Eyes on the prize!

[toml42]

Just caught my first glimpse of the owl nebula (EVENTUALLY)

this one took me a while to find, not sure if it's because i wasn't fully dark adapted, it wasn't fully dark, or there was some thin haze to start with, but whatever it was i got there in the end. It was also a lot bigger than i was expecting.

I used my UHC filter to confirm its identity, and at 125x in my 200p with averted vision i had to the distinct impression that it was lumpy or patchy, like a peperoni pizza perhaps.

I think our eyes met

[John]

Congratulations !

I was looking at the same object a short while ago with my 10" newtonian and O-III filter. Your description is very good.

Funny what a thrill finding a small patch of faint light can give you, isn't it ?

[swamp thing]

Good catch.

Did You get M108 in the same field? Always find these two a great contrasting pair in a wide field eyepiece.

I always find it tough to get the orientation of the owls eyes in my 10".

Did you see the central star? Cannot remember if its do-able in my baby Dob.

Regards Steve

[oldfruit]

Nice job, i know what you mean about the size, i thought it would be a lot smaller too.

[toml42]

I did 'just' get them in the same field with my 80' 30mm eyepeice, but they were pretty near the edges where i get quite a fair bit of distortion, i had to focus quite hard on them individually to see them. But they were in the same frame, i'd like to try that again under darker skies and possibly with a coma corrector.

I was unable to see the central star, do you know what mag it is?

and at a guess, i'd say it was about 2 or 3x the diameter of the ring nebula, m57, for comparison

[swamp thing]

I was unable to see the central star, do you know what mag it is?

Apparently it's 16th mag so maybe a bit out of reach.

I couldn't remember if I had seen it in my 10" or the 16" it was obviously the latter.

I always forget what I've seen through which scope

Regards Steve