Astro League Award

[Mark S W]

Hello,

I want to start the Astronomical League Planetary Nebulae program and would like some advice please.

I will observe with a 12" Skywatcher and eyepiece's ranging from 32mm to 6mm, pus an OIII filter.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated,

Thank you Mark

[laser_jock99]

https://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/planetarynebula/planetneb1.html

There seems to be a guide book on the AL website, that would be a good start.

It's a long list - 110 objects. Good luck!

[Paul73]

Never mind the length of the list. How about the faintness of some of those targets!!!

What a great challenge. You may need to borrow a look through a big beast at a star party to get the last couple.

Good luck.

Paul

[ronin]

Well you have the dark skies and you have a pretty good scope for it.

110 seems a heck of a lot to start with, that program looks like a candidate for splitting in 2.

Not checked but I assume that all the Messier planetary nebula are in there.

So I suggest heading to the Wiki site - Google "list of messier objects", then hit the button on the column marked Type, that puts all PN in one place and do those first. Or at least the ones that are visible.

Are you close to any of the Colorado Clubs (12) and if so are you a member and then is anyone else doing the same.

I would also take the Excel List for the program and reorder it by Constellation, that way if can troll through a convenient constellation for everything when it appears in a good position. If I recall in Excel you need to select the whole table then reorder. If unsure find someone that knows.

I think in Excel you can reorder by Constellation and secondly by Magnitude.

That should give the PN in each constellation and the brightest (easiest? ) at he top of each constellation.

Still think they need to split the PN one, bit too big, even if they did it as P1, P2 and P3.

[Mark S W]

Ronin

Yes the total list is long at 110 but to receive just a certificate you need to observe only 60 for the certificate and pin you need 110.

And yes I belong to Colorado Springs Astronomical Society. I am looking for hints such as resource material to help along the way.

I currently have "Deep Sky-Wonders" by Sue French "Hidden Treasure" Steven James O'Meara "Turn Left at Orion". 

My atlas is Sky Atlas 2000 (Deluxe) as well as the companion guide. I do not use lap top or any electronic devices while observing.

Mark

[Paul73]

I'm wondering if one of the Filter Slide gadgets that retail at about £50/$ that allow you to quickly swap your OIII in and out.

If a star doesn't dim as much as the others on introducing the OIII, that may well be your PN.

Paul

[Mark S W]

Paul,

Please forgive my ignorance but what is a filter slide an do you know of a dealer?

Also I downloaded the spreadsheet and filtered the magnitude to 13 and it still give me a list of 91 of 110.

Mark