Hi Gary, I think you are pretty close, I would put the limit closer to 5th. I live in Riverton and I find what magnitude I can see depends on where it is in relation to the zenith. I can convince myself that I can see close to 6th mag "twinkles" at the zenith. I am protected from any stray light by my observatory walls, it can be hard to impossible to get properly dark adapted in the city. At the clubs observatory 6th mag is possible particularly west of the meridian, Planetary Nebulae are excellent in the Grim 32". I would recommend taking the observatory classes offered by SLAS. Planetary Nebulae seem less effected by light pollution, I cannot see galaxies or diffuse nebulae of same magnitude nearly as well. For sure the M Planetary Nebulae do not seem to suffer much from the city. Objects that have the light concentrated into smaller packages are easier to see. The Astronomical League has a list for Urban Astronomy I have included link. They do offer formal recognition for completing and logging the list. http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/urban/urban.html Are you Gary Logan formally from Poison Control at the U? Erik --- garybulk@the-logans.net wrote: From: "Gary Bulk" <garybulk@the-logans.net> To: <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] How dim of objects can I see? Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 20:08:48 -0700 Some more questions from a novice... As I have begun looking at the sky from South Jordan, with no moon, in the light polluted Salt Lake Valley, I seem to be able to see: - Mag. 4.15 - with the unaided eye, I can see the dim star of Cassiopeia - N2599. (I haven't been able to see the dim star of the little dipper HP79822 Mag. 4.95) - Mag. 9.5 - with my 300mm Nikon telephoto (cheap optics version with noticeable chromatic aberration) - via an up to 20 sec. exposure on my digital camera and a barn door tracker. So a few questions: - Do the above 4.15 & 9.5 Magnitudes sound in the ballpark? - What would be an expected 'seeable' Magnitude? for dark sky unaided eye ... If I went to some good Southern Utah spot. - What Magnitude should expect I be able to see with a 8" Schmidt-Cass. in town? All the planets? (Pluto is 14.9). I just borrowed a Celestron C8 from a friend who was letting his collect dust. I'm dusting it for him for the next couple months. - And, what kind of difference will I get with the C8 if I go to a dark sky site? On my first night out with the scope last weekend (in the moonlight), I had a difficult time finding things. I could find the Orion Nebula. I couldn't find the Andromeda Galaxy, there were no eyeball visible stars close enough for me to successfully to hop from. Also the upside-down & left-to-right reversed guide scope was different than the upside-right but left-to-right reversed main scope, which continually confused me about which direction I was moving as I switched between them. I am wondering if getting a guide scope that reverses things (or not) in the same way as your main scope would help. And/or perhaps a lower power main eyepiece for finding things, then switching to a higher power eyepiece. - Anyone have preferred methods/techniques they would pass along? I figure I will continue in my backyard until I can find more objects. Then maybe go to the (5 Mile Canyon) close-by area mentioned in another thread for an evening with a little more darkness after I believe I can better find my way in the dark. It looks like a should have a list before I go out away from home in the dark, so I'm not fumbling for "what do I look at now, and where is it?" This is great fun. Gary Logan - Gary@The-Logans.net <mailto:Gary@The-Logans.net> _____ _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com