New telescope question

[Miketmbt]

Hello all. I just recieved my first telescope last friday. A 130mm reflector on an EQ mount. Im ver excited. I found saturn and a nebula in Orion (not the horse head). 2 questions. When my EQ mount is polar aligned should I see polaris through the scope? Are the filters to help reduce light polution really worth it? ($100 or so) I lied. one more queston. Do the nebula filters help much. Thank you for your help.

[Kaptain K]

Hello all. I just recieved my first telescope last friday. A 130mm reflector on an EQ mount. Im ver excited. I found saturn and a nebula in Orion (not the horse head).
Probably M42 - the (well named) Great nebula in Orion!
2 questions. When my EQ mount is polar aligned should I see polaris through the scope?
Only if the declination is set to 90 degrees (tube parallel to the polar axis) and then only at low power, since Polaris is about 3/4 degree away from the true pole.
Are the filters to help reduce light polution really worth it? ($100 or so)
Obviously some people think so, otherwise the wouldn't make and sell them.
I lied. one more queston. Do the nebula filters help much. Thank you for your help.
For some faint nebulae, they are almost indispensable. For bright nebulae (M42, M8, M20) not so much.

[Miketmbt]

Ive Been out trying to locate the galaxy andromeda. I cant find it. Would I even recognize it as a galaxy if I did find it? I found a cool star cluster though.

[teddyv]

Ive Been out trying to locate the galaxy andromeda. I cant find it. Would I even recognize it as a galaxy if I did find it? I found a cool star cluster though.

Once you find it you won't mistake it for anything. Have you got a decent star chart? If not, I'd look for something, otherwise finding deep sky objects can become a frustration.

I found that I could never get my scope properly lined up with the equatorial mount, so I gave up and just memorized star patterns to find various objects.

[Miketmbt]

Telescope came with a lite version of starry night. Thats what I have been using to find objects. I havent yet figured out how to use the coordinates on my EQ mount. I think when I was out last night Andromeda was directly above me and I couldn't quite look straight up without hitting the stand. Ill keep searching.

[aurora]

Since the Andromeda Galaxy is not next to a bright star, or close to an obvious grouping of stars, it isn't easy to locate the first time.

You might find it easier to look for it with binoculars first, then when you find it you can see where it is in relation to the nearby constellations and it will be easier to find with your telescope.

[mike alexander]

And it's going to look like a starlike point of light surrounded by a dim glow. Don't expect to see dust lanes and everything. Also, depending on your field of view, you will probably only be seeing a part of it. It's really big.

[teddyv]

And it's going to look like a starlike point of light surrounded by a dim glow. Don't expect to see dust lanes and everything. Also, depending on your field of view, you will probably only be seeing a part of it. It's really big.

That's a good point. If memory serves, the Andromeda galaxy covers 4° of sky.

[Dave Mitsky]

One mnemonic for finding M31 is simply down two, up two. From Alpheratz, aka Sirrah (Alpha Andromedae), in the square of Pegasus, hop two stars "down" to Mirach (Beta Andromedae). Then go two stars, the first being Mu and the second Nu Andromedae, "up". There are online finder charts at http://blackholes.stardate.org/directory/chart.php?id=2 and http://deepskyobserving.com/Messier/M31.htm and http://www.siowl.com/scripts/chart.php?M31

If you are observing from a light polluted site, only the core or nucleus of M31 will be visible. It will resemble a fuzzy oval with a star-like point. M31 actually spans some 10 lunar diameters (over 5 degrees) but its nucleus is much smaller than that, of course.

"Careful estimates of its angular diameter, performed with 2-inch binoculars, by the French astronomer Robert Jonckhere in 1952-1953, revealed an extension of 5.2 times 1.1 degrees (reported by Mallas), corresponding to a disk diameter of over 250,000 light years at its distance of 2.9 million light years, so that this galaxy is more than double as large as our own Milky Way galaxy!"

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/m/m031.html

Dave Mitsky

[Dave Mitsky]

A simulation of how M31 appears with averted vision through a 10-inch Newtonian from a dark site can be seen here (http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1181657/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1#Post1191013).

Dave Mitsky

[Peter Wilson]

Hello all. I just recieved my first telescope last friday. A 130mm reflector on an EQ mount. Are the filters to help reduce light polution really worth it? ($100 or so) I lied. one more queston. Do the nebula filters help much. Thank you for your help.

Light-pollution filters are really nebula filters: they enhance nebulae. If you buy a light-pollution filter to reduce light pollution, you will probably be disappointed. But if you want to see nebulae more clearly, while costly, the nebulae filter is the only way to do it...short of driving to dark sky site, or buying larger telescope, both of which cost money.

[Miketmbt]

If you are observing from a light polluted site, only the core or nucleus of M31 will be visible. It will resemble a fuzzy oval with a star-like point. M31 actually spans some 10 lunar diameters (over 5 degrees) but its nucleus is much smaller than that, of course.


I found it last night!:dance: I do need to get an eyepiece with a wider field of view though. I couldnt view the whole thing. Thank you all!

[redshifter]

To view the entire Andromeda galaxy from a dark sky location, you'll need binoculars.