How well would I be able to see distant galaxies with an 8" Dob.

[GRX40]

I'm interested in buying an 8" dob starhopper (somebody here recommended me them).

http://www.telescopes.com/products/Celestron_Starhopper_8_Inch_Dobsonian_25831.html

How well would I be able to see the further galaxies? (I'm a newb)

[GRX40]

Thanks alot guys. Yeah it's far enough for me ;) . Well I've only considered that kind of telescope because people told me it would be a good option for a beginner. I probably will try to get to a few starparties but I wouldn't know where to find them.


Would an 8" dob be able to collect enough light (from the closer ones) to be able to see a little bit of color?

Also, assuming I start doing my homework (I will) and attend a few starparties, do you think the 8"dob would be a good choice? Or should I also seriously consider others.

Thanks again

[aurora]

First, there are other 8 inch Dobs on the Market, you might want to shop around a little first.

But to your question, you will be able to see quite a few galaxies with an 8 inch telescope, more from a dark site. For example, you would be able to see all of the galaxies in the Messier list.

See http://www.seds.org/messier/ and http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/messier/mess.html

Most galaxies will appear as a small smear of light or a hazy patch in the eyepiece.

Our neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, will have a bright and obvious galactic core, and then the spiral arms extend out and out, from a dark site they will go completely out of the field of view of a moderate power eyepiece.

A fairly bright pair of galaxies, M81 and M82, both appear in the same field of view if you have a wide field eyepiece. You will be able to discern that they are different shapes with an 8 inch telescope.

The Whirlpool Galaxy does not have bright enough spiral arms for them to show up in an 8 inch scope. A larger scope is needed, although someone has probably done it from a real dark site with good eyes.

Could you attend a star party at an astronomy club and look through a telescope at a galaxy?

[Dave Mitsky]

It depends upon which ones you have in mind (low surface brightness galaxies are difficult to see), your visual acuity, your observing experience, and very much on how dark your site is. An 8" Newtonian is capable of revealing the Messier galaxies easily and all of the galaxies on the Herschel 400 list and perhaps thousands more. The great majority will be only dim smudges but the showpiece objects like M31 and its companion M32, M33 (from a dark site), M51 and its companion NGC 5195, M63-M66, M81, M82, M84, M86, M87, M99, M101 (from a dark site), M104-M106, NGC 253, NGC 891 (from a dark site), NGC 1023, NGC 2683, NGC 2903, NGC 3115, NGC 4244, NGC 4565, NGC 4631, NGC 4762, NGC 5907, NGC 6946, and NGC 7331 will certainly be worth the trouble of locating.

http://www.eskimo.com/~rachford/observing/galaxy_phot/beginner_galaxies.html

http://ncastro.org/maxmoe80.html

http://www.umich.edu/~lowbrows/reflections/2004/dscobel.16.html

http://www.astronomyboy.com/saa/

You may be able to see 3C 273, a quasar in Virgo that's some 3 billion light years distant, as a very dim star-like glow. (I've logged it with my 101mm Tele Vue refractor from a very dark site.) Is that far enough for you?

Dave Mitsky

[redshifter]

My favorites through my 8" Orion XT dob (I have since upgraded to the 10") were M31/32/110, M81/82, the Messier galaxies in Leo (plus a few of the NGC galaxies in that area) and M51. I had a tough time seeing much of the Virgo cluster, but the seeing in my area is not very good most of the time.

[ngc3314]

I'm interested in buying an 8" dob starhopper (somebody here recommended me them).

http://www.telescopes.com/products/Celestron_Starhopper_8_Inch_Dobsonian_25831.html

How well would I be able to see the further galaxies? (I'm a newb)

The answer depends not only on your eyes, but the three prime factors of real estate - location, location, and of course location. Dark skies make the difference for seeing galaxies. I've been at a couple of sites from which the spiral arms of M51 were obvious in everything from a 6-inch up, and more often at sites where just spotting the companion was a major accomplishment. There will be plenty of galaxies that are visible (if not spectacular) with an 8" Dob from even a mediocre site - things like NGC 7331 show up even in my NexStar 5 from a suburban site with typically 2 magnitudes of light pollution (i.e. magnitude 4 naked-eye skies on a good night). This Dob is a lot more powerful that what Messier had.

And, for a real treat, under dark skies, an 8-10" telescope will show NGC 3314 and a whole bunch of buddies...

[Dave Mitsky]

There is very little in the way of color visible in galaxies, even with big amateur telescopes. The core of M31 may look slightly yellowish or orangish through a large aperture, say 25 inches or more.

Dave Mitsky