Veil Nebula: Not Seeing It

[jetstream]

On 25/09/2020 at 10:26, John said:

I guess coating and polish quality have improved over recent years as well, hence lower scatter  / diffraction in the latest versions ?

 

I also think who's doing the manufacturing plays a role- I wonder who Lumicons manufacturer was and is?

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, Hanah said:

Guess this will be my first addition to the SGL. I'm a newbie and really enjoyed reading about the veil. Guess I will start-off my wishlist with this object. Although I'm not a regular observer here in the most light polluted region of the Neterlands (which scores high on a worldwide scale), I will be looking for it on my next trip to the mountains.

Cheers,

Han

Welcome!

What scope are you taking to the mountains?

[Hanah]

3 hours ago, jetstream said:

Welcome!

What scope are you taking to the mountains?

A 90's Celestron C5. Its my first and only scope, selected mainly for the low packing volume (it fits in a 'systainer' case).

But reading this topic again I have a question about this. What kind of eyepiece would be considered a 'proper match' for this scope (for observing dso's). And why?

[jetstream]

Perfect!

Well a good general place to be for some galaxies would be a 25mm eyepiece and for a view of the Veil etc a 40mmish eyepiece with a good OIII will work well. We have good luck with the 24mm ES 68 but a plossl will work well too. For the 1.25" 40mm ish I'm not sure.

Which eyepieces do you have now?

[Hanah]

A 32mm Celestron Plossl 'Halloween' and a 26mm is on its way. Then another 20 Kelner and a 12.5 Ultima, so a pretty nice range. Have high hopes with the 32 and 26 although with a f/10 scope the exit pupil will still be rather small (3.2 and 2.6).

Cheers,

Han

[Mr Spock]

I've only seen it at one star party I went to. First through a low power 100mm refractor + filter, then parts of it through a 20" Dob. I'd say the dark sky made the difference. Through the 100mm it was really obvious. I'm sure the filter contributed but have no idea what it was.

[John]

To see the Veil Nebula you really need to use an eyepiece that gives a true field of view of around 1.3 to 1.5 degrees as a mimimum. That is just about wide enough to view most of one of the brighter sections of the nebula, ie: the east or west segment.

With a C5 SCT that means using 32mm plossl with a 52 degree apparent field of view which gives you a 1.33 true field. Unless you move to using 2 inch eyepieces. A 24mm 68 degree apparent field eyepiece shows a similar true field to the aforementioned 32mm plossl.

A good UHC or O-III filter will also be pretty much essential to see anything of this target with a 5 inch scope.

 

[jetstream]

On 08/10/2020 at 00:16, Hanah said:

Have high hopes with the 32 and 26 although with a f/10 scope the exit pupil will still be rather small (3.2 and 2.6).

These will be good for some galaxies- this is a typical range I use on many of them.  I still think that for the Veil ( and other nebs) the 40mm EP will be the ticket along with a quality OIII.

I'm not sure if the C5 works with 2" eyepieces.