WHAT TO EXPECT?

[Guest Philmarriott]

Evening guys! I have purchased a celestron 200/1000 scope on eq5 mount and after my firsts nights viewing im loving it but just wondering what to expect when looking at certain objects. Obviously the moon was great, the stars still look the same and I managed to find Andromeda quite easily but it just looked like a smudge really and not some amazing colourful image like you see in the magazines etc. I tried different eye pieces but still could not see any detail. Is this right or am i doing something wrong? I still find it amazing and appreciate its 2.5 millin light years away but wondered if there was anything i could do to improve my view!

Thanks!

Phil

[Daz Type-R]

If viewing visually then a smudge is all you are going to get i`m afraid.

 

No amount of filters or decent ep's will make much difference IMO.

 

The seeing and the transparency will make a slight difference, but not by much.

[Tibbz2]

Yup, you won't be getting much more than the smudge for galaxies, although a dark sky will help see more detail like the dust lanes instead of just the core

[Doc]

All galaxies are smudges of grey I'm afraid, remember the magazine photo's consist of hours of photographs stacked together. The human eye cannot detect colour very well so thats why they normally appear grey.

 

There are a few DSO's that do have colour such as M42, and the Blue Snowball for example but most are grey.

[Daz Type-R]

M57 is another one for good colour, visually as well as in photos.

[BAZ]

M42, the Orion Nebula appears green to me, that and M57, that's it. But as Mick say's the limitations are down to our own eye's. The cones in the retina, which detect colour are only active in bright light. The Rods, which only work in black and white, are the majority of our visual awareness and form our dark adapted vision. There is also a pigment secreted into the eye called Rhodopsin, or visual purple, and this enhances the performance of the Rods. But, any white light destroys this, and you lose your night vision. 

It takes twenty minutes to half an hour to get dark adapted.

 

I can honestly say that the darker the area you are viewing from makes a massive amount of difference to your experience. A really dark site is like having a scope twice the size.

[Doc]

That is so true, to really appreciate this hobby you need to experience a true dark site.

[Perkil8r]

I concur with the above too, although I detect a very slight green hue to M27 too.

[Guest Philmarriott]

Thats great then as long as im doing it right. Looking to getting to a dark meet soon enough as seems a good way to spend an evening. Thanks for help as always!

[Perkil8r]

There's plenty to see, but as above, a lot of the images you see in the mags and indeed on here are built from hours of data that the human eye just cannot process. There are though plenty of targets that will give you plenty of wows. Jupiter, Mars, Saturn (especially), the Moon of course and a miriad of clusters. A lot of Galaxies will look a little lack lustre though but Nebulae can be very nice to observe too. The Ring, Dumbell, Little Dumbell, M42, The Veil and many many more. Dark skies are really worth the effort though.