Could I see a Galaxy with my telescope?

Question

I have an Orion Observer 70mm. I've seen Saturn (just one ring)and Jupiter with it's paralell lines. Do you think I can see a Galaxy? Would you please direct me to it?

Answer 1

Yes, there are quite a few galaxies visible in a 70mm telescope, though this is not a good time of year to locate them. M81, M82, and M104 are all bright enough to be visible. M31 can be seen with your low-power eyepiece. A dark sky is necessary to see galaxies. All you will see is a faint grey glow against the sky background.

Right now there are many much easier deep sky targets available. All of the Messier open clusters, such as M11, many diffuse nebulae, such as M8, and a couple of bright planetary nebulae, M27 and M57. M57 is particularly easy to find because of its placement in the parallelogram of Lyra. It will appear like a small fuzzy star i your scope, but should look like a tiny smoke ring with your higher magnification. Globular clusters like M13 are also visible. "Turn Left At Orion" by Consolmagno (Cambridge) is a book with good instructions for finding these objects.

Most of the people giving answers here have never seen a galaxy in a small telescope! A galaxy _never_ looks like a star in a telescope. They look like tiny spots of fuzz, "out of focus" compared to the stars.

Answer 2

You should be able to see the core of the Andromeda galaxy.  I've seen it with my 22x60 telescope from a highly light polluted location. From a dark sky, i've seen it naked eye.

If you can get yourself to dark skies, you should be able to see galaxies like m51, m80 and m81.

For m31, look up the constellation Andromeda.  Walk from the common point with Pegasus out to the second pair of stars.  m31 is above this pair by about the distance between them.  Look for a fuzz ball.  In dark skies, look for a fuzz ball but with an enormously larger set of wings.

Download the map for your area each month.  There is a list of objects to look for on the second page.

I'd be very interested in hearing your progress. I'd be interested in what you think of your scope.  Add me as a contact.

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While m13 is a globular cluster - not a galaxy - it is also within reach of your scope, and very nice.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy

http://www.waid-observatory.com/article-...

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/Star...

http://domain-b.com/aero/space/spacemiss...

http://www.learnaboutenergy.org/Matterri...

http://sigfpe.blogspot.com/2006/11/how-t...

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headline...

Answer 4

You may get a good view of a galaxy with a big telescope. Otherwise they will just look like stars

Answer 5

Geoff is dead right about how galaxies look in a small scope. I looked at Andromeda through my 4.5" reflector, and it looks like a large grey fuzzy area. Now if I were to take a long-exposure picture through the scope, it would come out looking very pretty and bright, but where I am, the light pollution is horrible - HORRIBLE, and all I saw was a faint greyish blurr.

Definitely find a dark place to observe from if you're going galaxy hunting! Your best bet for target finding is the Messier object catalog - all of those M-##'s that everyone has mentioned. Many of these aren't galaxies, but several are. Look them up and how to find them, and then go drive way out in the country. Happy hunting!

Answer 6

You should be able to see the Andromeda Galaxy but only on a really dark night or out in the country. It's near the constellation Cassiopeia under the "W". There are many impressive pictures but what you'll probably see, at best, is a fuzzy version of the picture below:

Answer 7

you might be able to see Andromeda, i don't know where it is exactly but you can try using google.

Answer 8

There are several galaxies that should be reasonably viewable with your 'scope, though some of them may just look like stars.  Andromeda is the one you hear about the most.  The M-13 cluster (in the constellation Hercules) is a really good one--it's easily viewable with my 3½" refractor.  OTOH, it doesn't look like a typical galaxy, but a bright blob of stars--since it's a globular.  See what you can find at heavens above: http://www.heavens-above.com/

Answer 9

It of course depends on the light pollution in your area.  Andromeda should be easy(naked eye here in southern NH)  Also M81 and M82 in Ursa Major should be possible too.

John K

Answer 10

Yes you can see several depending on your location and time of observation. Please use any star chart that you can find in magazines like "Sky & Telescope" or downloaded from the internet. Go to a dark sky location away from the city lights to make more stars visible on any clear night. Avoid looking at any bright light including headlight & parking light of a car to acclimatize your eyes. Use a red LED flash light to read your sky chart and start pointing your Orion scope at different objects in the sky. Some of the faint fuzzies that you will see are galaxies.

Note that most of them are in the southern hemisphere, so you will point your scope to southern half of the sky. You will have to learn how to navigate in the sky which is moving the scope from one known star to next and so on. It is initially very frustrating but when you find one, it is one of the most exciting to you. Good luck