Really big deep sky targets

[John]

I came across this list on another forum and thought it might be of interest / use. It is maintained by the RASC Calgary Centre and has information on targets that are as large or larger than the moon in apparent angular size (ie: larger than half a degree). Might be useful in planning observing / imaging ?. Covers N & S hemispheres:

https://calgary.rasc.ca/bigthings.htm#Table

The biggest couple of targets size is expressed in degrees, the rest in arc minutes.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by John

[John]

From the same source, some graphical representations with the moon for scale:

https://calgary.rasc.ca/bigthings.htm#Images

[Tiny Clanger]

19 minutes ago, John said:

I came across this list on another forum and though it might be of interest / use. It is maintained by the RASC Calgary Centre and has information on targets that are as large or larger than the moon in apparent angular size (ie: larger than half a degree). Might be useful in planning observing / imaging ?. Covers N & S hemispheres:

https://calgary.rasc.ca/bigthings.htm#Table

The biggest couple of targets size is expressed in degrees, the rest in arc minutes.

 

 

Thanks, interesting info, if slightly weird to see the illustrations with the copy paste Moon !

Looking at that site gave another neat feature, the nightplanner , which includes some UK locations in the drop down  location list, and might be handy. At the moment though, it's more an annoying 'things you can't see tonight due to cloud cover ' at the mo. ...  https://calgary.rasc.ca/darksky/nightplanner.htm

Heather

[Ships and Stars]

I had to laugh when I saw the moon transposed between the Veil Nebula. It looks lost  

The first time I saw the East Veil (never forget it) I panned over to see the West Veil and caught part of Pickering's Wisp. I thought well, that must be the West Veil and stopped, thinking it was just a bit faint.

I did the same thing probably one or two more nights after that, before I panned beyond Pickering's Wisp one night and finally stumbled across the West Veil in all its glory to my amazement. That's a big expanse of sky.

I finally saw it last year in one go with 15x70s from a dark site. Amazing.

The North America Nebula is a monster, that one is well suited to binoculars from a dark site as well.

Thanks for sharing this John, it's an excellent list 👍

[Jiggy 67]

I can never get my head around these comparisons to the moon.......are these representations as they would be naked eye??....sorry if I sound a bit thick 😀

Edited January 16, 2021 by Jiggy 67

[Ships and Stars]

20 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

I can never get my head around these comparisons to the moon.......are these representations as they would be naked eye??....sorry if I sound a bit thick 😀

The scale is correct but with the exception of some of the star clusters, particularly the Pleiades, most would need at least binoculars to gather enough light to detect them. Some are only visible through long exposure photography. The only way I've been able to see all of the Veil for example is with filtered 15x70s under dark skies. Otherwise through my telescope I'm only able to view limited areas because they won't fit in the field of view, even with my widest eyepieces. Same with the North America Nebula, that's fantastic through filtered binoculars. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Ships and Stars

[John]

33 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

I can never get my head around these comparisons to the moon.......are these representations as they would be naked eye??......

No, telescope or binocular views I think with the moon is projected onto the target object to show the scale of in relative terms.

They say that, to the naked eye, the moons disk is about half the size of the nail on your little finger, with your arm outstreched:

So I guess that two fingers would cover about the total size of the Veil Nebula complex, as seen with the naked eye (assuming that you could !) ?

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by John

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, John said:

I came across this list on another forum and thought it might be of interest / use. It is maintained by the RASC Calgary Centre and has information on targets that are as large or larger than the moon in apparent angular size (ie: larger than half a degree). Might be useful in planning observing / imaging ?. Covers N & S hemispheres:

https://calgary.rasc.ca/bigthings.htm#Table

The biggest couple of targets size is expressed in degrees, the rest in arc minutes.

 

 

Nice resource thanks John.

[PeterW]

Many of the Sharpless nebulae would fit this list as would a few more from the Integrated Flux lists, but certainly not as observable.

”The North America nebula is a monster”... I can attest that it certainly isn’t, there are a number that are bigger. If you want big then Orion cloaked in Barnards loop with the angelfish nebula on his shoulders takes some beating and makes a memorable sight.

@GavStar got a good image 

Always been meaning to get another one with someone in an artistic pose in the foreground!

I’ll need to make a note of the hand/scale image, good to keep in mind, I’ve tried to visualise M31 when looking at Andromeda.

Peter

Edited January 18, 2021 by PeterW
Addition

[niallk]

On 18/01/2021 at 07:50, PeterW said:

Many of the Sharpless nebulae would fit this list as would a few more from the Integrated Flux lists, but certainly not as observable.

”The North America nebula is a monster”... I can attest that it certainly isn’t, there are a number that are bigger. If you want big then Orion cloaked in Barnards loop with the angelfish nebula on his shoulders takes some beating and makes a memorable sight.

@GavStar got a good image 

Always been meaning to get another one with someone in an artistic pose in the foreground!

I’ll need to make a note of the hand/scale image, good to keep in mind, I’ve tried to visualise M31 when looking at Andromeda.

Peter

Stunning!