Eridanus Loop

[Helix]

   It was one of those night when you do not expect to see any challenging objects at all. NELM was up to 6.5. I could see with unaided eyes M33 and stars up to 6.5 in UM (Ursa Minor). It was very misleading though as some kind of glowing particles were present in the air. Humid was as always high, up to 90%. Dew was dripping from the scope. Seeing was really bad. Stars are washed out. Unable to separate Sirius. I knew only one thing: it is clear night so observe what you can. 

 I set up my 10" dob this time as I did not expect anything promising that night. I looked at my regular winter objects as HH and Flame and it was very faint and hardly showing any details, Rosette, IC 1396 and other nebulae and galaxies nothing special. I thought this is waste of time but stopped myself because I never had a night without WOW effect even when weather conditions were unpromising. 

 Well. I changed filters to O III and 20 mm Pentax which gives me up to 5 exit pupil and pointed to Eridanus Loop expecting to see NOTHING. I moved the scope from  λ Tauri to ν Tauri and unexpected happened. Wide stream of faint nebulosity was right there in the eyepiece. I moved the eyepiece from the W to the E to check if I will see some border lines as eyepiece (1.15* FOV) was filled with irregular nebulosity. 15-20 arc seconds here and there and bordering edges were obvious like leaving the foggy area, suddenly everything is clear and familiar. It confirmed once more that I am observing the part of the Eridanus Loop. It was falling down from Taurus like a waterfall and moving towards Eridanus 'river' disappearing/dispersing around 35 Eridani. 

 Was it successful night? Oh, yesssss! I did not expect to see it in 10" dob at all and especially at that weather condition. As one of my observing friend said that I am flogging the dead horse but the horse was not dead yet  

 Thank you for reading and many clear skies to all of you.

[PeterW]

"Rosette, ic1396.... nothing special...."?!?! Someone has got good skies! I have looked for "the loop" a number of times and never found any definite signs of it, same as with Simeis147.... (and sharpless 91 as well) one for a "special night".

So it appears to be around 1/3 degree wide, I've not had a feel for what I am looking for. How sharp are the edges?

The horse is most certainly alive, surprised you didn't try poking it in sharpless 264 (Angelfish neb) direction (see your image), she only comes out on really dark big clear nights.

Good to hear that ilthis can be seen!

 

peterW

 

 

[Helix]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

"Rosette, ic1396.... nothing special...."?!?! Someone has got good skies! I have looked for "the loop" a number of times and never found any definite signs of it, same as with Simeis147.... (and sharpless 91 as well) one for a "special night".

So it appears to be around 1/3 degree wide, I've not had a feel for what I am looking for. How sharp are the edges?

The horse is most certainly alive, surprised you didn't try poking it in sharpless 264 (Angelfish neb) direction (see your image), she only comes out on really dark big clear nights.

Good to hear that ilthis can be seen!

 

peterW

 

 

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your comment and it was you who advised me to look at Eridanus Loop a while ago. I am grateful for that. I would say that widest part I've seen was around 1.5-2 degrees. My eyepiece gives me 1.15 degree and I had to move it to see 'normal' background compare to faint nebulous area. As I like observing mostly nebulae my eyes trained to see faint streaks of nebulosity. What is easy for me is not easy for all of us. Some people who I observe with cannot see what I see and only one person can confirm my observations . The edges are not well defined. They are washed out. There is a lack of contrast, too.  It is slighltly brighter than IC 434 if you know what I mean.

Sh2-264 was observed by me last winter including some double stars in one of my favourite clusters Collinder 69 or I call it now Motobike cluster.  It was beautiful combination  of the cluster, doubles and nebula. I spend a few good hours studying it.

 

 

 

[jetstream]

Excellent observing Tatyana, yes I agree conditions can be misleading sometimes even with high NELM etc. It seems as if some objects respond better than others to the various skies for some reason.Once this weekend's coming blizzard is over I hope to get at some more of this area myself.

Congrats for a fine session!

[Helix]

Gerry, many thanks. I would love to hear from you as you set high standards of nebulae observing. Even Merope in your last report sounds like I never observed it before

All the best this weekend.  

[PeterW]

For me it is definitely fainter that ic434 as I can see that quite easily (skies permitting), probably one for when sh264 is clear. Good to hear about the size, one issue I had was working out the likely orientation as Taurus was pivoting around.

Seasons best wishes

 

Peter

[PeterW]

.... maybe if the clouds behave themselves you could have a crack at simeis147, aka sharpless 240, the spaghetti nebula, your eyes seem to be made of special stuff, be interesting  to see if you spot anything. Check online to  heck where the """bright""" bits are.

http://astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/simeis.htm

http://astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/s147.htm

Happy hunting ;-)

Peter

[Helix]

16 minutes ago, PeterW said:

.... maybe if the clouds behave themselves you could have a crack at simeis147, aka sharpless 240, the spaghetti nebula, your eyes seem to be made of special stuff, be interesting  to see if you spot anything. Check online to  heck where the """bright""" bits are.

http://astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/simeis.htm

http://astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/s147.htm

Happy hunting ;-)

Peter

Hi Peter,

 

A few years back we had a crispy winter night in Norfolk. I was a newbie as an observer but I knew what I was going to observe. Nebulae! Having a pocket sky atlas I pointed my finger at Simeis 147 after my immediate success with HH. I even did not suspect how hard it is. I managed to see a few nearly invisible filaments and I thought I failed. When I came back home and made my research I realised that I did not fail but opposite to it. I posted my success with HH on a forum but I did not want to mention Simeis 147 as I knew no one in our local group did not see it and I was criticised staright away for making up stories as HH is impossible to see with 10" and especially if you are a newbie. It was good I did not mention 147. Then I decided to be careful with what I post. I've seen same parts of it but I will look again next time if weather will permit and let you know what and where I see if I see  

 

Thank you  for new targets. I like challenge but even my eyes have limits

Would be nice to hear from you if you manage to observe Eridanus Loop etc.

 

all the best  

 

[jetstream]

On 2016-12-24 at 07:35, Helix said:

Hi Peter,

 

A few years back we had a crispy winter night in Norfolk. I was a newbie as an observer but I knew what I was going to observe. Nebulae! Having a pocket sky atlas I pointed my finger at Simeis 147 after my immediate success with HH. I even did not suspect how hard it is. I managed to see a few nearly invisible filaments and I thought I failed. When I came back home and made my research I realised that I did not fail but opposite to it. I posted my success with HH on a forum but I did not want to mention Simeis 147 as I knew no one in our local group did not see it and I was criticised staright away for making up stories as HH is impossible to see with 10" and especially if you are a newbie. It was good I did not mention 147. Then I decided to be careful with what I post. I've seen same parts of it but I will look again next time if weather will permit and let you know what and where I see if I see  

 

Thank you  for new targets. I like challenge but even my eyes have limits

Would be nice to hear from you if you manage to observe Eridanus Loop etc.

 

all the best  

 

Hey Helix, I got the HH in a 760mm fl scope

Yes I know its not a refractor...

[Helix]

12 hours ago, jetstream said:

Hey Helix, I got the HH in a 760mm fl scope

Yes I know its not a refractor...

Hey Jetstream,

You are setting far too high standards for rest of us ?

Where is my 6"? ?