Seven objects seen on a rare clear night...

[Beulah]

Observing session with 16” Dobsonian, Thurs 20^th Feb 2014

Transparency:  poor

Seeing: excellent

Cone Nebula  (NGC 2264) – Looked like a comet with a widely dispersed tail. It stood out clearly from the night sky, much more than in the smaller scopes I have looked through. The star at the tip of the cone was bright and distinct from the nebulaic material.

Flame Nebula (NGC 2024)  - This one was disappointing this time as all I could see was the two faint strips of nebulosity either side. Although the sky seemed still, my guess was that because the transparency was poor, fainter nebulae was harder to discern. Back in December I could see the dark filament of the central part of the nebula with branches emanating from either side, surrounded by lighter  material that give the nebula its name.

Orion Nebula (M42) – This never fails to disappoint in the 16” and is always a real treat to behold. With such aperture, I can see the light of the Trapezium reflected of the turbulent looking clouds that immediately surround those stars. Those clouds are fringed with a pinkish hue and the nebula that surrounds it seems tinged with browns, blues and faint yellow. The wings stretch way beyond the 25mm EP views. One day I will sketch it to do it justice.

The Trapezium (Orion Nebula) – The Trapezium took the increased magnification well (x 163) and the E and F stars were very clearly seen.

Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) – Another excellent view of this object – with x 72 magnification, it appeared as a blue ball with a diffuse central star. The outer shell would disappear and reappear as the eye would look directly at it and then averted. At x163 magnification, the spiky outer shell was easily spotted, with the central star bright and distinct from the shell.

Jupiter – I left this planet until last because of my eyes being dark adapted. Last night it looked fabulous with Io and Europa appearing to be in close conjunction with each other, and was a dream to study for a long time. At both x72 & x163 magnification, the vibrant salmon Great Red Spot was apparent, surrounded by detailed whorls of cloud that blended into the lower Equatorial belt. Normally I struggle with this planet due to bad seeing but still, clear moments were frequent and I did not want to rush my way around the sky.

Sirius and The Pup – This binary system is notorious to observers as being difficult to split but as the sky was reasonably still I used the 8” Dobsonian in the hope that less aperture would not allow Sirius’ brightness to dominate. After a few minutes I could see among the boiling of the star’s shape, a small tail trying to separate itself in the lower right quadrant of the view (remember I’m looking through a Newtonian!) but being absorbed back into Sirius itself. As that was the only area of the star that was doing this, I imagined I had seen the Pup, but it's more likely I didn't!

Coma is a bit of a problem with the 400p, but I can live with it.

[Mike73]

The best report I've read for quite a while (although I enjoy them all!).

[cotterless45]

Neat, no wonder the Big Dob club is expanding so fast ! Not very often we get a tempting glimpse into the world of large ess !

Nick.

[Orange Haze]

Great report, really well laid out, thanks for posting.

Apart from informing me of a couple of new targets, I was really impressed to read that you were able to discern coloured hues in the Orion Nebula. Fantastic. I have been able to make out a greenish hue but that's it so far. The Orion nebula has been a revelation to me since I got my 10" Dob, but I'd love to see it thru a 400p.

Look forward to any future reports u post.

[rory]

Very enjoyable read. I was imagining being there looking through that 16". Your description of the Orion Nebula is mouth watering.

[Beulah]

Thank you very much, everyone. If I can be an ambassador to Big Dob Club.....get one and work out a system that makes it easy to set up, even if it requires modifications.

I was wondering whether to report that I could see colour in M42 as there had been discussion in the past that it was all in the mind as preconceived, or that it was the eyepiece coatings that was rendering the colour but I have tried different eyepieces and different scopes and in a transparent, dark sky (LM 5.5 and upwards), slight pinkish colour that fringes the internal nebulosity can be detected even in an 8" telescope. As I've been doing this for a few years now, it seems that the best time to detect that colour in an 8" scope would be in December/January where we seem to get that seemingly velvet black sky. I can report that slight colour can also be seen in a 12".

Obviously the colour is nowhere near as vibrant as with a processed image. I feel my words do not do it justice, I would like to be able to sketch the image the next time....

Here's a couple of threads about it as food for thought...

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Number/3538703

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbarchive/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3398701/page/1/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

[Mike73]

I wonder if sky transparency has a lot to do with seeing colour in M42? 

I've found that seeing conditions limit the amount of colour I see on Jupiter (I need Antoniadi II or better) so maybe its a similar thing with DSO's but with transparency??

The sketch below was done under fairly dark skies but the transparency was pretty average and all I saw was slight differences of green hues across the whole nebula.

Good luck with sketching it, I found it quite tricky and I've never really been happy with my attempt but I'm going to try and improve on it next winter.

One thing I have noticed about M42 is no matter what aperture scope I've used (from 4" to 16") I always seem to mutter 'wow' out loud! 

[stevetynant]

Those sketches never fail to impress Mike - great thread all round

[Scott]

Thank you very much, everyone. If I can be an ambassador to Big Dob Club.....get one and work out a system that makes it easy to set up, even if it requires modifications.

I was wondering whether to report that I could see colour in M42 as there had been discussion in the past that it was all in the mind as preconceived, or that it was the eyepiece coatings that was rendering the colour but I have tried different eyepieces and different scopes and in a transparent, dark sky (LM 5.5 and upwards), slight pinkish colour that fringes the internal nebulosity can be detected even in an 8" telescope. As I've been doing this for a few years now, it seems that the best time to detect that colour in an 8" scope would be in December/January where we seem to get that seemingly velvet black sky. I can report that slight colour can also be seen in a 12".

Obviously the colour is nowhere near as vibrant as with a processed image. I feel my words do not do it justice, I would like to be able to sketch the image the next time....

Here's a couple of threads about it as food for thought...

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Number/3538703

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbarchive/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3398701/page/1/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

Interesting couple of links there...sadly, I've only ever seen shades of grey (I'm the wrong side of 50) but I certainly wouldn't presume to think others don't see it differently.

[Beulah]

Mike,

First of all, I have to say that sketch is incredible, you have latent artistic ability there, if not realised already.

I followed your Messier project last year and you inspired me to buy some black sketchpads and pencils but haven't yet sketched a single object!

Wish I could put my finger on why some people can detect colour in nebula. A 14 year old fellow observer told me that he doesn't see colour at all, yet a 16 year old reported she could. I didn't give them any preconceived ideas of what to expect.

Taking the liberty of dowloading your sketch, I added a bit of colour to it using photoshop layers with varying transparencies....this is an approximation of what I see...

Placing the original on this post as a comparison...

[Scott]

wow, to see that through the eyepiece would be something special....lucky sod

[Mike73]

I remember seeing a M42 sketch on CN which looked very much like the colour what you saw but I think that was with a big scope so I think you did very well, must of been stunning! 

Time to get those pencils out and give it a go! The most important part of making a sketch is slowing down, taking your time and really observing which you already do, don't worry if it doesn't look arty because thats not what its about.

[Beulah]

I'll will bear in mind your comments MIke - as a trained artist, it would be very tempting for me to concentrate on the 'arty' side of things...