Telescope Reviews: Starting the New Year off right! Observing 1/1/08

I decided to kick off 2008 with an evening of observing at Fremont Peak on New Year's night. I had a few hours of splendid skies with rock-solid seeing interspersed with some gusts of wind. I didn't try to make a limiting mag estimate from this coastal mountain top near the Monterey Bay but I was able to repeatably glimpse Comet Tuttle (total magnitude ~5.8) naked-eye and along with Holmes this made a rare treat -- two naked-eye comets in the same sky!

Before the breeze kicked in consistently, I was able to use up to 800x in my 18-inch Starmaster in this observation of the planetary NGC 1535 in Eridanus. At 565x the complex double shell structure of this gorgeous planetary was remarkable. The bright mag 12.5 central star is surrounded by a well-defined dark central hole with subtle mottling. This is surrounded by a striking bright inner ring that is relatively narrow and sharply defined. The ring has a slightly clumpy appearance, particuarly on the north side and dims slightly on the SE end. This bright ring is encased within an outer shell of fainter nebulosity which doubles the diameter. Although the inner ring is round, this outer envelope is slightly elongated SSW-NNE. At 807x the view was stunning and brighter clumps or knots within the bright inner ring appearing to sparkle at times.

Another fascinating planetary is NGC 1360 in Fornax which was faintly visible in my 80mm finder at 25x as a dim oval glow surrounding a faint star. Adding a OIII filter significantly incrased the contrast and the outline appeared better defined in the little refractor. At 115x in the 18", this unusual planetary is a huge oval or irregular egg-shape, ~6'x4', oriented SSW-NNE (PA ~30°) surrounding a very bright mag 10.4 central star. Excellent contrast with an OIII filter which really brings out its asymmetric structure. The planetary is noticeably brighter in a fan-shaped wedge spreading out from the central star to the north. At times the NE rim appeared a bit clumpy. The fainter south side has a dimmer lane extending to the southeast.

Abell 10 in Orion is a compact but relatively bright Abell that was immediately swept up at 115x and OIII filter as a 30" disc. I was surprised this planetary was still readily visible unfiltered at 115x to 220x as a faint, round disc (could have been discovered visually). The best view, though, was at 225x using a UHC filter and it appeared as a moderately bright, crisp circular disc with a slightly irregular surface brightness. Occasionally I picked up an interior sparkle - possibly a stellar knot or faint superimposed star.

Another interesting target was the bright reflection nebula, NGC 1788, in Orion. At 175x (unfiltered), two brighter stars were involved in the brightest portion of the nebula with a mag 10 star (very unequal double) at the NW end. An oval glow extends ~4'x2.5' to the SE and contains a bright "knot" that surrounds a mag 11.5 star on the SE side. Two fainter stars are also embedded within the glow forming a rhombus with the brighter stars at opposite ends. The SW edge of the main body has a sharper edge (due to dust). Surrounding this region are faint extensions that significantly increase the total size to ~8x6'. Towards the SE, dim haze could be seen as far as a 2' pair of mag 12.5 stars. Broad, wispy extensions appeared to feather off to the NE for ~6' with additional faint haze to the south. The entire complex is bounded by several mag 8-9 stars forming a striking star field.

Well, 2008 is off to a good start for me and here's hoping for many great observing nights in the coming year.

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Steve Gottlieb
18" f/4.3 Starmaster
Adventures In Deep Space
7500+ NGC/IC Visual Descriptions
NGC/IC Project