Blimey! It’s the Horsehead!

[Size9Hex]

A nice social session under dark skies out of town. You bring the cocoa, I’ll bring the dob! My buddy was pretty new to stargazing so it was nice to just have a relax, chew the fat and simply enjoy some point-and-look famous landmarks. Far too cold and windy to have the star map out anyway! ❄️❄️❄️

The absolute highlight was the Horsehead. 10" dob, 24mm ES82 and an H-beta. I *maybe* glimpsed it a couple of years ago with a UHC under the same dark skies... half a dozen fleeting glimpses across half an hour or so of scrutiny. This time, I lined up the scope early in the session and crikey! I was really grinning and returned to it many times during the session.

My buddy described IC 434 accurately, and with a bit of talking through it, subsequently detected the dark scoop too.

So to my surprise, I think in these conditions and with this kit, it wasn’t a tough catch. Didn’t need coaxing out. Didn’t need to put Alnitak out of the field. Didn’t need to confirm the suspected position against a star map. No doubting it at all.

But on the other hand, I’ve looked for it on plenty of other occasions and it has been beyond invisible, so I would still consider it a tough one for sure. I think it was the combo of good dark skies plus an H-beta. One or other on their own hasn’t been enough even when the skies have been dark enough to show some spectacular features elsewhere like both dust lanes in M31 or the M33 bar and spiral or star forming regions in M101 (different sessions). It was the H-beta that made the difference in the end. Or maybe the cocoa.

It also really surprised me was what a beautiful view it was too, which I hadn’t expected at all. When I’ve seen IC 434 previously, it has been ridiculously faint and I wasn’t really expecting much even if I was lucky enough to catch it.

Also caught the Merope nebula and I think nebulosity around some of the other stars too, although we didn’t study it carefully. California was bright. M42 was awesome. The Running Man. The Flame. A dust lane in Andromeda. Plenty of bright open clusters too.

Failed again to see the Flaming Star though. I’m pretty sure by now it’s just a hoax. The star map equivalent of the fake streets in the London A-Z!

Not that I care too much about the Flaming Star. After seeing the HH I’m buzzing way more than I thought I would be! ?

Hope everyone else had some good skies too and the chance to enjoy them. Good to see some other reports posted too! ?

[domstar]

That's great. I can't help but be pleased for you. Sounds like a wonderful night and a great write-up too. 

[jetstream]

15 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

Failed again to see the Flaming Star though. I’m pretty sure by now it’s just a hoax.

Congrats Paul!!

Great catch seeing the HH- now your next task(s) is to view it with first the UHC and then no filter! the first easily do able the second back to a challenge.

Under skies that show the HH the Flaming Star is a fantastic target- one thing- contrary to many observations reports I prefer a UHC on it, and an OIII also shows it better than Hb. I was viewing it the other night(s) with apertures from 130mm to 15"- all with either the DGM NPB or a Lumicon UHC. It will show light mottling with a dazzling background.

Perfect EP choice that 24ES 82 I still prefer to keep Alnitak out of the FOV and especially when trying with no filter. My beloved 25mm TV plossl helps quite a bit with this (for me).

Great report Paul!

ps the Flaming Star will show very faint nebulosity with no filter in your scope under optimal conditions. Filter or no filter look for an edge on short boomerang.

[FenlandPaul]

Sounds like a very productive night, Paul! Interested to hear your success with the HH in different sky conditions over time now that you’ve nailed it a couple of times. I’m still not quite sure which are the nights when I just shouldn’t bother at all!

[Size9Hex]

13 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

I’m still not quite sure which are the nights when I just shouldn’t bother at all!

I’m with you on that! Although I think certain weather patterns give the best chance, for me it simply boils down to "if you don’t look, you’ll never know!" ?

[Size9Hex]

Thanks (yet again) for the inspiration and advice Gerry / @jetstream. Infectious enthusiasm as always! ?

I’ll give it another go with the UHC. At least now I’m armed with an H-beta, I’ll know if it’s a Horsehead night and whether the UHC is worth persevering with. I’ve not used the H-beta enough to comment much, but with the Oiii/UHC, I much prefer the less aggressive UHC under darker skies (while the Oiii is sometimes preferred when I’m observing in the suburbs of town). Maybe it’ll be the same with the H-beta.

And I won’t give up on the flamin’ Flaming Star! ? How big is the boomerang feature please? Is that the very large extended (sort of vaguely Africa shaped) red H-alpha area we see in images, or part of the much smaller bright (reflection?) streamers at high power near AE Auriga?

[Stu]

Fantastic stuff Paul, very jealous! I do think the skies after rain are more transparent, with the pollutants washed out of the sky and perhaps thst is what males the difference?

[Size9Hex]

29 minutes ago, Stu said:

Fantastic stuff Paul, very jealous! I do think the skies after rain are more transparent, with the pollutants washed out of the sky and perhaps thst is what males the difference?

I think you’re right about the conditions after the rain being improved. I don’t know if it washes the sky or perhaps is just a new cleaner air mass ploughing in. Either way, sometimes the sky just appears a particularly rich blue after a good rain, or sometimes just strong winds, which is always a great sign. The warm settled weather in summer does often seems a bit hazy. There was a strong cold (north west?) wind during the session, which I guess was bringing in dry clean air from the ocean which should be as clean as it gets. Wasn’t comfortable to be out in though!

[jetstream]

7 hours ago, Size9Hex said:

How big is the boomerang feature please? Is that the very large extended (sort of vaguely Africa shaped) red H-alpha area we see in images, or part of the much smaller bright (reflection?) streamers at high power near AE Auriga?

Very glad you are pursuing these features, it is well worth it and satisfying. Forget most images you have seen of the Flaming Star neb, it will show roughly 1 deg across in the shape of the edge on boomerang . There are no wisps that I see but under really good skies it shows mottling and can be a "dazzling" view. At first look for a grey glow in the shape described and once viewed a few times more will appear. You have the perfect eyepiece and scope for this Paul!

Here is an image (not mine) that shows how this neb can show in relation to the finder stars and also that nice other neb you will see next... Flaming Star on left.