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The discussion of this PN has had me salivating waiting for the sky to clear. Friday night presented the opportunity. I drove the few kilometers down the road to the observatory and set up my 12.5". I also opened up the dome that houses the 25".

With the 12.5" I actually didn't find it all that difficult an object to find at 107X once I'd identified the field. I found that an OIII didn't help at all. In fact I think it hindered the view as it dimmed the central star that was flickering in and out at 243X.

With the 25" at 304X the view was incredible. What a beautiful PN. I did this sketch.
http://rascvic.zenfolio.com/p566114947/?photo=h04D9D1D0#81383888

I can't recommend this object enough. Thanks for giving the nudge on this one

Bill

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I first logged this one with my 10 inch f/5.6 Newtonian, although it was pretty faint in that aperture. At last week's Nebraska Star Party, through Sirius76's 25 inch f/5, it was quite easy at 102x, looking a bit like M104 does in a small scope. The central star tends to dominate, but the two broad jets are fairly easy to see, although again, they look nothing like the HST images. Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info

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Minkowski's Butterfly was one of the last objects that we viewed through John Vogt's 32" f/4 ATM Dob at Stellafane on Saturday morning. I had also suggested Jones 1 earlier but that one got lost in the goto shuffle.

Dave Mitsky

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I have seen (barely) Jones-1 in my 10 inch, so I thought it would be a good target for observing at the Nebraska Star Party. Dragan and I hit Jones-1 in his 25 inch and it was fairly interesting. Without a filter, it looked like two faint disconnected arcs with only a hint of the full annulus, but with the OIII, the object was a very nice complete ring that was brighter on the northern and southern sides. Now Minkowski's "footprint" was a different story (object in Cygnus not far from Albireo). That was a real stinker, but the problem turned out to be use of a little too much power on the 25 inch. I hit it at one point, but once Dragan got up the ladder to the eyepiece, it wasn't in the field anymore and we spent a lot of time unsuccessfully trying to get it back again. Dragan gave up in frustration, but I knew what I had seen, so I went over to John Johnson's 20 inch with Argo Navis and had him punch in the coordinates. Sure enough, the little fuzz spot appeared at 74x, and tended to become difficult at the really high magnifications we had been using in the 25 inch. I guess we needed to be less literal with magnification when some descriptions mention observations at high power. Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info


Edited by Olivier Biot (08/11/08 02:12 PM)

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David,

Now don't forget Arp 199! I think that was a hot topic with everyone for awhile! The jokes and one liners didn't stop for quite some time!

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Yup, that (NGC 5544/5) was a good one! The negative picture of it in Timothy Ferris's book GALAXIES (page 139) is particularly suggestive . I guess that comes from an image that was "over-exposed"

Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info

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Minkowski's Butterfly was one of the last objects that we viewed through John Vogt's 32" f/4 ATM Dob at Stellafane on Saturday morning. I had also suggested Jones 1 earlier but that one got lost in the goto shuffle.

Dave Mitsky

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I have seen (barely) Jones-1 in my 10 inch, so I thought it would be a good target for observing at the Nebraska Star Party. Dragan and I hit Jones-1 in his 25 inch and it was fairly interesting. Without a filter, it looked like two faint disconnected arcs with only a hint of the full annulus, but with the OIII, the object was a very nice complete ring that was brighter on the northern and southern sides. Now Minkowski's "footprint" was a different story (object in Cygnus not far from Albireo). That was a real stinker, but the problem turned out to be use of a little too much power on the 25 inch. I hit it at one point, but once Dragan got up the ladder to the eyepiece, it wasn't in the field anymore and we spent a lot of time unsuccessfully trying to get it back again. Dragan gave up in frustration, but I knew what I had seen, so I went over to John Johnson's 20 inch with Argo Navis and had him punch in the coordinates. Sure enough, the little fuzz spot appeared at 74x, and tended to become difficult at the really high magnifications we had been using in the 25 inch. I guess we needed to be less literal with magnification when some descriptions mention observations at high power. Clear skies to you.

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David,

I've observed Jones 1 (PK104-9.1) a number of times in the past, the first time using a friend's one-of-a-kind 20" f/10 classical Cassegrain that was built by Mike Dudley of D & G Optical. The smallest scope that I've had occasion to view it with was a friend' 14.5" Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob.

Jones 1 is one of the objects on The RASC's Deep Sky Challenge Objects List.

Dave Mitsky

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.

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Jones I is a challenging but rewarding object in moderate aperture. It takes magnification quite well (190X in the 10 inch) and presents an interesting, irregular form. An OIII filter helps, considerably.

An even more challenging planetary, is Jones-Emberson I. It's not well-placed for observing this time of year but wait 3-6 months and this object will give an 8- or 10-inch scope a real workout.

Bill in Flag

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Ah, yes, JE-1 (a.k.a. PK164+31.1), the "Headphones Nebula". I first ran into it on a Palomar Sky Survey image that a friend of mine had up on his laserdisk version (we were waiting for a JPL Voyager 2 news conference to come on). I noted its position on the old Becvar's ATLAS OF THE HEAVENS 1950.0, but that atlas had it mis-labled as NGC 2474-5. Eventually, I managed to find it in my 10 inch, but it required at least the UHC filter and some study to bring it out. It is much better in a large scope, but at least I found the darn thing. Here is a shot of it done by my friend and former observing partner Rick Johnson (now up in the wilds of Minnesota on Mantrap Lake). Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info


Edited by David Knisely (08/15/08 02:54 PM)

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