Dumbbell Nebula

[mark81]

Last night I had a go at the Dumbbell with the 80mm f5 and I was really quite surprised how bright it was. I've only ever viewed it before through 10x50 binoculars. At x26 it's a nice sight but a little too small to reveal any detail. I bumped up to x66 and got a fantastic view. A strange effect occured here, it almost looked 3D to me. 3D in the sense that the stars surrounding it looked much further away from the nebula - almost as though it was stuck on the front of the eyepiece. 

I really pushed my eyes to find any detail and certainly saw that the left and right edges were fainter - but I wasn't sure if I was imagining the dumbbell shape (or egg timer shape as it seemed to appear to me) 

Took this sketch at the EP with the usual gel ink pen and white pencil...

Mark

Edited October 30, 2019 by mark81

[mikeDnight]

Excellent sketch Mark. You've captured the Apple core shape perfectly, along with some subtle detail within it. It's a true eyepiece view you've managed to illustrate, which shows you're a very good and careful observer. 

[Mike JW]

Not only is your sketch accurate but you have captured the "softness" of the view as seen at the eyepiece. Mike

[NGC 1502]

+1 to previous comments..........👍