City vs Country Viewing.

Hi,

Just wondering is there a rule of thumb for the max magnitude that you can see from a city location vs a country ( or outside of city) location?

For example Im using the Nexstar 8 se, as far as I can see the Max magnitude that I can see from my location (swords) is about 8.4 and at that (E.g. M101, M51 are mere fuzzies at the eye piece). Should or would I be able to see much more detail if I went to a Dark location? or is it more apature that's needed?

Cheers,
Gary

Gary
It doesn't matter what equipment you have, a dark sky is the most important requirement in this game, especially if you want to view faint fuzzies.
The curse of light pollution is killing amateur astronomy.

Gary --

An 8" SCT should be able to get to mag 10 or 11, even from Swords. That would be with quite a bit of magnification (say 250x - 300x) on a night of above-average seeing. Note also that you can see much dimmer targets higher up in the sky (as you're looking through less atmosphere). But M51 is still going to be a blurry spot (or two).

At a truly dark site, you should be able to reach mag 13+. That will make a huge difference in what you can see. With one to three years of experience (assuming 10 - 20 nights observing a year) you should be able to see the arms of M51 in an 8" (although it still won't look like the pictures).

Perhaps a better yardstick would be the naked-eye limit at the zenith (straight overhead). Swords is likely somewhere between 3 and 4.5. Your average rural site will be 5.5 to 6.5, and a truly dark site will be 7+.

Cheers,
-- Jeff.

Very true ! A dark sky is above all most important. A very good clear night where I am will give me magnitude 13.5 from my backgarden with my 8 inch SCT.

I am really lucky !

Keith..

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, me thinks Ill have to start getting to a Dark locations now and again so.

Now to find some Dark locations off the M1

Thanks,
Gary

We've been lucky recently with some decent viewing but more often than not, it's the weather that ruins things.

My New Year resolution is to get a roll-off built.