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I found the Blinking Nebula, not sure which NGC# it is 6000 something. It didn't blink, but it was a very bright pretty blue!

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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. It takes high power pretty well, so don't be afraid to go high on this one.

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It's been my experience that the Blinking Nebula, as well as a number of other planetaires, will also "blink" when observed with larger apertures, such as the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain.

Dave Mitsky

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I never really get the full "blink" effect unless I am using a fairly small telescope. The "blinking" planetary has a high enough surface brightness that in my 9.25 inch SCT, I never really lose all the nebulosity when I look directly at it, although some of the detail still is better with averted vision. The color at low to moderate powers is a pale bluish-green, so it is well worth the look. Clear skies to you.

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

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