Planning a messier Marathon

Hi Trevor,

Definitely use the binoculars for the Virgo Cluster. You'll be surprised how easy the objects are to spot in the 20x80s. All will be a nice sized-fuzzball but being able to use the wider field of the binoculars will let you star hop without getting lost.

The key is knowing the field-of-view of your binoculars.

I set off from Rho Viriginis using Karkoschka's chart of the Vir-Com cluster region and initially hop to a pattern obvious on his chart.

I then check the field versus the chart to make sure I've identified the right pattern.

I then hop in half-field increments constantly checking the field of view against the chart. This works very well and what I see equates nicely to the little patterns I use to star-hop.

You'll find you will have to back-track on your path a couple of times because the galaxies actually appear to lie along a badly-distorted three-pronged fork. This is easier than trying to jump across to one prong from another.

Also, the binoculars will let you bag a couple of galaxies at a time (eg M84/M86 and M59/M60).

Bill Ferris has a nice chart of the region at members.aol.com/billferris/virgocluster.html

I'll see if I can mirror Karkoschka's atlas in Sky Map Pro (i.e. resize the star dots to something that doesn't overwhelm the plotted galaxies).

Talk to you later,

John

Hi lads and thanks for the feedback.

What's the focal length of the 90mm?

It is around an f5 - f5.5 or so, I have a nice wide field of view with a 32mm about 3 degrees.

The Binoculars have an almost identical field of view, but i reckon they would be much easier to use to navigate with a star chart.

john you mentioned about starting at Rho Viriginis and Paul mentioned this in a previous post on a similar topic so I guess it is time to become familar with Rho Virginis and its environs.

I just had a look at Paul's previous post.

With a wide field eyepiece find Rho Virginis, from there go 1.5 degrees N and you'll find M59 & M60, M60 being the eastern of the pair. From M59 go 1 degree W to M58.
From M58 go 0.25 degrees W and 1 degree N to pick up M89 & M90, M90 being the northern galaxy.
From M90 go 1 degree W and 1.5 degrees N to M88. From M88 go 1 degree E and slightly N to pick up M91.
Go back to M89 and go 1.25 degrees W and slightly S to M87. From M87 go 1.25 degrees W and 0.5 degrees N to M84 & M86.
That's Virgo covered.

Find the 5th magnitude 6 Comae Berenices, 6 degrees east of Beta Leonis. 0.5 degrees W of 6 Comae lies M98. From 6 Comae go 0.5 degrees S and 0.75 degrees E to M99.
Go back to 6 Comae Berenices, go 2 degrees E and 1 degree N and there's M100. From M100 go 0.5 degrees W and 2 degrees N to the 5th magnitude star 11 Comae Bernices. From 11 Comae go 1 degree E and 0.25 degrees N to find M85.

and had a look at my sky and telescope pocket atlas and it looks manageable (fingers crossed). If it isn't I have a more detailed atlas and Cartes du Ciel so I should be ok, so John dont worry about trying to do up a chart for me.
If I have any further questions though, I will be sure to ask. As per yer advice I reckon I will use the Binocs for the Virgo cluster as these probably mean a much easier translation from atlas to sky.
Thanks again

Hi all

I was out for an hour or so tonight, to see if I could start learning my way around the Virgo Cluster. I took the 20X80's to a semi dark site, but the sky was hazy so only limited success.

I started at Rho Virginis and managed to just about get M59 and M60. A line straight through these brings you to M58. This is longside a star at the point of a kite shaped asterism. North of this I reckon I just about picked up M89 and not so sure about M90. But off to the west M87 stood out even in hazy skies. The sky worsened so I had to pack up, but I reckon with darker skies, these 5 or 6 should be easy. The sky and Telescope pocket atlas chart of the region, is ok for navigation. Hopefully the rest of the cluster will be as easy.
Thanks for the help.

Interesting stuff...
Thanks for the link above to our site.
The EAAS will also be having another go this year, like yourselves probably over Paddy's weekend, but this time from Castleward, near Strangford.
As you can see from last year pics, the weather got somewhat severe!
However, a great exercise for anyone wanting to have a go.

Another clear night tonight and I finally got to nail down all the M's in the Virgo Coma cluster. I was frustrated by hazy skies the last few times I tried this in the 20X80's so tonight I set up the 8". It was slightly hazy but the aperture really helped. I started off using the instructions posted above, but I stumbled after the first 5 or 6 Galaxies.
I then resorted to star atlas and alternative means of finding the rest of the cluster. I managed to find a few easy galaxy and star hops that make it easy enough

just had a quick run through all of the M's I bagged tonight, 58 in about three hours and that included learning the Virgo cluster. Not a bad nights work. although I didn't get to study any in detail, it is a solid base for the marathon.

Hopefully we get clear skies this weekend