Jan 31, 2013: Planet and planetaries in a short session

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Clouds disappeared late in the afternoon, and lo and behold, they stayed away until 21:30. I set up the scope after dinner, and started observing around 20:00, when both kids had been securely bedded down.

I first turned to Jupiter, which showed two things: poor seeing and telescope shake through the high winds (even though our garden is very sheltered). Removing the dew shield helped, and I could see some detail in the bands, but still too wobbly for imaging.

After a brief look at M42 I decided to have a look at two planetaries high up above M45. Close to Atik (zeta Persei) I found IC 2003, by flicking the UHC filter in and out of the optical path, using the Denkmeier filter-switch diagonal I have. I could clearly see the nebula brightening relative to the stars. Inspection with the XW10 showed very slight extension. More westwards, IC 351 showed up in a similar fashion, close to a mag 11 star. Without UHC it appeared fainter than the star, with UHC, it looked brighter than the star (but still looked stellar). Without the filter-switch diagonal, which allows rapid switching of filters, I do not think I would have picked these out. I tried many times before, and failed until now,

My final planetary was NGC1514, which has a very bright central star. Initially, only the star showed, but in averted vision, a haze showed.

Clouds were showing up, and after an abortive try at Hind's Variable Nebula, I gave Jupiter a final look and packed the scope in.

Nice to have a DSO-hunt, even if it was short. I have now got 48 out of the 100 brightest planetaries.

[floppygoose]

Hi Michael,

Sounds like you had some success despite the high winds. It's good to even get a slight chance, but I don't think it would have been possible to even try where I am - I had to rescue the garden furniture from the bottom of the garden this morning, where the wind had blow it against the fence!. I had to resort to briefly making the most of the clesr sky through binos.

Phil

[Double Kick Drum]

Thanks for sharing. Reports have been few and far between over the past few months.

NGC 1514 is tough but a little different with its bright central star. I have not seen either of your new finds.

Clear skies!

[Robstargazer15]

Ive failed at every attempt to find NGC 1514. I just couldnt see it .

Is NGC 1514 the crystal ball nebula? If it is my fortune cant be seen.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks guys.

NGC1514 should be quite easy with a 12" dob. Note that the position given in Stellarium is off by a small margin. It should be centred on the mag 10 star shown just next to it in Stellarium. The glare from the centre star can make it hard to spot, but averted vision will show a faint circular glow (I even spotted some internal detail on my first visit.). See my detailed report here:

The other two are tricky, not because they are difficult to see, but simply because they look like stars. This is why the filter-switch diagonal works so well. I am thinking of getting a 2" clear or IR/UV cut filter to insert in the open filter slot, to reduce shift of focus.

[KevUU]

Glad you managed to get out, thanks for the report

[m_j_lyons]

Hey that filter switcher caught my attention - do you use it most of the time or just when hunting planetaries and such? I think you've added something to my wish list.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hey that filter switcher caught my attention - do you use it most of the time or just when hunting planetaries and such? I think you've added something to my wish list.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

I use it most of the time (only when I am imaging do I replace it with a flip mirror). A 2" filter wheel would also work, but that means you need much more in-focus. This is not a huge problem in an SCT, but it extends the focal length, and therefore reduces the FOV