Rich field nebula

[jetstream]

Another late night with true darkness happening about 11:30pm and the Milky Way shone brightly. The view of "our" object can be simply amazing and I saw a new projection (to me) or "arm" up into Cepheus just before the Cygnus rift- Cepheus in this area was strewn with stars and "nebulosity" naked eye. Opposite the Cepheus arm there was another shorter projection of the Milky Way and they both were very sharply defined.

The Milky Way being so bright might explain something that I see and puzzles me... I see an underlying "texture" to the sky in most places and in particular right in the MW- I'm leading into how the objects listed looked tonight to put things in context. The wide field of the SW120ED/42mm LVW only enhances this phenomena and also allows me to see...

IC5068

Scarp15, who also has an interest in neb hunting asked about a few nebs he is seeking, so first off I wanted to try IC 5068 near the Pelican in the NGC7000 area. I have studied this area quite a bit and have seen IC 5068 before, but the thing is that the whole area is surrounded with that underlying "texture" blending into more visible nebula- and lots of them, IC 5068 being one. The SW120ED gave a fantastic view of the Pelican, showing its head and a few detached nebs around it, the NAN was "bright", surrounded in places by dark strips of sky.

So, once that extra wide view panned the NAN, a dark lane on the back of the neb was noticed- opposite side of the Gulf and Pelican and just past this a huge liquid shadow came into view...I followed it up down and sideways, at first I thought it is an extension of the NAN but I don't think so. I'm trying to find this oblongish patch on the maps and in images- so far only the rift really shows. However the nebula is distinct and separate from NGC7000, this was my prize of the evening!

I had seen hints of it in the dobs but the FOV was too small.

IC1318

Another favorite and a goto object of mine. It showed well in the frac, both with the UHC and the Hb with a totally different perspective than in the dobs, the VX10 shows this one best perhaps but that wide FOV is riveting. In dark skies this object is not hard, harder than the NAN though.

My suggestions to anyone who wants to maximize their views of IC 5068 and area would be: use a low exit pupil 5mm-6mm+, make sure your FOV is big enough-2" widefields shine for a lot of this stuff and finally- try the "big 3" filters (UHC,Hb,OIII), it's amazing the different presentations they offer in this area- and what pops into view with each one.

Actually this is what I do and use on most nebula and this enables even modest aperture scopes like the SW120ED to give some fantastic views, from dark skies.

Gerry

 

 

 

[faulksy]

that was an awsome read gerry, thanks for posting and making me jealous. some great finds , keep it up

[YKSE]

Excellent session you had there. IC 1318 had been on my list for a while, but I've yet  to have the sky dark enough to see it.

A rich field refractor for large DSO, is among the best companion to a large scope

[VilleM]

Good findings Gerry! Key to all large nebulas that I have observed is to use very wide field. I tried with 200mm Newton once to find NGC7000 and failed (sort of). I knew where it is and there was changes in background darkness when I moved the scope. Then I swiched to 70mm apo and used 14x magnification only. Wich is nebula and wich is not was quite easy to see because everything around it was slightly darker.

-V

[scarp15]

8 hours ago, jetstream said:

 

So, once that extra wide view panned the NAN, a dark lane on the back of the neb was noticed- opposite side of the Gulf and Pelican and just past this a huge liquid shadow came into view...I followed it up down and sideways, at first I thought it is an extension of the NAN but I don't think so. I'm trying to find this oblongish patch on the maps and in images- so far only the rift really shows. However the nebula is distinct and separate from NGC7000, this was my prize of the evening!

I had seen hints of it in the dobs but the FOV was too small.

IC1318

Another favorite and a goto object of mine. It showed well in the frac, both with the UHC and the Hb with a totally different perspective than in the dobs, the VX10 shows this one best perhaps but that wide FOV is riveting. In dark skies this object is not hard, harder than the NAN though.

My suggestions to anyone who wants to maximize their views of IC 5068 and area would be: use a low exit pupil 5mm-6mm+, make sure your FOV is big enough-2" widefields shine for a lot of this stuff and finally- try the "big 3" filters (UHC,Hb,OIII), it's amazing the different presentations they offer in this area- and what pops into view with each one.

Actually this is what I do and use on most nebula and this enables even modest aperture scopes like the SW120ED to give some fantastic views, from dark skies.

Gerry

 

 

 

Just to the north and west of the Gulf Gerry if this is the location you are referring to, lies Barnard 352 and 356, I wonder if it is one of these dark neb patches that you might have encountered. Good point and reminder that 5mm - 6mm exit pupil is optimum for these circumstances as is experimenting with the three core nebula filters. Has whetted my appetite yet further, cant envisage taking part at the moment until the typical murky Summer sky has passed.

[Special K]

Excellent reading, thanks for putting this up!  

[RobertI]

Wonderful report, thanks for sharing.

[Size9Hex]

Superb stuff. I'm a bit late in commenting but I frequently find myself coming back to your reports a few times Gerry (and in doing so have probably learned and been more inspired about observing nebulae than I have from anywhere else).  Lovely to read about background textures and liquid shadows! Thanks for posting and keep up the good work :-)

[cotterless45]

Superb, nothing beats dark sky ,

Nick.