Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?

Hello all, I am a Newby to this group and astronomy.
I have an etx-60at with the 25 and 9mm ep's. Im in Montana near the western
border of Glacier National Park where the skies are pretty dark when theres
no moon.I have a pretty good view of the southern skies from home but a good
portion of the north and west are tree covered with about 40 to 50 ft trees.
I guess the planets are pretty neat to look at but really want to seesome of
those galaxies Ive seen in the pictures.
I have easily found orion, the moon, saturn and mars. With this scope would
I be able to see or distinguish any spiral galaxies ? I cant seem to see
andromeda
from my place but have heard its pretty big. What skies are best to view
with theis little scope ? I know where I can get a etx-90c if and am
thinking of getting it unless it would be better to wait and get somthing
newer.
Regards ant thanks for any info. Jim

Jim wrote:

I cant seem to see
andromeda
from my place but have heard its pretty big. What skies are best to view
with theis little scope ? I know where I can get a etx-90c if and am
thinking of getting it unless it would be better to wait and get somthing
newer.
Regards ant thanks for any info. Jim

Hello: Andromeda should be easy to see in your etx-60. But do not
excpect to much. For deep sky objects you would be much better off with
lets say a 6" dobsonian.

However, upgrading to a ETX-90 will be a good idea. Not only will you
get some more power you will also have a very good planetary scope
which will hold water to any 3" apochromat in this respect (forget all
the refractor junkies without any clues who wants to trick you into
their weired world view) . Resolving double stars will also enjoy you.

Btw. I have never used it, but there exists a wide field adapter for
ETX type of scopes. A ETX-90 will only have a focal ratio of f/14. The
latter means observing rich fields makes it hard. The wide field
converter will turn any ETX-90 to an f/7 scope. The adapter costs
around $100.

When you apply for an ETX-90 do not forget to get one with UHTC
coaings. The coatings are a bit better than standard Meade coatings.
Which means the ffective ligh throughput is a bit increased. Maybe you
know that mirrors loss light when reflecting that means your ETX-90 is
by no means an effective 90mm telescope performer when you speak of
light throughput. The effective light throghput will equal a good
unobstructed 7.5cm or 8cm apo so to speak.

If your budget says yes, you could also get a Meade ETX 105 UHTC. I
onced used such a beast and it had outstanding optics and kicked ass my
Borg 76mm ED apo any time. Btw: the Borg ED apo was no better on
planets than my 8 year old ETX-90 that was the reason why I sold the
Borg ED 76mm since I was a bit disappointed.


Schneewittchen

"Förster vom Silberwald" wrote in message
oups.com...

beware the refractor junkies, they are out of sync
with reality.

LOL.

In another thread, I stated that I would keep my 127mm Achromat. But the
parameters on that choice were dependent on what is currently "in the barn".
Based on my positive experiences with that scope, I'm buying a 6" F5
Newtonian to mount it on my Unistar Deluxe (yet another trial scope).

Ask me again in a few weeks which scope I'd keep.

IME, what scope is the best, has little to do with the design, and more to
do with aperture, quality of view, and budget. I'd say beware the big scope
junkies who've lost the desire for small scope views.

Purchase a scope that is the best trade off between aperture and mount. This
is why the Dob is so popular. The mount cost next to nothing, which means
more can be spent on aperture.

But this is only good to a point. What that point is, depends on the
individual. Your (un)willingness to setup a scope larger than 8" aperture
might surprise you, especially if you more observing skill and experience,
than you do time and opportunity.

Given dark skies, a tight budget, and the ability to own just one scope, I'd
shoot for something in the 6" (150mm) to 8" (200mm) aperture range. Big
scope views are sweet, but you might find that a scope that you use all the
time, is better than one that has a high "wow" factor. I'm sure some folks
would rather take out the "wow" scope once a month, than take out something
small three times a week. Nothing wrong with that.

Stephen Paul wrote:
"Förster vom Silberwald" wrote in message
oups.com...

beware the refractor junkies, they are out of sync
with reality.

LOL.

In another thread, I stated that I would keep my 127mm Achromat. But the
parameters on that choice were dependent on what is currently "in the barn".
Based on my positive experiences with that scope, I'm buying a 6" F5
Newtonian to mount it on my Unistar Deluxe (yet another trial scope).

I am oftentimes very patronizing because when I was young I had bad
teachers in astronomy. I wish back the times when I was younger but
under the assumption of having a Newtonian 130mm and not my Vixen 10cm
f/10 achromat. In Germany at this time there happend pure refractor
fewer.

However, observing Mars with my Vixen achromat was a nightmare; can be
said too for observing Venus in daylight.

Years thereafter I have witnessed what it means how Mars should look
like: it was when I bought me a Maksutov 15cm. Wow what a pleasure.

But this is long time ago. In the meantime I completed a Master degree
in astrophysics. Heck my Master thesis dealt with building a solar
telescope for observing and scrutinzing the solar photosphere by means
of a CCD camera.

After that I completed my Phd in physics.

But I feel still deprived of my youth. I begged my mother for getting
this 10cm Vixen f/10 achromat where at the same time the shop had also
this Vixen 130mm Newtonian.

Schneewittchen
PS: My scopes thus far: ETX 90, ETx 105 UHTC, 15cm Maksutov, 10cm Vixen
achromat, 76mm ED Borg apo, ocassionally a 35cm Dob, 5" Meade ED
refractor

Stephen Paul wrote:

Given dark skies, a tight budget, and the ability to own just one scope, I'd
shoot for something in the 6" (150mm) to 8" (200mm) aperture range. Big
scope views are sweet, but you might find that a scope that you use all the
time, is better than one that has a high "wow" factor. I'm sure some folks
would rather take out the "wow" scope once a month, than take out something
small three times a week. Nothing wrong with that.

That is the reason why my ETX 90 is used most often since I do not own
a car and hauling around telescopes is not that easy in this respect
especialliy if you a living in small town with lot of light pollution
and backyards some kilometers away.

But the ETX 90 can be transported.

Schneewittchen

"Jim" wrote in message
...
Hello all, I am a Newby to this group and astronomy.
I have an etx-60at with the 25 and 9mm ep's. Im in Montana near the
western border of Glacier National Park where the skies are pretty dark
when theres no moon.I have a pretty good view of the southern skies from
home but a good portion of the north and west are tree covered with about
40 to 50 ft trees. I guess the planets are pretty neat to look at but
really want to seesome of those galaxies Ive seen in the pictures.
I have easily found orion, the moon, saturn and mars. With this scope
would I be able to see or distinguish any spiral galaxies ? I cant seem to
see andromeda
from my place but have heard its pretty big.

That's not possible! You can see M31 with binocs! You can even see it as a
smudge with the
unaided eye. my guess is you can't locate it.

Jim wrote:
Hello all, I am a Newby to this group and astronomy.
I have an etx-60at with the 25 and 9mm ep's. Im in Montana near the western
border of Glacier National Park where the skies are pretty dark when theres
no moon.I have a pretty good view of the southern skies from home but a good
portion of the north and west are tree covered with about 40 to 50 ft trees.
I guess the planets are pretty neat to look at but really want to seesome of
those galaxies Ive seen in the pictures.

You should be able to find many many galaxies, some of which will
be spiral galaxies. However, the will not look like pictures,
because the human eye doesn't have the persistence of image like
film or electronic imaging.

I would highly recommend that you purchase a copy of

Lugunbuhl and Skiff, "Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky
Objects", Cambridge University Press (1998).

Perhaps you have located it, and are seeing it, but have a preconceived notion of what
you expect to see.
It's not going to look like the images you see published. It's going to more resemble
a smudge, or a glow around a bright star.



Agent Orange wrote On 02/15/06 06:57,:
"Jim" wrote in message
...

Hello all, I am a Newby to this group and astronomy.
I have an etx-60at with the 25 and 9mm ep's. Im in Montana near the
western border of Glacier National Park where the skies are pretty dark
when theres no moon.I have a pretty good view of the southern skies from
home but a good portion of the north and west are tree covered with about
40 to 50 ft trees. I guess the planets are pretty neat to look at but
really want to seesome of those galaxies Ive seen in the pictures.
I have easily found orion, the moon, saturn and mars. With this scope
would I be able to see or distinguish any spiral galaxies ? I cant seem to
see andromeda
from my place but have heard its pretty big.


That's not possible! You can see M31 with binocs! You can even see it as a
smudge with the
unaided eye. my guess is you can't locate it.

Hi !

I'm sure you're going to get a lot of useful advice here. My two cents is to
keep in mind that for most spiral galaxies, the arms are a lot fainter than the
core of the galaxy, so if you see anything at all you'll see the core as a fuzzy
star-like object long before you'll see the spiral arms. And no spiral galaxy,
nor anything else past the solar system is going to look like the photographs,
as they're the result of exposing the film for dozens of minutes, or a CCD
camera for minutes, to capture enough light to see those very faint details.
That said some structure is visible in amateur telescopes, if the skies are dark
enough and the telescope is large enough. M104 the Sombrero looks distinctly
non-star like, although a very large telescope is required to see the dust lane.
NGC 253 does not look starlike either.

Good Luck !
--- Dave
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinprick holes in a colorless sky
Let inspired figures of light pass by
The Mighty Light of ten thousand suns
Challenges infinity, and is soon gone




"Jim" wrote in message
...
Hello all, I am a Newby to this group and astronomy.
I have an etx-60at with the 25 and 9mm ep's. Im in Montana near the western
border of Glacier National Park where the skies are pretty dark when theres no
moon.I have a pretty good view of the southern skies from home but a good
portion of the north and west are tree covered with about 40 to 50 ft trees. I
guess the planets are pretty neat to look at but really want to seesome of
those galaxies Ive seen in the pictures.
I have easily found orion, the moon, saturn and mars. With this scope would I
be able to see or distinguish any spiral galaxies ? I cant seem to see
andromeda
from my place but have heard its pretty big. What skies are best to view with
theis little scope ? I know where I can get a etx-90c if and am thinking of
getting it unless it would be better to wait and get somthing newer.
Regards ant thanks for any info. Jim

On or about Wed, 15 Feb 2006 02:15:33 -0700 did "Jim"
dribble thusly:

Hello all, I am a Newby to this group and astronomy.
I have an etx-60at with the 25 and 9mm ep's. Im in Montana near the western
border of Glacier National Park where the skies are pretty dark when theres
no moon.I have a pretty good view of the southern skies from home but a good
portion of the north and west are tree covered with about 40 to 50 ft trees.
I guess the planets are pretty neat to look at but really want to seesome of
those galaxies Ive seen in the pictures.
I have easily found orion, the moon, saturn and mars. With this scope would
I be able to see or distinguish any spiral galaxies ? I cant seem to see
andromeda

Well, do you mean *as* you see them in the pictures, or as they'll
actually appear, so long as they're the same ones from the pictures?

No matter how large a scope you use, galaxies will *never* look to
your eye like they do in the pictures. It's a fundamental difference
between cumulative light collection, and real-time light collection.

However, you should at least be able to spot some of the brighter ones
with that scope.

Start with the 25mm EP, since the lower the magnification, the
brighter the galaxy will be. There are plenty of directions on how to
find given galaxies around the web and in magazines. Find some, and
follow them.

You'll be looking for a small fuzzy object, and if you stare long
enough to a point just to the side of that object (the center of the
eye is very poor for low-light viewing), you might start to discern
some structure.

If you go up in magnification (by using the 9mm EP), the galaxy will
be larger, but fainter. Which looks best will depend on the galaxy in
question, and how you define "best".

from my place but have heard its pretty big. What skies are best to view
with theis little scope ? I know where I can get a etx-90c if and am
thinking of getting it unless it would be better to wait and get somthing
newer.

If you're interesting in Deep Sky Objects (DSO's) like galaxies, you'd
be better served by looking into a larger aperture reflector. Find a
local astro group if you can, and go to a star party. Most people
will be happy to let you have a look through their scopes (especially
the big ones, since what's the point of putting that much money and
muscle into lugging a scope around if you can't brag via the view
through the eyepiece?).

The best aperture bang for the buck would be with a sizable Dob, which
is a normal Newtonian reflector on an inexpensive mount that sits on
the ground. The Orion SkyQuest line is pretty popular, and very
reasonable in price.

Have a look he

http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?it...EGORY&itemID=9

The only ones more expensive than the ETX-90 are the 10-inch with
object locator, and the 12-inch.

For example, the 8-inch with object locator (you still move the
telescope manually, but a computer tells you which way to go) is
slightly less than the ETX-90, but has more than twice the resolution,
and over five times as much light gathering power (8 inches of
aperture versus 3.5 inches of aperture).

--
- Mike

Ignore the Python in me to send e-mail.