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Planetary nebula with visible central stars


Littleguy80

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What about the Helix Nebula? 

Im not sure about a 130mm scope at a dark sky location, but I have just barely seen the central star in it from my backyard where the sky was quite bright with skyglow.

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6 hours ago, jetstream said:

One of the very best IMHO- and when you view it crank up the mag using a widefield. Once done warming up on M37 wander over to the Flaming Star neb and spend time with the UHC there under dark skies.

Auriga was one of the first constellations I learned to identify after getting my telescope. I found NGC1893 a couple of times with the red dot finder and the 25mm eyepiece that came with the scope. I tried for the flaming star nebula without success. I didn't have any filters or much idea what I was doing back then ;) I'm looking forward to revisiting it with some upgrades in equipment and knowledge!

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58 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

What about the Helix Nebula? 

Im not sure about a 130mm scope at a dark sky location, but I have just barely seen the central star in it from my backyard where the sky was quite bright with skyglow.

I had a look at this last week. Very faint and I didn't notice a central star but I was concentrating more on picking out the nebulosity. My feeling at the time was it needed darker skies. Will be returning to it later in the month and I'll have a look for that central star :) 

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2 hours ago, Pondus said:

Might have been mentioned in this thread already (sorry if repeating), but have you read the (in this forum) pinned :

'planetary nebulae : a little guide' by Qualia ?  it contains this link :  The brightest planetary nebulae Observing Atlas

Amongst lot of info it also contains nebulaes sorted by central star Mag

 

Rune

Thanks Rune. Another great resource :D 

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21 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I had a look at this last week. Very faint and I didn't notice a central star but I was concentrating more on picking out the nebulosity. My feeling at the time was it needed darker skies. Will be returning to it later in the month and I'll have a look for that central star :) 

Very faint but it was there... averted vision with the UHC filter, but easier to see with out any filters at the sacrifice of the detail within the Helix smoke ring.

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11 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

Very faint but it was there... averted vision with the UHC filter, but easier to see with out any filters at the sacrifice of the detail within the Helix smoke ring.

It has crossed my mind that I may need to go unfiltered to see the central star. Will probably be a case of using the filter to get everything centered and then removing it to search for the star

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  • 8 months later...

I thought of this thread tonight as I observed NGC 40, the bow tie nebula. With a UHC filter to enhance the nebula, I could hold the mag 11.5 central star in direct vision. The 6mm BGO giving 200x in the dob. Really great target and satisfying result with poor transparency and some light pollution in the garden. I’ve seen lots of the suggested targets on this thread now. The cats eye nebula at 200x with an OIII is stunning. Very clearly shape to it. The Eskimo nebula at 240x is equally impressive. Lots of nebulosity and a very bright central star. The blinking planetary nebula is lots of fun. Now you see it, now you don’t. The blue snowball with it’s wonderful colour.

I’ve enjoyed planetary nebulae in both my scopes. Each having it’s own character and appeal and normally achievable even with a bit of LP. One of my favourite types of object!

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PNs are great targets. Small but with relatively high surface brightness, they do cut through LP quite well, respond to filters plus each have their own character as you say.

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