Black and Orange; Planet, Star or Nebula?

[lennon890]

For the past few weeks i have seen a object in the sky, It looks just like a star but it flashes red and white. Up until last night i had only observed it with my naked eye, I have recently been busy making the most of The Moon and Jupiter.

I took the photograph from the United Kingdom with my Sky Watcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2 at about 3:41 AM, It was in the East at that time. I was looking at it for about five minutes through my telescope, even with the 10mm lens and the X2 Barlow lens it was still fairly small when viewed through the eye piece.

The proportion of orange, black and yellow slightly changed in the five minutes that I was viewing it for. It was very nice to view what ever it was, unfortunaly the excess light from the full Moon probably drowned out the main fetures of the object.

The photograph may look to be low quality because I held the camera to the eye piece to take the photograph and then i zoomed in on the photograph once i had uploaded it to my computer.

If this is a Nebula; is ther any other ones that could be clearly seen through my telescope?

I'd be very happy if somebody could please tell me what it is?

Thank You,

-Lennon890

[Craig H]

Hello Lennon890,

Have you tried stellarium? it's free software that accurately depicts the sky and almost everything in it. Just put in your latitude and longitude, (i got my back garden coordinates from google earth) time and date and bobs your uncle.

they are quite a few possibilities....... Mars? the orion nebula? sometimes stars can give quite amazing effects when they're low down and we have loads of earths atmosphere to look through.......stellarium will give you a better idea than i can.

reagards craig

[Sam]

It could be Mars that you were viewing as it's sitting on the top of Gemini at the moment which is getting reasonable high enough to view by 3 or 4 in the morning. The colour changes that you observed could well have been because of the planets proximity to the horizon and all of the gloop you'd be looking through to view it. If so then congratualtions for getting an image of it!

Sam

[lennon890]

Thanks for the information. I have downloaded Stellarium and I have just had a good look at what it could have been.

It looks like it could be the Cone Nebula, it was in the east at the time that i took the photograph and the colours look very similar

-Lennon890

[acey]

It's definitely not a nebula of any kind - they're all faint, extended in size, and you can't see any colour in them, even with a large telescope. I've tried and failed to view the Cone Nebula with an 8-inch reflector. The colours are only visible in long-exposure photographs.

Most probably a planet (Mars or Jupiter) or bright star (eg Arcturus), seen low over the horizon and flashing because of atmospheric turbulence. Check out its position in relation to other stars and use a map to try and identitfy it. If it's not on the map then it's a planet. Good luck!

[mike.brightmore]

Probably looks a bit more like the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237) than the cone but I agree with Acey that this is definitely NOT a nebula. Can't be Jupiter or Arcturus in the east at that time either. Mars is a good bet. Another possibility is Betelgeuse - a large reddish star in Orion. It is usually the brighter objects that tend to flash different colours due to our atmosphere when they are low in the sky. Sirius is a good example of this.

[Talitha]

Venus is in the ENE at about that time, but very low to the horizon.

[stefski]

If it's that bright at that magnification, using that 'scope, then it's definetly not a nebula...Sorry.....Could be Betelguese (alpha Ori) as it is at a low altitude at that time, so will appear very blurred by the seeing. Its also bright, orange and bumping up the magnification won't make any difference. A little higher in altitude is Mars (as mentioned above) also a possibility.

The Rosette nebula is faint and doesn't look red visually (it's more greyish-greenish). The cone nebula is even fainter - I can only just make it out visually with my 11". This one is also not red visually.

To answer your other question. You can see plenty of nebulae with that 'scope....Just wait until later in the year when The Orion Nebula (M42) makes a show:D.

Stef

[lennon890]

If it's that bright at that magnification, using that 'scope, then it's definetly not a nebula...Sorry.....Could be Betelguese (alpha Ori) as it is at a low altitude at that time, so will appear very blurred by the seeing. Its also bright, orange and bumping up the magnification won't make any difference. A little higher in altitude is Mars (as mentioned above) also a possibility.

The Rosette nebula is faint and doesn't look red visually (it's more greyish-greenish). The cone nebula is even fainter - I can only just make it out visually with my 11". This one is also not red visually.

To answer your other question. You can see plenty of nebulae with that 'scope....Just wait until later in the year when The Orion Nebula (M42) makes a show:D.

Stef

Thank you for commenting Stef,

When would it be best to view the Orion Nebula?

All the Best,

Jake

[stefski]

Basically when it is at its highest in the sky (due south)at a civilised hour, around Christmas time and winter generally! You can catch it before, but you'll have to stay up until silly o'clock!

Stef

[Cloudwatcher]

That reminds me of a blurred,very blurred,image of the Hyades with Aldebaran at point......... Aldebaran always looks orange to me....... don't know about the black bit.

[lennon890]

That reminds me of a blurred,very blurred,image of the Hyades with Aldebaran at point......... Aldebaran always looks orange to me....... don't know about the black bit.

Thank you for sharing that Image. The orange object looks just like what i saw, could you please tell me exactly what it is?

-Lennon890

[stefski]

At the mag you were working at...10mm and x2 Barlow, the Hyades wouldn't fit in your field of view (by a 'long chalk') as it is several degrees wide. It could be just the star, Aldebaran, which does look a bit orange. Btw another thing that could be adding to the blurriness could be water droplets....Any condensation on your eyepiece? Or a tiny drop of water?

stef

[Highflight]

At the mag you were working at...10mm and x2 Barlow, the Hyades wouldn't fit in your field of view (by a 'long chalk') as it is several degrees wide. It could be just the star, Aldebaran, which does look a bit orange.Btw another thing that could be adding to the blurriness could be water droplets....Any condensation on your eyepiece? Or a tiny drop of water?

stef

I wondered that. Looks like dew on the recieving end.

Chris.