Finding NGC 891: Locating the spot to look for NGC 891 is actually quite easy. Just aim your telescope at the star gamma Andromeda (refer to the star chart in this month’s Natural Calendar) and center the star in the eyepiece field of view. Then, if your telescope has a clock drive, turn it off. If it doesn't have a clock drive, you're finished. Simply time out (carefully, seconds count) 18 minutes and 40 seconds from the time you take your eyes off of the centered star. Then look again. The earth will have rotated the galaxy into the center of the field of view. If you have a clock drive, turn it back on now. If you don't have a clock drive, note the field stars and keep the in the same orientation as you manually compensate for the earth's rotation. Be warned, due to its low surface brightness, this galaxy is something of a phantom, and it does not give up its secrets easily. The darker and less light-polluted your sky is, the better. You are doing quite well if you can make out the ghostly central bulge. It takes a fairly large telescope to see the dark central lane cutting through the nucleus. Be sure and use averted vision, looking to one side of the position of the galaxy.
|
||||||||||||||||||
