cold and unsatisfied

Hi Fintan,

Have you tried M81 and M82? They should be far easier to find than the Sombrero and are nicely placed very close to the zenith a the moment (being close to the bowl of the Plough), so they are probably the easiest galaxies to spot from the suburbs. In fact they are visible even in the 66mm scope from Salthill under mag 3.5 skies.

The trick on dimmer galaxies is not to use too low a power eyepiece, as the sky background from light pollution can drown them out.

Don't get discouraged. Galaxies are difficult from the suburbs or towns at the best of times, but once you find them you'll always be able to reach them again.

Trev

Just to back up the advice on the Telrad, I have an 8" Dob and a CGE 1100 and the number one most useful add-on for both was the Telrad. If you don't have a permanent mount then the Telrad saves a lot of time finding your way around. I remember being frustrated trying to find faint objects in light-polluted skies with the Dob and it isn't much fun.

I would have some concerns about using a laser in the suburbs. The bullseye Telrad just seems less intrusive.

I've never used a Telrad but my preference is for red dot finders over optical finders every time. I find a unit powered finder much easier to use in conjunction with a naked-eye knowledge of the night sky in the vicinity of a target than the narrow field of a 6x or 8x finder.

is there any advantage to using a 50mw lasser pointer over a 5mw? do you need that much more power ( or strength or however you quantify laser strength)

is there any advantage to using a 50mw lasser pointer over a 5mw? do you need that much more power ( or strength or however you quantify laser strength)

No benefit, apart from a 10 times more powerful beam! But why the hell would you want to go that strong anyway?

i honestly didnt know!! just want to get the one that suits me best first time around. thanks!