Beautiful Blue Planetary

[Epick Crom]

Hi my fellow stargazers! I was greeted by a lovely night scene in my back yard as the Moon, Aldebaran and Mars hung low in the west. I gazed at the beautiful scene, Astronomy is awesome with or without a telescope! After that it was telescope time, I scanned the area of sky in the middle of the Southern Cross ( Crux). Delightful groupings of stars abound there. I observed the delightful cluster NGC 4439 in the centre of Crux. It is shaped like the Euro money sign. I will be visiting this one again in the future for sure. I moved into neighbouring Centaurus in search of the Blue Planetary NGC 3918. I star hopped from Delta Crucis guided by Sky Safari and soon found it. My word I couldn't believe my eyes! At 70x I saw the most vivid blue perfect circle I've ever seen. This is the most deep blue object I have ever observed so far in my astronomical journey. Just stunning 😍. Who says Astronomy is a grey scale experience?? NGC 3918 really lives up to its name Blue Planetary. I tried various magnifications and spent at least 30min just observing it. The blue colour is unreal. I finally managed to pull myself from the eyepiece to observe my next target M68. I had searched unsuccessfully for this globular in Hydra previously but finally got it last night. Studying Sky Safari and working on my star hopping techniques is starting to pay dividends! I found M68 after hopping from Kraz in Corvus. Faint but wonderful globular. It's always a thrill pinpointing faint targets. Had a final look at Leo 1 galaxy close to Regulus in Leo before calling it a night ( I'm developing a soft spot for Leo 1😂). It was a great session with the Blue Planetary making me gasp loudly several times ( my poor neighbours!). Clear skies!

Joe

Edited March 20, 2021 by Epick Crom
Typo

[Kon]

I can feel your excitement about NGC 3918; your description makes it sound awesome! It is nice when you get to see some colour; i think I have seen some colour on the NGC 6543, and i thought my eyes were deceiving me; it was awesome. Well done on a very successful night! 

[oldfruit]

One of the great things about planetary nebula is that a number of them do display vivid colour. 

[Epick Crom]

7 hours ago, Kon said:

I can feel your excitement about NGC 3918; your description makes it sound awesome! It is nice when you get to see some colour; i think I have seen some colour on the NGC 6543, and i thought my eyes were deceiving me; it was awesome. Well done on a very successful night! 

Thanks Kon. I know you are a Planetary Nebula man, you will love this one! It is so deep blue it doesn't look real.I see NGC 6543 is in Draco, if only we could trade Planetaries for one night!

[Epick Crom]

3 hours ago, oldfruit said:

One of the great things about planetary nebula is that a number of them do display vivid colour. 

Yes, Planetary nebulae exhibit a wide range of intense colours. Gorgeous objects!

[Kon]

8 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

if only we could trade Planetaries for one night!

Happy to take you on that offer anytime if time travel was possible for a night 😉 It will be great to see some of the Southern nebulas not visible to us.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Kon