Joe S. wrote:
Is M1 a difficult object from light polluted skies?

I live in a city, in an apartment complex with the usual "security"
lighting. I see only the brightest stars with my naked eye. For example,
in Orion, I see only Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, Saiph, three stars in the
belt, and 2-3 stars in the sword.

I have tried for the last three nights to find M1 with no luck -- not even
the faintest fuzzy appears. I'm using an XT-12, 12-inch dob; collimation is
dead on. I've tried different eyepieces -- 35mm PanOptic (43X), 18mm Radian
(83X), 10mm Radian (150X) -- no luck.

I am starhopping using a Telrad and the instructions in "Turn Left at
Orion" -- find Zeta Tauri -- very faint naked eye from my location -- then
slightly NW of Zeta Tauri, toward El Nath.

Have tried with OII and Orion UltraBlock filters -- not a wisp.

For comparison
-- M31 is not naked eye but is readily visible with 8X42 and 10X50 binos.
With my scope, I see the glowing center surrounded by a fuzzy cloud but I
can't see the long, elliptical extensions of M31 -- too much light pollution
I assume.
-- I can find M57, Ring Nebula, with no problem (takes a little searching).
At 83X and 150X the ring structure is clear though I cannot see the star in
the center.

My scope has the Orion Intelliscope feature but I'm trying to find objects
by starhopping. I guess my next step is to use the Intelliscope to find
M1 -- if it's visible at all.

Thanks.

It's listed in my star chart as 1 degree 7 minutes 56 seconds away from
zeta Tauri. Zeta Tauri is a mag 3, and the crab nebula is an 8.3, so
it's going to be much much fainter. There's a 4.9 mag star listed as
114 Taurii which is 1 degree 36 minutes away from M1, and 2 degrees 27
minutes away from zeta Taurii in the direction of tau Taurii. If you
imagine a line between zeta Taurii and 114 Taurii, M1 will be just
North of that line in the early evening.

In comparison, M57 is a mag 9.6, and M31 is listed as 4.3