Thanks for the tips. I will give them a try next time I get out which would have been tonight but the smog is just horrible right now. I need to get up early one of these mornings and nab a look at Saturn even with the rings edge on. I noticed this early a.m. that Ursa Major was looking pretty good near zenith also with some of the objects in and around it. On 2009-01-19 23:03, zaurak wrote:
Jay,
A little more info: Author Mallas puts M74 at mag 8.8. Brent Watson lists some magnitudes lower in his cards than "The Messier Album" by Mallas and Kreimer, I have found many examples in the card set we have at SPOC, perhaps he considers angular size and does some sort of calculation, M74 is listed at 8 mins. They list the central core as "starlike" and fairly easy to see, and early observers (1861) thought it resembled a globular cluster.
I woud suggest that next time you look at M74 go to Alpha Piscium (Al Rescha) first, it is a close double star that requires 150-200X to get good view. When Al Rescha is high enough that also puts M74 in a good viewing location, Eta is also called Kullat Nunu.
Erik
--- jayleads@??? wrote:
From: JayLEads <jayleads@???> To: Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@???> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] M 74 Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:58:48 -0700
Just was wondering if anyone could help a newbie. M 74 has eluded me this winter though I have attempted to find her several times. I know I am in the right area based on star charts and tonight I thought using averted vision I saw a very small core, but it faded out as I moved my eye back. This best describes the route I have tried though I have tried another also:
I start from Hamal (Alpha Arietis); and from this star, I follow a line via Beta Arietis to Eta Piscium (mag 3.5); M74 should be about 1/2 deg N and 1 1/2 deg E of Eta Psc;
Is it just too hard an item to see unless I'm in a dark site?
Thanks,
Jay