Swan, Veil and Dumbell in O111

[philj]

Managed a couple of hours last night with the Meade 127EDT, its actually the 1st time Ive had chance to turn a scope to the night sky in 2 months and boy did it feel good to get out there again.

Because of the lightish sky due to moon and not complete darkness the 1st hour was spent bagging doubles in the Vulpecula region but then as the sky got as dark as it was going to I decided to try for a few objects with the Lumicaon O111 to get the contrast.

The Swan (Omega) Nebula was in a gap between trees south of my observatory so I had a bash at this 1st. With the filter in a Vixen Lanthanum 8-24 mm zoom set at 24mm (40x) its was very bright, the O111 made the background very dark so the nebula stood out well. The "Tick" shape was dead easy to see, I never realised this was such a bright, and big object. I then removed the filter as an experiment and the nebula was almost lost in the background but the shape was visible with averted vision.

Veil, for this I used a Celestron 40mm ep to give a nice wide 23x. I selected the scope to goto the NGC6960 side 1st with 52 Cyg as the marker and the whisp of nebulosity could be seen crossing just below in a definite arc. I then tried slewing around to the extremeties and soon lost the nebula the further round the curve I went.

So I slewed to NGC6995/2 side and this was there but not as bright and required some concentration to follow the curve. I then tried for the fainter filaments in between the NGCs but with no luck perhaps with darker skies??

M27 with the lanthanum at 40x was a good size and perfectly formed, the dunbell shape was easily made out with brighter regions within it and also the fainter lobes were discenible without too much effort. Zooing in to about 80X gave the image a nice scale but lost the lobes but gave the dumbell shape more definition.

This was a nice re introduction to using the scope again

Philj

[26Left]

Thank you for an interesting report Phil. I also have a Meade 127, and I used it last week with a new SW OIII filter. My widest EP is 25mm. I managed two see the two sides of the veil quite clearly. It was quite an adventure, because I have never managed to see the veil before.

I've always been quite skeptical about filters for visual use, but an OIII makes quite a difference doesn't it.

[DarkerSky]

Super stuff Phil. I have a Lumicon OIII and used it on the Veil last year. It was one of my top / most memorable observing experiences! Simply breathtaking sight.

[swamp thing]

Hi Phil

Nice report. The O-III filter sure does make a difference.

The Omega nebula is never very well placed in this country which is a great shame, but the O-III really helps.

The Veil is stunning with an O-III filter and pretty tricky to see without one.

M27 can show incredible detail with this type of filter too.

Regards Steve

[whirlpool5194]

I was observing the Veil the other night with my 8" newt, the Lumicon o3 makes a huge difference. I'd say it is an essential item for visual observers.

Wp

[philj]

Thanks guys I do like my filters for deep sky and have a couple of sets for planetary as well

I never used filters for years but then tried some out at a local society and soon realised what I had been missing all those years. Another big favourite of mine is the H beta filter which brings out loads of detail in hydrogen emmission nebula, m42 is transformed with this.

Philj