A quartet of interesting nebs

[RobertI]

My main target last night was the Saturn Nebula NGC7009 in Aquarius. Having spotted it last time out with the 102ED, I thought I'd see what it was like in the C8. It was fairly easy to find once you know what to look for - a small well defined oval with fuzzy edges. I noticed last time how bright is was and tonight was the same, except it had a distinct greenish tinge, more noticable when looking away and then coming back to it. I upped the magnification to around 240x and it was still plenty bright enough, although no additional detail was really visible. Popping the UHC filter in improved the edge definition and possibly hinted at some 'sharpness' to the elongated edges - perhaps the 'ansae' that can be viewed with large scopes?

The skies were beautifully clear so thought I'd try the Helix Nebula NGC7293 also in Aquarius - something I have never seen before. I was not hopeful as it was very close the garage roof and deep in the murk of the southern horizon. With the 21mm Hyperion and 0.63 reducer (giving 60x) I homed in on the area, but scanning around, found nothing. Ready to give up I put in the UHC and bingo there is was, a large circular ghostly patch of nebulosity. Without the UHC filter - nothing, completely invisble. I tried the zoom to see if differing magnifications changed the view - 24mm (53x) gave the best view and I could eventually just about see, with averted vision, the dark inner region giving a donut view. I also tried the 38mm 2" Pananview with UHC but it was not so good. Overall pretty pleased to have observed this given how low it was.

The Veil in Cygnus was now perfectly placed, so with the 21mm back in (63x) I added and the OIII filter and tracked it down. I generally run out of superlatives with the Veil, and tonight was no exception and probably the  best I have seen it, with the Eastern Veil clearly showing 'flames' along the length of the inner arc - so clear - I really need to sketch this at some point. The Western Veil was also clear as a bell, the arrow shape almost like a photo. Sadly I was looking in the wrong place for Pickering's Wisp, but there was a lot of faint nebulosity around.

Finally I thought I'd have another go at the Crescent Neb NGC6888 also in Cygnus. I've never managed to see more than the NE half of the crescent and never the full crescent. With the UHC in I eventually tracked down the triangle of stars in which it sits. Eventually I could see the NE half as before, but I really clouldn't say that I definitely saw the full arc. I think much much darker skies are needed! I assumed the OIII wouldn't work for some reason, but reading up it seems it might be better than the UHC - what do people think?

A very pleasant and productive night's observing, the C8 doing me proud. .  
 

Edited October 4, 2021 by RobertI

[John]

Great stuff !!!!

Filters sometimes really do earn their keep

Don't want to spoil the thread title but I think the Veil is a supernova remnant and the Crescent an emission nebula

 

[RobertI]

22 minutes ago, John said:

Don't want to spoil the thread title but I think the Veil is a supernova remnant and the Crescent an emission nebula

Go to the top of the class John! Well spotted, I had realised after I posted,  but I didn’t want to spoil the punchy headline! 😁 I’ll see if I can change it. 👍

[John]

4 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Go to the top of the class John! Well spotted, I had realised after I posted,  but I didn’t want to spoil the punchy headline! 😁 I’ll see if I can change it. 👍

I wouldn't worry about it - I made exactly the same categorization a few years ago