Spindle Galaxy
M102 · Galaxy · Dra
Circumpolar from here — up all night, best placed around 20:22, due WNW. Too low-surface-brightness to see from Bortle 8 with 200 mm f/6 Dobsonian — this needs a darker sky, not more aperture or magnification.
- Magnitude
- 9.9
- Angular size
- 5.0′
- Surface brightness
- 21.2 mag/arcsec²
- Altitude now
- 50°
- Azimuth now
- 306° NW
- Moon separation
- 82°
- Rise
- —
- Transit
- 20:22 (67°)
- Set
- —
- Best window
- 20:22–03:04 CEST
- Tonight score
- 59 · Not realistic with 200 mm at Bortle 8
Tonight's sky
- Spindle Galaxy
Through your instrument
40× · TFOV 1.70° · exit pupil 5.00 mm · f/6.0
The eye's colour receptors need far more photons than a camera sensor collects over minutes, so faint deep-sky objects genuinely look grey at the eyepiece.
200 mm f/6 Dobsonian at 40×
Newtonian: image rotated 180°
Your optics, in numbers
- Aperture
- 200 mm
- Focal ratio
- f/6.0
- Magnification
- 40×
- True field
- 1.70°
- Exit pupil
- 5.00 mm
- Dawes limit
- 0.58″
- Rayleigh limit
- 0.69″
- Max useful power
- 250×
- Limiting magnitude
- 11.6
Recommended settings
Low power: 30 mm (40×, exit pupil 5.0 mm)
A 5–7 mm exit pupil gives the darkest sky background per unit of object brightness — best for large faint nebulae and star clouds.
High power: 6 mm (200×)
Planets, the Moon and double stars take up to about 2× the aperture in mm, capped at your 250× seeing limit.
Aperture verdict
At Bortle 8 with 200 mm you should expect the core only.
Filters
Nebula filters do not help — galaxies and clusters emit across the spectrum. Darker skies do.
Technique
Dark-adapt for 20–30 minutes, use averted vision on faint targets, tap the tube gently to catch motion, and wait for the object to reach transit rather than shooting over rooftops.
Seeing vs transparency
Planets need steady air (seeing); faint deep-sky objects need clean, transparent air. A hazy but still night is a planet night.
Gear for this object
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- 200 mm Dobsonian Affiliate link
- 24 mm 68° eyepiece Affiliate link
- Observing chair Affiliate link