Observing M 31, the Andromeda Galaxy

Hi All,

I just added a new article to my site in the "Focus on...." section:
Observing M 31,the Andromeda Galaxy. In the article you will find a
little history of observing M 31, four of my own observing reports, what
to expect when observing M 31, where to find M 31 (finder chart
included), a table of data on M 31, M 32 and M110, some interesting
links to detailed online photographic atlases of M 31 and more. I
illustrated the article with sketches Al Sufi and Charles Messier. I
also would like to thank Sue French, Robert Gendler and Martin Germano
who granted me permission to use some of their images/sketches for my
article.
Just follow this link to read the full story:

http://www.backyard-astro.com/focuso...e/m31/m31.html

Enjoy!

Math
http://www.backyard-astro.com

In article
, Richard
DeLuca wrote:

The kind of pages I love reading; thanks for sharing them. The drawing
by Sue French is exactly the way M31 looks in my own short focus 4"
refractor.

It looks better in my Stowaway.

--
Joe Bergeron

http://www.joebergeron.com

Nice!

I had an opportunity recently to view M31 through a pair of 22" f/4.5
binoculars. The binocular view made it much easier to spot some of
M31's globular clusters.

Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman

In article ,
Joe Bergeron wrote:

In article
, Richard
DeLuca wrote:

The kind of pages I love reading; thanks for sharing them. The drawing
by Sue French is exactly the way M31 looks in my own short focus 4"
refractor.

It looks better in my Stowaway.

Why, everything looks better in your Stowaway........;-

Truth is, I was paying my compliments to a nice drawing by a friend of
yours. No, It doesn't show the dark lanes that I see quite nicely in
the 4" at a dark site. It also doesn't show the narrow crescent-shaped
concentrations that I can sometimes see in the outer arms with this same
scope. But Sue's drawing DOES look like my views thru this scope in my
own light-polluted backyard.


Starry Skies,
Rich

On 6 Dec 2004 08:01:48 -0800, wrote:

Nice!

I had an opportunity recently to view M31 through a pair of 22" f/4.5
binoculars. The binocular view made it much easier to spot some of
M31's globular clusters.

Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman

Thats an interesting observation. One time, we were trying to spot
Mercury low in the West. A pair of 10x70 Fujinon binoculars was
able to show it more distinctly than a TV Genesis at low power.
Although I've never done intense comparisons, at a given power, I
think you need about 50% greater aperture in a mono scope to
overcome a binocular scope. Please note this means true binoculars
(2 telescopes) versus a binoviewer which divides up the light from
the one objective. One qualification; Boosting the power on the
mono scope overcomes some of the binocular advantage on objects,
especially under light polluted skies. There's alot to be said for
the background darkening effect of magnification.
-Rich

The observation I referred to was made using a pair of 2" 30mm
eyepieces. I noted the difference as I momentariuly closed one eye,
which made the globulars appear stellar. It's the first time I have
noticed this in M31. But I have noticed tht viewing with two eyes
generally results in the image appearing a bit larger than viewing with
one eye, even using a binoviewer. In this case, of course, it's truly a
double telescope.

Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman

The observation I referred to was made using a pair of 2" 30mm
eyepieces. I noted the difference as I momentariuly closed one eye,
which made the globulars appear stellar. It's the first time I have
noticed this in M31. But I have noticed tht viewing with two eyes
generally results in the image appearing a bit larger than viewing with
one eye, even using a binoviewer. In this case, of course, it's truly a
double telescope.

Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman

The observation I referred to was made using a pair of 2" 30mm
eyepieces. I noted the difference as I momentariuly closed one eye,
which made the globulars appear stellar. It's the first time I have
noticed this in M31. But I have noticed tht viewing with two eyes
generally results in the image appearing a bit larger than viewing with
one eye, even using a binoviewer. In this case, of course, it's truly a
double telescope.

Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman