Triangulum Galaxy (M33)

I decided to try and find M33 tonight, and after some careful looking and star hopping, I was able to find it.

It felt like a real achievement when I did find it, but also a little dissapointing. I guess I was hoping for a smaller version of Andromeda, but really it looked like a smudge on the eye piece! In fact, I think I skimmed over it a few times before realizing what it was.

So, I was curious what success others have had...

I'm using an 8" SCT at 50x magnification.

On a particularly transparent night, from a dark location, M33 can be quite rewarding. But the slightest bit of brightness or haze transforms it back to a dim smudge. It'll probably look better in binoculars than your SCT.

M101 is similar, even more so.

Around this time of year, check out NGC253, which is closer to a mini-Andromeda than M33. It's pretty far south, but as long as you don't live too far north NGC253 should be a more-rewarding galaxy in your SCT than M33.

I have a 10"dob and mag 4 skies overhead - M33 wasn't hard to find, just hard to recognize - looked right through it many times before learning to see it, found that moving the scope a wee bit helped a lot and I could discern some shape to the glow.

UMaj is moving into favorable viewing position for me now, M51 and 81/82 are favorite targets and show well even through my urban sky, whereas M101 is just rumor...

Jim Cantrell

Under dark conditions and transparent skies hints of the spiral structure of M33 can be med out with an 8-inch scope. Increasing the aperture form 8 to 12.5 inches makes a great difference. Several of the galaxy's emission regions become visible, and the spiral structure becomes much more obvious.

I have observed M33 with different magnifications, and it seems to me that with a 12.5-inch scope 100 - 120x gives the best views.

Most observers agree that M33 is more elusive than would be expected from its integrated magnitude. I recommend novice galaxy observers to try M81 and M82. They are both well defined, and have a high surface brightness. And they are so close to each other that they can be viewed together in a low power field.

Inge S

I will echo what others have said about the clear dark skies. In my 8" reflector I have seen some nice views of M33. On those nights M31 was very very nice. In hindsight I would say if you pick up M110 pretty good when viewing M31, then M33 will likely give you a nice view.

I viewed mainly between 40x and 80x.


Ed

It's better in binoculars, so is M102, so is M31 for that matter.

Daryl

There's an excellent article on M33 and the various HII regions and globular clusters that can be seen with amateur instruments in the December 2004 Sky & Telescope. I've had some great views of M33 through large apertures (up to 32") and have seen a number of the extragalactic objects mentioned.

Dave Mitsky