7 replies to this topic

[Mazerski]

I happen to stumble on this and there is no indication in SS5 Pro as to what this is. The lowest of the "blobs" looks like a small Trifed-like nebula.

 

The Scope Cursor (12.5 inch New Moon) is where nebulosity is found. 

Next time out I'll grab a phone and try to snap a photo.

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[Gavster]

They are sharpless 254/255 and 257. Like you I just stumbled upon them with a 16 inch dob. Great objects to observe.

Here’s a phone pic I did of them last month with my dob

You can also see the much smaller sharpless 256 on my image to the side of the middle blob (257). I have downloaded a sharpless observing list onto my sky safari - very useful for night vision observing.

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Edited by Gavster, 13 January 2021 - 12:13 PM.

[Mazerski]

Gavster,

 

That’s it...  nice photo. Thanks for the input. I’ll have to try a phone photo.

[Jeff Morgan]

They show faintly in SkySafari if you set the MilkyWay layer to h-alpha.

 

This is precisely zero help in ID'ing nebula, but does suggest profitable areas to sweep with your scope. If you find a gem (like this case) then you can turn to other sources for the ID.

 

The easiest is Bracken's Astrophotography Sky Atlas. As good as that one is, it concentrates on the most photogenic.

 

Next step is the brute force method. Take the Sharpless list, which is systematic. So, constellations tend to fall into sections on the list. For example, Orion entries are #252 thru about #280.

 

Take your sketch and go to web sites like these:

 

http://galaxymap.org...ist/sharpless/1

http://www.astromast...Sharpless_r.pdf

http://www.sharpless...om/default.aspx

 

And start looking at the mug shots until you find your perp.

Edited by Jeff Morgan, 13 January 2021 - 02:59 PM.

[Mazerski]

Jeff - thanks for the helpful links. It didn’t occur to me to turn SS layer on. 

[Joko]

Jeff - thanks for the helpful links. It didn’t occur to me to turn SS layer on. 

Hi Mazerski,

You can also check those 2 topics written by UK member Alanjgreen, he made an amazing work to observe with its Night Vision Device most of the Sharpless targets : 

https://www.cloudyni...observing-list/

and his "Best of"

https://www.cloudyni...rk-in-progress/

 

And for newcomers, Jeff Morgan and Gavster share amazing pics of these Sharpless objects in the Night Vision Image Gallery topic (several pages to look at) :

https://www.cloudyni...-gallery/page-3

Edited by Joko, 14 January 2021 - 09:20 AM.

[Mazerski]

Joko,

 

Thanks for adding more info... this is great. All that is missing is a bigger scope and darker sky.

[PEterW]

Thanks Gav, I’ll drop another note about Brackens Astrophotograpy Sky Atlas that is very useful for givi NV an overview of many of the things we can go looking for, but as Alan has shown there are more that aren’t, so still a gap in the market for an atlas that goes fainter.

Peter