Best time of the day/night to spot andromeda

emobama

Hi All,

I've been trying to locate M31 and M33 but I having trouble locating them, I have found images of the sky with highlighted stars such as the M or W of Cassiopeia which points almost at M31, even with this aid I'm still struggling, can anyone tell me what is the best time to find this?

Only new to astronomy!!!

Hauk

Hi emobama,

You're best chance of seeing M31 and M33 at the moment is around 18:45 when the constellation is standing up in the sky like you would see in star charts and such.

Have a look at this:



In Stellarium, this is at 18:45 looking West.

To find M31, follow down from Almaak to Mirach, and confirm that you are at Mirach before moving to the next star.

The next part is a bit of a trick. Move right, from Mirach to the next star. When you have located the next star, check around to the right and above of that area to see if you can see the final star(The one that sits higher than Mirach and the one across from it.).

Then look below that final star and you might see a faint smudge.

That's Andromeda(M31).

I recommmend a pair of binoculars for the final bit as it makes searching a bit easier. Tracking from Almaak to Mirach should be done with the eye.

I haven't found M33 yet myself in the scope, but I imagine it would be just track left from Mirach to see if you can see it(you can see it in the image above! ). There's an element of skill with an element of luck, and thats the fun bit!

emobama

Many thanks for that, I'll give it a whirl later, have no binoculars so wish me luck!!

Hauk

Good luck so!

Kersh

Did you find it?

What telescope did you use?