SH2-278

[jetstream]

We had some snow flurries last night and this morning which cleaned the sky up for tonight. 2 days ago the temp went +7c, tonight -20c and dropping- very good observing news. Inspired by @PeterW I began searching further into the Orion complex for SH2-278. After the squinting effort on the Witch Head nebula a few tries with tired eyes revealed nothing. Tonight with rested eyes and using the 15" f4.8/30 Es 82/UHC the object was found. The 1.3 deg TFOV had the nebula sitting in it, with a bit of room to spare (not much). Using the filter slide I flicked back and forth from the UHC to OIII with the UHC giving good enhancement, the OIII killed the object compared to the tight Lumicon UHC.

SH2-278 with the 30 ES 82/UHC did not give me as much trouble as the Witch Head to find, so its easier perhaps? The edges of SH2-278 were easily defined and with very faint hints of "structure" in areas.Very faint.

To put my observing conditions in perspective the HH was visible with no filter (30ES,17E,18BCO) and the Flame was highly segmented. The Owls eyes in Uma were staring right back at me with a brighter "bridge" between the eyes showing and some other averted vision nebulosity with the Owl. One prize was seeing more mottled structure in the big end of M43, above the main dust lane. Tonight this was an excellent feature with the 10mm BCO pulling out the most I'd say.

All in all a pretty good obs session! Much more observed but the post is long enough...

ps- my 24" mirror is finished

[Pig]

Nice one Gerry .... I had a cracker of a night also ? I am just waiting for the sun to come up and I will be out again.

[PeterW]

Another object worth pursuing. Thanks for going after it. Hope there it time for me to have a look before Orion leave us for the year.

PEterW

[scarp15]

Reading up specifically SH2-278, good sized object just north of Rigel, an emission nebula with a fair amount of reflection nebula in the vicinity. Another tough assignment Gerry, quite applicable considering your observing conditions. Good to learn that work on the big mirror is complete. 

[Littleguy80]

19 hours ago, jetstream said:

ps- my 24" mirror is finished

Every time I see your signature, I wonder when it will be ready! Really looking forward to reading of your adventures with the 24” dob. With your observational skills, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to read that you spotted a little green man waving back at you  

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, Littleguy80 said:

Every time I see your signature, I wonder when it will be ready! Really looking forward to reading of your adventures with the 24” dob. With your observational skills, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to read that you spotted a little green man waving back at you  

lol!

Thanks Neil, but I'll be happy with a couple of members in Einsteins Cross ...

[Littleguy80]

16 minutes ago, jetstream said:

lol!

Thanks Neil, but I'll be happy with a couple of members in Einsteins Cross ...

What a stunning target. Very best of luck with that. This is article I found on it, for interest. 

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/mar/05/gravitational-lensing-creates-einsteins-cross-of-distant-supernova

[jetstream]

Great link Neil, I hope to see two of the Cross and am crossing fingers for the third, the fourth I won't hold my breath. These lensed images of the supernova are right at the limit of my scope (24"), eyes and conditions. I even ordered a Sky Commander to help find stars, this object, galaxies etc - I'm a bit embarrassed about it lol! So far I look at a star chart and find things from memory with my manual scopes. There are a few objects that I don't want to waste time (or VG skies) finding, I want to observe immediately and Einsteins Cross is one of them.

I will need luck on this one.

[Littleguy80]

Lol there’s no shame in it, Gerry. It’s going to take more than a Telrad and a copy of the S&T Pocket Sky Atlas to find a target like that  There can’t be many amateur astronomers on the planet who would even conceive of looking for something like that, let alone actually see it. It’s very impressive. Do you think you’ll be able to do it with one of your existing eyepieces?

[PeterW]

There is something to be said for GOTO... just not easy with a mirror that big! 

Happy huntin

Peter

[Mark at Beaufort]

Great session Gerry. I was not aware of Sh2-278 and had to look it up. I was surprised its not shown in my Interstellarum atlas so had to look in my Uranometria. 

Its these occasions when I wish I had a larger Dob. Anyway well done on the 24" mirror finish. Look forward to further updates.

[PeterW]

Interstellarum doesn’t always show everything. I have taken to using the Brackens aastrophotography guide that shows hydrogen nebulae and other medium sized objects... not just endless little galaxies.

PEter

[jetstream]

5 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Do you think you’ll be able to do it with one of your existing eyepieces?

I bought a bunch of used orthos, some in pairs and have been testing them to find the best ones for DSO purposes. I used to think that because stars are point sources the mag used should be unlimited- I'm not so sure at this point... much to learn.

Using my VG 7mm KK ortho at 383x mag the TFOV will be .10 deg TFOV..... I think finding an optimum mag for this object will be one of the keys to success.

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Great session Gerry. I was not aware of Sh2-278 and had to look it up. I was surprised its not shown in my Interstellarum atlas so had to look in my Uranometria. 

Its these occasions when I wish I had a larger Dob. Anyway well done on the 24" mirror finish. Look forward to further updates.

Thanks Mark, I'm having fun!

There are so many objects to identify out there it is mind boggling. I would definitely try your 12" on SH2-278 with a 20mmish 100 deg eyepiece and UHC from dark skies- I believe it will be visible. I'm going to try the VX10 on it when the sky clears.

[scarp15]

I might give it a go sometime, although just might have to carry forward to next season. As with Mark, not included in Interstellarum, which is quite selective. A map with some detail for location can be printed off The Sharpless Observing Guide, Reiner Vogel, download as a pdf file.  

[scarp15]

17 hours ago, jetstream said:

Great link Neil, I hope to see two of the Cross and am crossing fingers for the third, the fourth I won't hold my breath. These lensed images of the supernova are right at the limit of my scope (24"), eyes and conditions. I even ordered a Sky Commander to help find stars, this object, galaxies etc - I'm a bit embarrassed about it lol! So far I look at a star chart and find things from memory with my manual scopes. There are a few objects that I don't want to waste time (or VG skies) finding, I want to observe immediately and Einsteins Cross is one of them.

I will need luck on this one.

Right yes you've mentioned this challenge / quest on other occasions Gerry and reading back on the Deep Sky and on Cloudy Nights forum, around 24" aperture seems to be considered entry level, combined with the darkest transparent skies and applying very high magnification to potentially see three of the four components. The lensing galaxy, PGC 69457 is I believe reasonably straight forward to detect, at least with large, 18"+ aperture and lies within the Pegasus / Aquarius border. Will be very interesting come the time, to follow your attempt(s) on this ultimate of quests.