On Sat, 4 Sep 2004 18:42:36 -0700, Tom wrote:

I have dreamed of seeing M31. From what I have read, I knew enough to find
it. After searching and searching with the 2" in the area to the left of
the "Great Square", I finally noticed a smudge of light that was in stark
contrast to surrounding collection of stars in my field of view. I put the
9mm in to get a closer look, and the smudge got a bit bigger, but by no
means did it give me a detailed view of a galaxy.
I strongly assume this is M31 anyways. How can I make the most of this? 7mm
Televue Plossl with a good 3x Barlow? The 9mm gave me a 140x mag. and this
doesn't seem optimal for M31. People say that M31 is visible with the naked
eye, which could suggest that light pollution in north Scottsdale is worse
than I think. I never did find it again later that night.


Hi Tom,

Congratulations on the new scope and welcome to the sleepless society!

Now for a little advice. . .when first viewing most any object, start with
a lower power eyepiece and work your way up until you get the most
revealing view your

As for M31, no eyepiece you can slip into the focuser of a 10" dobsonian is
going to reveal something that looks like what many newbies imagine a
spiral galaxy should. Expect to see a dark dust lane and a stellar-like
nucleus on nights of good seeing when using moderate magnification. For a
real treat, slip in that 2" EP and look for two other galaxies in the same
field of view.

Have fun.



--
Martin
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell