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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 |
#2
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
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 |
#3
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
"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. |
#4
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
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 |
#5
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
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 |
#6
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
"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. |
#7
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
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). |
#8
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
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. |
#9
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
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 |
#10
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Can I see any spiral galaxies with an etx-60at ?
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. |
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