Best View Of Eta Carina Nebula

[Epick Crom]

G' Day my fellow stargazers! We had a clear night here in Perth last night, so out came my 10 inch dob for some quality time ❤️. Usually I plan my observing sessions meticulously, but last night I decided to just observe on the fly and view anything that tickled my fancy. This was a night of admiring the showpieces of the sky. These were my observations presented below in no particular order:

Waxing crescent moon: Our nearest neighbour was up first. Looked so beautiful at 48x, the entire crescent framed in the eyepiece plus the earthshine. Craters Posidonius and Theophilus were the standout features, along with the Pyrenees Mts. I observed Rimae Posidonius for the first time.

NGC 4755: The beautiful Jewel Box cluster in Crux. There is a central bar in this open cluster called the Traffic Lights because of their contrasting colours. White, blue and orange.This cluster is small, compact and V shaped. Very rich

NGC 3201: A nice globular cluster in Vela. Rich and large, to me it bears a resemblance to M4.

Algieba ( Gamma Leonis): A pretty double star with orange components. One of my favourite double stars.

NGC 3115: the Spindle Galaxy in Sextans. Wow, this was my first observation of this edge on galaxy. Surprisingly bright! Reminds me of M 104 in Virgo.

M42: The Orion Nebula. Always pleasing observing this showpiece. Transparency was excellent last night, I think this contributed to M 42 looking as green as I've ever seen it. Simply stunning! Easily resolved the trap, including the E and F stars.

Hyades Cluster: For this I switched to my recently purchased 10x50 Nikon binoculars. What a beautiful sight, Aldebaran and the Hyades all in the same field of view. This was hand held though, I need to get a tripod soon!

NGC's 1935 and 2014: Back to observing with the 10 inch. These are two bright nebulae close to each other in the Large Magellanic Cloud in Dorado. Even in my bortle 6 skies they appear bright. NGC 2014 appears the brighter of the two. It was wonderous panning back and forth between them.

NGC 3532: the Wishing Well cluster in Carina. This is an open cluster on steroids! Huge and rich, a profusion of stars. Dazzling!

NGC 2070: The Tarantula Nebula in the LMC in Dorado. A true wonder. Tentacles of nebulosity arching all over, centred on the young cluster R 136. Beautiful nebula.

NGC 3293: The Gem Cluster in Carina. What a beautiful, colourful, rich and compact open cluster! Small but very rich and bright. A rival to the Jewel Box cluster.

My final observation of the night was reserved for NGC 3372, the Eta Carina Nebula. WOW WOW! It was 60 degrees above the horizon so I had not much atmosphere to contend with. Absolutely incredible sight, there are at least five open clusters imbedded within this great nebula : CR 18, CR 232, BO 10, BO 11 and Trumpler 15. Each of these clusters are brilliant, shining like countless fireflies while surrounded by delicate glowing nebulosity. The Eta Carina Nebula was very bright, and glowed light orange or yellowish to my eyes. My jaw dropped! I've never seen it looking this good before. Maybe because now I'm more experienced than last year, but this was truly an astonishing sight! The dark rift that slices it in three was clearly visible, as well at ripples of dark nebulosity superimposed on the bright gas. Eta Carina itself was a bright orange colour and the Homunculus planetary surrounding it was amazing, clearly showing two bright orange lobes from its outburst in the 1800's. @Kon you would love this sight as I know you are a nebula man!

That wrapped it up for me for the night. It was nice to go out under the stars without a plan for once and just enjoy the beautiful sights. Wishing you all clear skies!

Joe

 

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Epick Crom

[Kon]

WOW WOW! What a report and a session Joe! I remember on a previous comment that you said that your jaw dropped....I am picking mine up from just reading your report. You bagged some amazing targets that unfortunately are not available to us in the northern hemisphere. I am very jealous 😉. 

The colours in Eta Carina must be an amazing sight; does it usually display colours or was the transparency that good, similar to M42 that can either be 'monochrome' or more colourful if conditions are right?

I find a similar experience with you, that my observing is improving and seeing more things than previously.

[Epick Crom]

Thanks Kostas. The Eta Carinae Nebula usually looks colourless to me, greyish. But last night the transparency was excellent. I could definitely see some subtle colours, hard to describe that colour, like a mix between pale red and yellow. That's one of the reasons my jaw dropped. It is so true what the experienced amateur astronomers have said, experience is like extra aperture! The transparency, more experience and altitude of the object came together perfectly. Like you I'm definitely seeing so much more now than 18 months ago when I started with a telescope. Amazing isn't it?

Edited March 9, 2022 by Epick Crom

[Ships and Stars]

Excellent! I'd love to see some of the sights in the southern skies... someday!  

[Whistlin Bob]

What a brilliant report. The southern skies are already on my bucket list, this just makes me more keen!

[Epick Crom]

On 12/03/2022 at 03:42, Ships and Stars said:

Excellent! I'd love to see some of the sights in the southern skies... someday!  

I hope you can make it below the equator "Down Under" one day!

[Epick Crom]

17 hours ago, Whistlin Bob said:

What a brilliant report. The southern skies are already on my bucket list, this just makes me more keen!

That's great! I hope you get to see our southern skies soon!