Terrific report Jay, well done. Don't beat yourself up for not finding M33. It has a low surface brightness and I've only ever detected the nucleus and brightest nebuar region (NGC 595) from my house. For the spiral arms, you'll need an exceptional night. Filters generally don't help with galaxies, which emit a broadband spectrum. They work much better on nebular targets that emit a narrowband spectrum. You may be able to see individual stars to 6.3, but an extended object like M33 (it's really a large galaxy under a truly dark sky) will give you trouble on nights with turbulence, even though it's transparent. On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 12:51 AM, Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> wrote:
Well, conditions were not awful tonight, or I just wanted to be out I suppose. I spent time trying to find M33 and even with a narrowband filter I'm either going to need help or I need to get to a darker sight than my house (which is about 6.3 limiting magnitude for me).