The Crescent Nebula

[Tiki]

How observable is this object in comparison with the Veil/North American nebula? I often look for The Crescent when i have an OIII filter plugged-in but always seem to fail . Am i missing it or am i just funneling an insufficient number of photons with my 4" frac ?

Thanks.

[DarkerSky]

Ah, the gigantic galactic brain! My pet name for the Crescent nebula.

Bagged this last year in a 12" scope. You'll need a pretty dark sky with a 4" frac. The easiest part of the nebula to see is a thin ribbon of material pushing out either side of what appears to be a close double star on the north-western side of a diamond-shaped asterism of stars. You'll see it curving up and around, almost joining up two of the stars in the asterism. I used a lumicon deep sky filter on this as I felt it gave me better contrast. Averted vision might bring out the 'brain' structure that envelops the rest of the astersim and further to the east of it. Good luck!

[swamp thing]

The O-III really brings them out extremely well. Can't see any of them being too tough for a 4" as long as your site is a good one.

The crescent is a bit like the other two, very shy if there's any LP, without LP you'll be fine me thinks.

[Tiki]

The O-III really brings them out extremely well. Can't see any of them being too tough for a 4" as long as your site is a good one.

The crescent is a bit like the other two, very shy if there's any LP, without LP you'll be fine me thinks.

I only look for the Crescent when the Veil and North America are visible. I was specifically asking about the relative visibility. Perhaps i didn't make this clear in my orignal post.

[RikM]

I find the crescent harder than the veil.

[swamp thing]

I find the crescent harder than the veil.

Agreed Rik. I reckon the crescent is in between the veil and the NA neb. The NA isn't hard it just needs good skies. With good skies its very easy indeed, because of its huge size.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The Crescent is much harder than either the Veil or NGC 7000. I did spot it when it was near zenith with my 8" scope using UHC filter. I did not have O-III at the time, and I might try that this year.

[Moonshane]

basically agree with the posts above. Seb's description of what you see is also very good. I can see it with my Oiii (just) at home when it's high in the sky and the moon is out of the way with my 12" and 16" scopes. I cannot see it in the 6" although I could easily see the Pelican, NA neb, Veil and Crescent from a reasonably dark site at Glan Conwy with the 6". I'd say that the crescent is harder to see than the NA neb and Veil partly because it is smaller.

[Tiki]

Thanks for the replies, especially the description by DarkerSky. I shall keep looking in the meantime and perhaps even try a uhc filter.

[Spoon]

i can never find any! anyone have any star hopping tips?

[acey]

i can never find any! anyone have any star hopping tips?

1. Dark sky

2. Good map

3. Low magnification to get to the exact location.

I agree with what's been said about the Crescent - smaller and less spectacular than the Veil, though I didn't have any trouble seeing it with an 8" at a dark site. UHC helped.