Andromeda Galaxy??

[Fidelio]

...Still, it was rather fun trying to explain to my good lady that the photons just stopped by my squinty eyes had been travelling since before Homo habilis chipped his first axe.

It was a long way to come, just to end up inside my imagination, but that's what universes are for, I suppose.

Forgive me for jumping into this thread without adding my own observations of M31, but Soapy you do know how to turn a phrase. Well done sir.

 

[bPer]

AF- The answer is "Not great". It surely does not resemble the wonderful spiral photograph. Basically it is a patch of faint haze, bigger than Jupiter, but very, very faint and diffuse. You don't so much see it as notice that something is there. A bit like having a smudge on the lens of your glasses. Without the binoculars I would see nothing at all. That said, younger eyes might make a big difference- though I was short sighted at thirteen.

On the same night, I saw The Pleiades, Jupiter, Saturn , Sirius (my favourite star) the Moon and had a good look at the nebula in Orion. All much more spectacular. Still, it was rather fun trying to explain to my good lady that the photons just stopped by my squinty eyes had been travelling since before Homo habilis chipped his first axe.

It was a long way to come, just to end up inside my imagination, but that's what universes are for, I suppose.

Hi, I'm an amateur astronomer. Your description of M31 is bang on, but you may have degraded the experience by taking a laptop along. It was mentioned briefly in a quote earlier, but it bears repeating that you have to let your eyes adapt to the dark for the best results. Looking at a laptop will definitely ruin your dark adaptation, no matter how much you turn down the brightness or use software features to dim the image.

The best thing to use is a planisphere, a star chart (many are available online), or a print-out from a planetarium program like Red Shift or (my favorite) Starry Night. Illuminate it with a red-filtered dim flashlight (I use a variable-brightness LED light available at any hobby store that caters to the amateur astronomy market). You want a light that's only just useable once your eyes adapt. In that state, you'll see objects 2-4 times dimmer.

My personal favorite binocular target is the Pleiades (M45). Even in light-polluted suburbia, you can see it as a smudge. In binos, you can see the individual stars, and a hint of the gas cloud that is passing by these young stars. For those of you who watch Star Trek: TNG, I'm pretty sure that the object seen at the very beginning of the opening credits is supposed to be M45, or something inspired by it.

Clear skies!

bPer

 

[Guest]

Hi, I'm an amateur astronomer.

Clear skies!

bPer

Welcome to the forum!

 

[bPer]

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks!

Just thought I'd get my feet wet talking about something I know about.

bPer

 

[Guest]

Thanks!

Just thought I'd get my feet wet talking about something I know about.

bPer

Glad you were able to. If I waited for such an opportunity I'd STILL be waiting.

 

[Soapy Sam]

bPer.
Of course you're quite right about the light. I used to be quite a keen amateur as a kid and always used a planisphere, with a red filtered flashlight. The question that came up was comparing astronomical software. Skeptoid strongly endorsed Starcalc and I downloaded it out of curiosity. My field test was just a fun experiment to see if it would help someone like AF find M31. I was pretty impressed by it. Actually the moon was causing much more light pollution than the screen. The laptop does have additional advantages: You can get a better feel for the sky by adjusting the zoom factor, for instance. For a rookie, the program would be a very useful learning tool. There's a place for any tool that helps, especially at the start. I suspect though, it would only be a matter of time before I stepped on the computer while looking up. Could get costly.

Welcome aboard, by the way.

 

[bPer]

bPer.
Of course you're quite right about the light. I used to be quite a keen amateur as a kid and always used a planisphere, with a red filtered flashlight.

Now that's the way to learn the skies. All too often, when my observing buddies and I set up a public session, we get kids dropping by who boast about their 'Go-To' telescopes. Those are automated scopes; you just dial in a target and it aims for you (assuming the target is above the horizon). They never learn the sky, and quickly get bored with the scope, and it ends up gathering dust. Too bad parents don't do a bit of research before forking out the big bucks. A planisphere, red light, binoculars and a good introductory book are way cheaper, and if Junior maintains his/her interest, then get some real advice on what scope to buy.

Actually the moon was causing much more light pollution than the screen.

Wow. Bright moon. In the crowd I hang with, anyone using a laptop has to do so inside an observing tent. Laptops simply put out too much light. Then again, we do our most serious observing at when the Moon isn't up, and even Venus and Jupiter are considered light pollution.

The laptop does have additional advantages: You can get a better feel for the sky by adjusting the zoom factor, for instance. For a rookie, the program would be a very useful learning tool. There's a place for any tool that helps, especially at the start.

Actually, as a rookie, I found the software confusing - I never could figure out what scale I was looking at. What really worked for me was an excellent book: Nightwatch by Terence Dickinson. He shows how to use you hands to measure rough angles in the sky, and how to use stars in known constellations like Ursa Major to point to other constellations. That made all the difference. All of a sudden, I understood the scale of what I was looking for, and a methodology for getting around the sky, and everything fell into place.

Another excellent beginner's book is The Beginner's Observing Guide, published by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Not only does it cover the basics, it also has suggested targets for naked eye, binocular and small telescopes, broken down by month. An excellent learning tool, and only Cdn$14!

Welcome aboard, by the way.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm beginning to feel at home here.

bPer

 

[Soapy Sam]

I was one of Patrick Moore's many converts to stargazing.
Best of all is just to lie on a hill in the dark outside a tent and let the wonder of it all wash over you.

 

[Skeptoid]

Soapy Sam,

As stated earlier in the thread, you sure have a way of turning a phrase. What a description. Heh-heh, I always p!ss off my friends and family at out-of-doors gatherings at night ... I'm always looking up, their conversation drowned out by the music of the spheres.