Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums
Privacy Policy |
Please read our Terms
of Service | Signup and
Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User
PhilH
sage
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 233
Loc: Long Island, NY
|
|
Good morning all,
I spent several hours outside last night observing/reobserving targets through my 18" for my next book. I wanted to share one particular sketch here on the forum for your edification/comment.
NGC 6905 is a favorite planetary nebula of mine, but it seemed to put on a particularly fine showing last night. The view here was made at a crazy magnification, 514x, yet the image held steadily. As other reports cite, it looked to me like a poor man's M97, complete with two "owl eyes." Interestingly, photos do not show these, so they must be an optical illusion. I wonder if any of you have noted the "eyes" and what the smallest aperture is that will show them.
--------------------
Phil Harrington
"Binocular Universe" Columnist, Astronomy magazine
Author: Star Ware || Star Watch || Touring the Universe through Binoculars || et al...
http://www.philharrington.net
http://www.observingsites.com
"Two eyes are better than one!"
Edited by PhilH (08/03/08 06:35 AM)
|
xfile101
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/08/07
Posts: 739
Loc: Ocean Gate, NJ
|
|
514x!!!! Hey Phil can you send your atmosphere down here for awhile?  In any event, this is an absolutely wonderful sketch and quite striking. I can really relate to this object as I got my first view of it last Saturday and it's also quite funny, I thought I saw eyes myself as I even logged it as a M97 clone, so you aren't alone  , this was with my XT8I. Again great sketch! 
P.S. Great column in the Sept issue on Cygnus, I just finished reading it.
--------------------
Orion XT8I
Celestron 114EQ Firstscope
Meade 70mm
Astroscan
|
CarlosEH
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/19/05
Posts: 3126
Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County...
|
|
Phil,
An excellent observation of the "Blue Box" or "Blue Flash" Nebula. This is an interesting planetary nebula as you point out. It is impressive that you could emply such a high magnification (514x) with your 18" Newtonian on this object. Thank you for sharing it with us all.
Links;
http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/maps/del/del1.gif
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/n6905.html
Carlos
--------------------
|
Tommy5
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/28/04
Posts: 1394
Loc: Chicagoland
|
|
Great sketch it would be interesting to compare to a astrophoto of this nebula, great job again.
|
frank5817
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/13/06
Posts: 3050
Loc: Illinois
|
|
Phil,
This is an excellent sketch of the blue flash nebula.  I haven't looked at this planetary nebula ( according to my notes ) since 1991 in Peotone, Illinois. In my notes from then I called it a "gray PN". Using the same 10" scope tonight but from a very poor backyard site in the southwestern Chicago burbs, I could see it nicely with an ultrablock filter. At 241X it looked mottled and slightly out of round. The central star was visible but not with the ultrablock filter in the optical train. Certainly the irregular brightness could be interpreted as "eyes" and in an 18" under decent skies. You probable didn't need to use averted vision to see uneven brightness. I can see why it is one of your favorites.
Frank
|
cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2122
Loc: San Diego, CA
|
|
Beautiful sketch, Phil! 
Here is my own attempt to sketch this interesting little planetary (from a couple of years ago).
--------------------
Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
CN Sketch Gallery
|
Patricko
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/30/07
Posts: 745
Loc: around the corner
|
|
Great sketch Phil, I'll try this with my 80mm refractor and let you know. Isn't this PN in Delphinus though?
--------------------
Clear skies,
Patrick
 "Life is too short, go collect some photons!" - Me, myself, and I
|
PhilH
sage
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 233
Loc: Long Island, NY
|
|
Quote:
514x!!!! Hey Phil can you send your atmosphere down here for awhile?
Ha ha! It was one of those too-rare nights that, even though transparency was about average, seeing was much better than usual. Summer haze, I guess. I was very surprised that I could push the scope to that power, believe me! I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've been able to do that in the past five years.
Quote:
P.S. Great column in the Sept issue on Cygnus, I just finished reading it.
Thank you. I love to highlight asterisms, and Hope Harle-Mould's "Amber's Heart" is a good one. It takes a little looking to see it among all the stars in Cygnus, but it's definitely there. Look for more of his creations in future columns. 
--------------------
Phil Harrington
"Binocular Universe" Columnist, Astronomy magazine
Author: Star Ware || Star Watch || Touring the Universe through Binoculars || et al...
http://www.philharrington.net
http://www.observingsites.com
"Two eyes are better than one!"
|
PhilH
sage
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 233
Loc: Long Island, NY
|
|
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. To address a couple of your comments, Frank...
Quote:
The central star was visible but not with the ultrablock filter in the optical train. Certainly the irregular brightness could be interpreted as "eyes" and in an 18" under decent skies. You probable didn't need to use averted vision to see uneven brightness.
