Alexander Avtanski wrote:
Hey, last Saturday I was convinced that I'm seeing spiral
structure in M51 in my 8". And that was under much less
than ideal conditions - not very good transparency and some
light pollution.

So, now I have to ask myself: Do I have really good eyes or
really good imagination? :-)

Dunno. It depends on what you mean by "hints of spiral structure." I
think I've seen the spiral structure in my 5-inch SCT, but that may just
mean I set myself a lower bar at the time for "hints" than other people
would. For what it's worth, I would not submit that one as a reliable
observation.

Brian Tung
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