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Barnard's Galaxy is a challenge object because of the low surface brightness. Much like M33 or M101 but worse.

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Barnard's Galaxy is much harder to see than M33 and M101 . With some practice and skill, M33 and M101 are both pretty easy to see from normal suburban skies. NGC 6822 is out of the question unless your skies are nearly pristine. Especially at mid-northern latitudes, where it's never far off the horizon. The problem isn't just overall low surface brightness but the fact that it's utterly lacking a central bright core. M101's core is small, but it does exist.

Barnard's Galaxy is to M101 as M101 is to M31.

On the other hand, M33, M101, and NGC 6822 are all physically quite large. So though dark skies are immensely important, aperture is not. If you can't see NGC 6822 through a 6-inch scope or 80-mm binoculars, extra aperture isn't likely to help a lot.

After you've mastered Barnard's Galaxy, try IC 1613 in Cetus. That's another notch down in the surface-brightness scale -- much harder than Barnard's Galaxy.

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Tony Flanders

eyeglasses
6x15 and 8x32 monoculars
8x25, 7x35, 10x30 IS, 10x50, and 15x70 binoculars
70mm and 100mm achromatic refractors
4.5", 7", and 12.5" Dobs

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