A bit of dark relief

[domstar]

Stuck at home with a bad back as schools, pubs, gyms and shops are all forcibly closed around me. My one outlet yesterday was a bit of observing. First the smallest hint of a sunspot then a beautiful Venus in the early evening. When it got dark, the Orion Nebula with a UHC looking magnificent despite the dim green Trapezium, but subtly more detailed than my usual unfiltered views. Then to the Crab Nebular, always dim but awe-inspiring.

After that it was open cluster time (I hoped) M50 is nice enough but not as satisying as the Christmas tree. I'd love to see the Rosetta but I kept getting lost around there. No Hubble's variable nebular and a few candidates for open clusters as my back became worse and worse due to my odd sitting positions.

So great to get out again. Not a wonderful session but written as a plea for others to put a report in and relieve the boredom of the many stuck inside. Also, any help with the Rosetta. Does it need a UHC? That would make star-hopping to it much more difficult. Is it even doable? Is the cluster recognisable? Any help would be appreciated. 

Take care people. Thanks for reading.

[Littleguy80]

Hi Dom. Great report  The cluster, NGC2244, is quite obvious but the nebula is a bit trickier. It definitely benefits greatly from darks skies. I normally use an OIII filter with a big exit pupil (6mm) with a 2 degree TFOV. It’s quite a big target. SkySafari screen grab below shows it with my dob and ES82 30mm. When using a UHC/OIII filter don’t be afraid to go really low power to maximise the exit pupil. I had some amazing views of this nebula using a 40mm eyepiece in my dob. With dark skies this is a special target. Hope your back feels better soon!

 

[domstar]

@Littleguy80 Thanks for that. I think I found the cluster (not the nebula), which is a start. Your picture is clearer than Stellarium. Where do you start your hop from? I kept getting lost round there- too many stars and not enough stand out ones.

[Littleguy80]

3 minutes ago, domstar said:

@Littleguy80 Thanks for that. I think I found the cluster (not the nebula), which is a start. Your picture is clearer than Stellarium. Where do you start your hop from? I kept getting lost round there- too many stars and not enough stand out ones.

Recently I’ve been starting at the Christmas Tree cluster, then observing Hubble’s variable nebula, 13 Mon and finally Rosette nebula. 

[Ships and Stars]

I managed to see the Rosetta for the first time ever about a month ago. Dark conditions with a decent sized dob. It was right up there with the Veil Nebula in my book. I'm almost certain I was using the oiii filter, as it's the only 2" filter I own and I would have been using my 21E.  It's a very large nebula as I recall and just amazing under those conditions. I think I could pick it up fairly easily with my 300p flextube under edge of town LP. It's worth some star atlas research and chasing for sure.