I could still see the central star with my UltraBlock in the system (note my amended drawing now lists it as part of the equipment round-up), but the "eyes" were only seen with averted vision.
Quote:
Here is my own attempt to sketch this interesting little planetary (from a couple of years ago).
Great sketch, Eric, especially through a 6" f/6. Like me, you must have had pretty decent seeing that night to push that scope to 241x.
Quote:
Great sketch Phil, I'll try this with my 80mm refractor and let you know. Isn't this PN in Delphinus though?
I'm glad someone is paying attention, because clearly I am not!  Thanks, Patrick!
--------------------
Phil Harrington
"Binocular Universe" Columnist, Astronomy magazine
Author: Star Ware || Star Watch || Touring the Universe through Binoculars || et al...
http://www.philharrington.net
http://www.observingsites.com
"Two eyes are better than one!"
|
Patricko
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/30/07
Posts: 745
Loc: around the corner
|
|
No problem Phil, there is just so much stuff up there! I searched for NGC 6905, but was unable to locate it due to being near the zenith (my mount doesn't like those positions) and not having my detailed finder chart with me. I'll give it another go soon.
--------------------
Clear skies,
Patrick
"Life is too short, go collect some photons!" - Me, myself, and I
|
WadeVC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/02/05
Posts: 2799
Loc: Lodi, California,
|
|
BRAVO!!
BRAVO!!
Excellent sketch Phil, thanks for sharing those with us.
--------------------
Orion XTi10 f/4.7
Orion XTi8 f/5.9
Meade NGC 70mm f/10
Orion UltraView 10x50 Wide-Angle Binoculars
My Sketch Gallery
My Astronomy Blog
A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.
|
lymorkiew45
sage
Reged: 12/30/07
Posts: 327
Loc: Anaheim
|
|
Beautiful sketch: This nebula is beautiful, and is one of my top favorites: I pushed my 12" scope up to 600X, and it appeared so mottled, and I saw that a piece of it was missing, this was on a really steady night, my notes read, pretty bright, irregularly round, ropey edges, fairly large, mottled, chaotic central region, with faint 15.7 magnitude central star, faint curved polar cap effect, both East, and West edges appear brighter, the nebula shows central brightening, very cool, this object has a strong turquoise color to me, and even at 600X, this nebula holds up very well, at magnitude 11.7, this nebula does not have a real high surface brightness either, however it is much easier to see internal detail then M97...clear skies... 
--------------------
Control Yourself, let others do as they will, this does not mean you are weak, control your heart, obey the principles of life, this does not mean others are stronger. *Lung Ying Mor Kiew motto*
Starfinder 16 EQ, and dob
DS-10
Orion XT 12i
Z12
All the Lanthanum superwides!
Orion ultrablock filter
9mm Nagler type 6
15mm, 25mm, 35mm Ultrascopics
Orion Shorty Plus barlow
Orion Lazer Colimator
30" dob planned out in far future!
|
markseibold
sage
Reged: 01/19/08
Posts: 474
Loc: Portland Oregon
|
|
Phil
Beautiful artwork! I remember observing this object at the the Oregon Star Party many years ago through a 20 inch Obsession with, I believe an O3 Filter.
I think it is of utmost importance and greatly appreciated that you mention "seeing" the dark voids or eyes, that apparently do not show up in most photographs. Again live observing has something to offer (along with intense observation in learning to see through sketching) that photo and digital imagers may be missing.
Thanks for sharing your artwork and excellent example of "ultimate seeing through sketching" of this deep sky object.
Mark
|
Achernar
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 3727
Loc: Alabama, USA
|
|
Great sketch of this rather large, ghostly planetary nebula. It should be held up as a prime example of what a large telescope can do on a night of steady seeing......
Taras
--------------------
10-inch F/4.5 Discovery Dob
6-inch F/8 Homebuilt Dob
4 1/4-inch F/4 Homebuilt reflector
|
PhilH
sage
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 233
Loc: Long Island, NY
|
|
Thank you all, very much. The seeing was exceptionally (uncharacteristically) steady that night, as well as the following Sunday. I could see the central star in M57 both nights at the same magnification, which is excellent indicator of just how good the nights were.
Sadly, this weekend has not been nearly as so.
--------------------
Phil Harrington
"Binocular Universe" Columnist, Astronomy magazine
Author: Star Ware || Star Watch || Touring the Universe through Binoculars || et al...
http://www.philharrington.net
http://www.observingsites.com
"Two eyes are better than one!"
|
rodelaet
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 2662
Loc: 50°56' N - 4°58' E (Belgium)
|
|
Phil,
Beautiful sketch!! I'm really impressed.
Thank you for sharing, as I can only dream of such a magnification.
--------------------
Rony
My Astronomy Sketches
My Binocular Sketches
|
|
0 registered and 1 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: Charlie Hein, cildarith
Print Thread
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Thread views: 424
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: 