"Easier than expected," they said ...

[carnevali]

I had read several reports that seeing Polarissima Borealis - the Northernmost galaxy, 1 degree from the North Celestial Pole - is easier than expected, and that they have seen it in 6" and even 4.5" apertures. How is that possible? I had to try hard for four nights with my 10" reflector before I finally caught the feeble light in the corner of my eye. The galaxy is compact, but it's only magnitude 14. I wonder if some who reported seeing it got confused with the mag 12.5 star in close proximity, perhaps they just saw that dim star instead? Anyone here got experience with detecting Polarissima? I think it's NOT easy at all!

[KT4HX]

You might be correct on that confusion issue. This is what Tom Trusock over at Cloudy Nights says about it:

"Don't expect a lot - visually there's just not much there. From a suburban site, you'll need a bigger telescope and some luck to see anything. From a darker site, an 8 or 10" should suffice to show you a small bit of celestial fluff."

So based on what he says, you did good on that one. I am not sure I could see it (haven't tried) from my orange zone with the Z10, but I should be able to with the 17.5.

[carnevali]

Thanks for the feedback, Alan. I imagine that sharper eyes operating from a superdark site might detect it in a 6" aperture, but I don't believe those "easier than expected" statements. I was happy to just get a sideway glimpse of it after three failed attempts. By the way, if you want to try it, I can give you directions that would help (all the stars around there are dim).

[Joe Lalumia]

Joe,

Being an old guy, I get a good laugh out of many of the articles written about "visual observing" dim objects like galaxies in binoculars or a small scope.

Personally I think some of the people writing the articles either have SUPERMAN X Ray vision, or can actually "see" --------- "imaginary objects", invisible to everyone except themselves, in the night sky. ( or they are exaggerating their observing abilities!) I PURPOSELY include many of the guys that write articles for S&T and or Astronomy magazine.

Clear skies!

[carnevali]

Since now I can find my way to it easily, at the next opportunity I'll give it a try with my 18" reflector. Hopefully I'll see it more easily and confirm my first sighting with the 10" scope. Joe, I wonder whether those reports are made from exceptionally dark sites and sharp, young eyes with a lot of observational experience .... who knows, maybe they are true. But I do't think it's fair to then report it without adding "by the way, I observe from the top of a dark mountain in the middle of a desert."

[KT4HX]

Detecting the brighter galaxies with binoculars is certainly possible, as I have done it and I have older eyes as well. That being said, it was in an area of darker skies than what I have at home, and they are not going to yield up any details. At best most will appear as hazy patches, of varying degrees of brightness from just at the edge of perceptibility using averted vision to readily apparent. I often have to employ tube tapping in order to confirm that the faint fuzz is really there. I truly enjoy star hopping and that is my method of choice to locate objects.

Using 15X70 binos tripod mounted in what I would guess was a blue zone (for lack of a better description), I was able to pick out the cores of M51 and NGC 5195, M101 (only detectable by tube tapping), M104, M81/82, M65/66, M108, NGC 2841 in the course of one spring evening back in 2009. I also spent a lot of time with open clusters and the brighter globular clusters and only chased after some galaxies to see if I could find them. Despite the minimal visual appearance, I rather enjoyed it. Most of my success was due to locking down the tripod and spending a fair amount of time going over the same FOV. For the ones I did see of course, there were many others I just did not pick up.

I agree that writers need to qualify their observing conditions better. In the case of O'Meara he at least states that observations for his series of books, for the most part, occured at Mauna Kea, one of the best observing spots in the world.