Help with Barnard's Galaxy and the Heart Nebula

[domstar]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have experience with Barnard's galaxy (NGC 6822)? I've been trying to see it on four separate nights now and I haven't managed it. I'm confident I've found the right place.

My question is- Is it an especially hard galaxy? I know it's down low and it's not in the best area for me, but I was surprised that I couldn't get even a hint of it.

My other question is about the Heart Nebula visually. Is it comparable to the Rosette Nebula? It's difficult for me to see the nebulosity, but instead I see an area actually darker than the rest of the sky and without stars. A UHC filter seemed to make this clearer. This is what I found when observing the Rosette earlier in the year. It was almost like a patch of dark nebula. Am I on the right track here?

Thanks for any experience / help.

[globular]

I've had some lovely "wow" views of the Heart Nebula with my DGM NPB filter (similar to UHC) when exit pupil is large (>3mm).  

Without the filter, with smaller exit pupil or with poor viewing conditions and I can't make out the nebulosity.  So keep trying in the darkest conditions you can, with well dark adapted eyes, a nice low mag / large exit pupil eyepiece and your UHC in place.

If you have an OIII it's worth trying that too... especially if you have a lot of light pollution as this filter darkens the sky more than a UHC.

There is bright, faint and dark nebulosity to be found here.  I like it a lot.

[Nyctimene]

Never observed Barnard's galaxy; just looked it up in the NSOG (Night Sky Observer's Guide); quoted from there:

"Visually it is an extremely faint, extremely low surface brightness, ill defined glow in a field rich with faint stars. It needs no less than perfectly dark skies to be seen; nevertheless under good conditions it can be glimpsed even in mere 10x50 binoculars as a vague N - S smudge.   ....... The galaxy's meager glow tends to be camouflaged by the numerous foreground stars superimposed upon it's halo".

Seems, that you have to plan a travel to the Sumava National Park close to the German border to get the sky darkness needed for 6822....

Hth.

Stephan

 

[Littleguy80]

I remember this galaxy as, like you, I thought it was going to be easier than it was. It’s close to the little gem planetary nebula so I had several failed attempts at it. I only had one successful observation of it. Unfortunately I didn’t record the eyepiece but did say it was found through a bit of experimentation. From memory, it’s quite large, hence the low surface brightness. The trick is likely to be having an exit pupil around 2mm but with a wide enough FOV to give you some space around the galaxy. You need something so you can pick up the edge/contrast change. Here’s the report where I mention observing it. 

 

[domstar]

@Littleguy80 Thanks very much. That helps. And what a fantastic report. I too have spent many an hour failing at Stephan's Quintet. It's amazing how my brain has picked up just a hint of it and I almost see it whenever I look now- but not quite. I can pick up all the galaxies I've seen before but can't seem to see new stuff this year. Maybe my tenacity isn't what it was a year ago. 

[Littleguy80]

34 minutes ago, domstar said:

@Littleguy80 Thanks very much. That helps. And what a fantastic report. I too have spent many an hour failing at Stephan's Quintet. It's amazing how my brain has picked up just a hint of it and I almost see it whenever I look now- but not quite. I can pick up all the galaxies I've seen before but can't seem to see new stuff this year. Maybe my tenacity isn't what it was a year ago. 

I also think it’s like any skill and you need to keep doing it to maintain it. Opportunities have been more infrequent this year so I feel my observing skills are a bit more rusty. Transparency is king for faint objects and I’m not convinced that even on the clear nights we’ve had good transparency this year. It’s funny how you can do everything the same and fail on a target. Most times the difference is the transparency. 

[Stardaze]

Definitely what @Littleguy80says. Interesting the mention of transparency as I had two evenings back to back early last week and the second was frustrating trying for nebula, it really was much worse and very difficult to see what I’d seen the night before.