About My 8 inch dobson and its range in power

[bankey]

Can i get some solid clear looks at galaxy's say the andromeda or any of the other messier objects? Or will they all just be specs of light?

[seeker372011]

You can get nice views of galaxies with an 8 inch, especially if you are able to observe from a dark site.

Give it a go!

[squirreltape]

Yes... the brighter the nebula / galaxy the better and there are plenty of things within the grasp of that 8" of yours (as Seeker has said). The key is most definately the darkness of your site (this means that these low contrast objects don't get swamped out by the skyglow of a slightly light-polluted site (the reason we can't see stars when the sun is up is for precisely this reason... the air glows with more light than the starlight coming through).

The other key thing, after picking a nice bright object, is to allow your eyes to become fully dark adapted (minimum of 20 mins to 1/2 hour or so) so that they will be most sensitive. Then you must spend a fair bit of time actually studying your prey. This is greatly enhanced by using the old 'averted vision' trick... ie move your eyes just off the object (up, down, left, right... it's upto you) and it will appear brighter to you... practice in this technique will always improve your enjoyment of this hobby ). Too many people just quickly glance at the object without taking in the very subtle details eg. for edge-on galaxies it is possible to see their dust lanes 'cutting' the galaxy lengthways (eg NGC 891 http://www.seds.org/messier/Xtra/ngc/n0891.html (remember these are photos so your views will look very much fainter), for face on spirals that are usually fainter it is possible to make out faint spiral structure.

The best bit of advice was already given by Seeker up above... have a go

[djm28]

Keep in mind that M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) is one of the largest extended deep-sky objects there is and requires fairly low magnification to be seen as a whole. From a truly dark site, one or two dark dust lanes may be visible.

http://www.dl-digital.com/astrophoto/M31_New.htm

A good sketch is usually more indicative of what you'll see through an eyepiece than a film or digital image.

http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/000275.html

http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/astronomy/Simulation.html

In the future, the telescopes & binoculars forum will be a better choice for posing such questions.

Dave Mitsky

[djm28]

You may want to consider getting a 2" wide-field eyepiece if your telescope has a 2" focuser to maximize your field of view. If it doesn't, think about purchasing a 1.25" 32mm Ploessl (not a 40mm) or a 1.25" 24 or 25mm wide-field eyepiece.

Dave Mitsky

[pizwiz]

I would like to emphasize Mark's comments.
Dark adaptation and dark skies are the key to seeing the "faint fuzzies"
Keep all white light out of your eyes. Use a small red light for looking at charts or to find your way around once your eyes have adapted to the dark. All it takes is one bright light to loose your dark vision and you have to start all over again.
Select your set up spot to keep street lights etc. blocked.
This does not matter when observing planets since they are very bright anyway.
If you plan on observing deep space objects, save any planet observing for last, since they will ruin your dark vision.
Your 8" can show you plenty of deep space objects, but dark skies and night vision are essential.
As mentioned before, it takes practice to learn how to see and observe, just have a little patience and you will soon see things that are beyond your reach now.

Adolph

[JustCallMeGod]

I live in the suburbs, and own an 8" dobsonian.
You will see galaxies/nebula as a hazy patch without detail..but the darker the site, the better.
Also, an awesome trick I've used and liked:
Before a clear night, choose any constellation above your horizon, and write a list of all the deepspace objects you'd think you'd be able to find and observe. Then, with a highlighter or something, mark its location on a star atlas...works perfectly.
And especially with a dob, you won't have to move the scope so much, but depending where the constellation is, you'll hurt in the neck after a while.

[djm28]

To answer the thread title question directly, the "theoretical" range of magnification for an 8" f/6 (assuming that the OP's 8" has, in fact, this common f/ratio) is 29x (7mm exit pupil) to 406x (0.5mm exit pupil). This assumes almost perfect seeing (exceptionally steady atmospheric conditions) and that the observer's pupils can dilate to a diameter of 7mm when dark adapted.

Dave Mitsky

[djm28]

Perhaps a moderator can move this thread to telescopes & binoculars?

Dave Mitsky

[grendel1960]

There you go
Grendel