So what's your go-to method to locate M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)?

[swampwiz]

Here's the image that a lot of pop science articles use:

Evidently, a lot of articles say to look for the Great Square of Pegasus, but it seems to me to not be a very noticeable asterism. I use the Cassiopeia's W deeper-side (i.e., right) arrowhead and count 3 lengths of the depth of the arrowhead, and then look for the bent line made up of Andromeda's β, μ & ν (which isn't even annotated in this image, as the constellation lines are oriented in the normal direction), and then straighten & stretch out this line; this bent-line asterism seems much more noticeable, and of course, the W is almost as easy as Orion.

I haven't been able to get out to a really dark sky to see this, only a Bortle level of about 21.1, and it seems that I can barely see it with the naked eye (a few times a year I drive on I-55 near Kosciuszko, MS, where about 40 miles away there is a nice area at about 21.85, but it seems for me it never is at night with clear skies and no Moon); I would like to unambiguously see Andromeda naked.

 

[jedishrfu]

Well Earth and Sky do what you have suggested:

https://Earth'sky.org/astronomy-essentials/2-ways-to-find-the-andromeda-galaxy/

 

[Drakkith]

. I use the Cassiopeia's W deeper-side (i.e., right) arrowhead and count 3 lengths of the depth of the arrowhead, and then look for the bent line made up of Andromeda's β, μ & ν (which isn't even annotated in this image, as the constellation lines are oriented in the normal direction), and then straighten & stretch out this line; this bent-line asterism seems much more noticeable, and of course, the W is almost as easy as Orion.

I use a similar method. Find Cassiopeia's W and follow it to M31.

 

[Bandersnatch]

These days I just use a phone app.

I would like to unambiguously see Andromeda naked.

We all would, my friend. But her whole family is always nearby. And let's not forget the sea monster.

 

[George Jones]

I use a similar method. Find Cassiopeia's W and follow it to M31.

I, too, use Cassiopeia to find M31.

 

[Quarker]

I have to drive 70 miles to a dark sky site to set up my scope, but M31 is naked eye from there. Nights of low humidity (and no moon, of course) provide the best contrast.

 

[DaveC426913]

I've tried starhopping from Cassie many-a-time. I find it's way too big a hop with no intermediary waypoints.
So I go from Pegasus.

Actually, I use Cassie to find Peggie. Then star hop around Peggie.Huge caveat: I have never been successful at spotting M31, (even in the blackest skies of remote Cuba). Curse my aging eyes.

 

[collinsmark]

I'm not proud of my method. The old-school part of me might even be a little ashamed by it. But in my Bortle 7 (maybe 8) skies I can't see all but the brightest constellations. The fact that my eyes are getting older doesn't help either. The plus side to this method is that if all goes well, I can be centered on the target in just a few minutes. So here it is:

1. Turn on my telescope along with the attached mini-PC (named "Vanguard") controlling my telescope.
2. Using the hand-controller, slew to some arbitrary part of the sky, away from any obstructions and whatnot.
3. Go back inside.
4. Get on my main computer (named "Clubber Lang.")
5. Using "Remote Desktop Connection," log onto Vanguard.
6. Bring up N.I.N.A. and Stellarium on Vanguard.
7. In N.I.N.A., connect telescope, camera, filterwheel, and focuser.
8. Still in N.I.N.A., take an image or two just to make sure the camera is roughly in focus (doesn't need to be perfect).
9. Through N.I.N.A., platesolve an image using ASTAP, and sync to the telescope (now the telescope knows where it's pointing). (I already have ASTAP set up as N.I.N.A.'s primary platesolver.)
10. Go into Stelarium and choose the target, in this case the Andromeda Galaxy.
11. In N.I.N.A.'s Framing tab, click on the "Get coordiantes from the planetarium." (I have Stellarium already set up as the planetarium.)
12. Still in N.I.N.A.'s framing tab, click on Slew to Target.
13. Take an image to make sure it's centered.
14. If the image is not centered just right, do another platesolve and repeat steps 12 - 14.

 

[jedishrfu]

A professional astronomer would call up the observatory and ask for time, providing funding info and the target of interest. The observatory then sends back the data whenever.

There's a movie called "Clara" that gives some insight into the process. It stars Patrick Adams and his wife, Troian Bellisario about an astronomer having a life crisis obsessed with finding something for NASA to investigate as part of a national competition for funding and research into exo-planets using TESS as the targetting scope.

What is interesting is how the astronomer uses Matlab and other tools to analyze the data coming back from the observatory as opposed to taking the actual measurements on site like in the olden days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_(film)

 

[swampwiz]

I'm not proud of my method. The old-school part of me might even be a little ashamed by it. But in my Bortle 7 (maybe 8) skies I can't see all but the brightest constellations. The fact that my eyes are getting older doesn't help either. The plus side to this method is that if all goes well, I can be centered on the target in just a few minutes. So here it is:

1. Turn on my telescope along with the attached mini-PC (named "Vanguard") controlling my telescope.
2. Using the hand-controller, slew to some arbitrary part of the sky, away from any obstructions and whatnot.
3. Go back inside.
4. Get on my main computer (named "Clubber Lang.")
5. Using "Remote Desktop Connection," log onto Vanguard.
6. Bring up N.I.N.A. and Stellarium on Vanguard.
7. In N.I.N.A., connect telescope, camera, filterwheel, and focuser.
8. Still in N.I.N.A., take an image or two just to make sure the camera is roughly in focus (doesn't need to be perfect).
9. Through N.I.N.A., platesolve an image using ASTAP, and sync to the telescope (now the telescope knows where it's pointing). (I already have ASTAP set up as N.I.N.A.'s primary platesolver.)
10. Go into Stelarium and choose the target, in this case the Andromeda Galaxy.
11. In N.I.N.A.'s Framing tab, click on the "Get coordiantes from the planetarium." (I have Stellarium already set up as the planetarium.)
12. Still in N.I.N.A.'s framing tab, click on Slew to Target.
13. Take an image to make sure it's centered.
14. If the image is not centered just right, do another platesolve and repeat steps 12 - 14.

What telescope model does this?

 

[collinsmark]

What telescope model does this?

Pretty much any GoTo telescope mount. My telescope is a fork mounted Meade (on a wedge), but any moderate or higher end mount by Celestron, Sky-Watcher, iOptron, Meade, etc., that you can connect to a computer will be able to do that.

(In case there was any confusion, the software such as N.I.N.A., Stellarium, etc., are running on the mini-PC attached to the mount. The Mini-PC is running Windows 10. It talks to the mount, camera, focuser, and filter wheel.)

 

[timmdeeg]

I find it easiest first to locate Alamak and Mirach and then go north starting from Mirach about two third the distance Alamak - Mirach, go around a bit and catch M31.

 

[davenn]

well since Cassie is below my horizon, I also locate the great square of Pegasus ... pretty easy ... then work my way down to the right
( in the southern Hemisphere) and drop onto M31. It only gets around 10 deg above the horizon

 

[swampwiz]

well since Cassie is below my horizon, I also locate the great square of Pegasus ... pretty easy ... then work my way down to the right
( in the southern Hemisphere) and drop onto M31. It only gets around 10 deg above the horizon

I wonder how glorious it is for the Southern Cross or the Magellan Galaxies or the center of the Milky Way or Scorpio overhead.