Re: Virgo galaxy cluster as a naked-eye object?

My money would be on M87 or maybe M84/M86 as the big concentrated ones
that would maybe stand any chance with naked eye (again, with my eyes or
perhaps yours). 50 or 80mm can of course see those at a dark site.
As far as a broad naked eye glow? Don't know but I bet it would have to
be a real dark site. Interesting thought. Also I think the Gegenshein
is 10 degrees south of that basic area around May or so and wonder if he
was tricked by that glow.

O'Meara's thoughts would be interesting as if he cannot see it, we can
forget about it for sure. (or I can at any rate).

apierce@No-Spam wrote:
> Here's a little experiment for people other than Jay Freeman or Stephen
> O'Meara. Regular guys like me, who have seen M33 and Uranus with the
> unaided eye, but no deeper. Look at the central Virgo area with 50 mm
> binoculars or a finder -- roughly 50 times more light gathering power than
> the unaided eyes. Impressive? No, I didn't think so. Those particular
> galaxies are not super bright individually nor are they exactly on top of
> each other. M104, and M49, the brightest galaxies in Virgo, don't count,
> they are both outliers. Now imagine the same view 50 times fainter. I
> think you'd have better luck with M101 or M81/82.
>
> Andrew Pierce
>
>
>
>
>> A friend of mine with modest experience as an amateur astronomer
>> reports hearing it said in the amateur community that the integrated
>> light of the galaxies of central Virgo is visible to the naked eye
>> on exceptionally dark and clear nights.
>>
>> I have found no reference to any such observation by searching the
>> web. Can anyone shed any light on this report or its possible source?
>>
>> My friend was sufficiently knowledgeable to establish that no, they
>> were *not* talking about the Coma Berenices star cluster.
>>
>> -- Jay Reynolds Freeman
>> ---------------------
>> Jay_Reynolds_Freeman@No-Spam
>> http://web.mac.com/jay_reynolds_freeman (personal web site)
>>
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