply cannot overcome higher levels of sky glow and many more yet that are out of reach of small apertures. Given that they are far and away my favorite category of DSO, there is little wonder that I favor using my 17.5 inch at our dark site. It does in fact open up a whole new universe for me.

If I had a 17.5 I would also have a Skyshed Pod to keep it in at the darkest site I could access. so far I have looked through a couple DOB 12's and soon I will be looking through a 13.1 Looking forward to that.

[kt4hx]

Thanks David. For these denizens of the deep, aperture and dark skies are indeed your friend. There are some brighter ones of course that can be seen in smaller apertures, and often visible even from areas of significant LP - or at least their brightest portion, typically the core. But there are far more that simply cannot overcome higher levels of sky glow and many more yet that are out of reach of small apertures. Given that they are far and away my favorite category of DSO, there is little wonder that I favor using my 17.5 inch at our dark site. It does in fact open up a whole new universe for me.

If I had a 17.5 I would also have a Skyshed Pod to keep it in at the darkest site I could access. so far I have looked through a couple DOB 12's and soon I will be looking through a 13.1 Looking forward to that.

Thanks. I have no problems keeping it in the garage and rolling it out. The wheel-barrow handles make that easy enough even for this 65 yr old. I would imagine there will come a time when it will become more of a chore, but barring unusual circumstances, I don't see that for some time yet. In the meantime I enjoy the simplicity of the dob under a dark sky. Typical SQM-L readings are around 21.3 to 21.5 (usually toward the higher end of that range), but have been as good as about 21.7. So I cannot complain in the least.

[dagadget]

Thanks David. For these denizens of the deep, aperture and dark skies are indeed your friend. There are some brighter ones of course that can be seen in smaller apertures, and often visible even from areas of significant LP - or at least their brightest portion, typically the core. But there are far more that simply cannot overcome higher levels of sky glow and many more yet that are out of reach of small apertures. Given that they are far and away my favorite category of DSO, there is little wonder that I favor using my 17.5 inch at our dark site. It does in fact open up a whole new universe for me.

If I had a 17.5 I would also have a Skyshed Pod to keep it in at the darkest site I could access. so far I have looked through a couple DOB 12's and soon I will be looking through a 13.1 Looking forward to that.

Thanks. I have no problems keeping it in the garage and rolling it out. The wheel-barrow handles make that easy enough even for this 65 yr old. I would imagine there will come a time when it will become more of a chore, but barring unusual circumstances, I don't see that for some time yet. In the meantime I enjoy the simplicity of the dob under a dark sky. Typical SQM-L readings are around 21.3 to 21.5 (usually toward the higher end of that range), but have been as good as about 21.7. So I cannot complain in the least.

wow you can roll it out using the wheelbarrow handles. That sounds exceptionally nice. The SQM-L numbers like you said could be worse and with 17.5 inches that aperture overcomes a lot.