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

It depends on how light-polluted it is. I used to live in a place
where the south-facing limiting magnitude was in the 4.1 to 4.2
neighborhood, and from there, it took several times trying to catch even
a glimpse of M1 through my C5+. Where I live now, the limiting
magnitude is about a half-magnitude higher (that is, the skies are
better), and M1--though still difficult--is much more tractable.

My advice is to try a variety of different magnifications: The power
"sweet spot" may be very narrow. I found it to be so, at least. Also,
I did find the UltraBlock to be of some help, but pretty slim, though.

M31 and M57 are not very good indicators; they are among the easiest of
the Messier objects to see. M1 is definitely in the harder half under
light-polluted skies.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
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