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The "Blinking" Planetary is NGC 6826, located in Cygnus. It appears as a nearly round fuzzy ball with averted vision in a small scope, but seems to vanish when you look directly at it in a small aperture (hence, its name). In my NexStar 9.25 inch SCT the other night, it appeared as a pretty pale bluish sphere of light about 38 arc seconds across, with a prominent 10th magnitude central star.

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In my 20", no blinking was found, it stayed the same diameter unless I looked directly at the central star. In the 36" I could feel my iris contract (and nebula diminish) when my focus was on that brilliant 10th magnitude star... man that thing is bright. There are still ways of making it blink even in larger scopes.

Steven

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Mr. Wizard
Elements in Harmony I, an 8"f6 German Equatorial - Stellafane Winner,
II a 20"f4.2 Newt-Dob - Astrofest Winner,
III a 6"f3.5 Finder/Newt-Dob, and
IV a 36"f4.5 Newt-Dob - "If it's up there, it's in here."
www.DarkSkyObserving.com

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