3rd Jan 10 - IC2149 and M1

[DarkerSky]

Grabbed a couple of hours in the dark before moonrise with my 16" LB last night. Set up at around 5pm and was observing by 6pm. My sky was as dark as it normally gets here - about LM 5.1, and thankfully I didn't have any trouble with security lights from the neighbours.

My plan was to track down IC2149 - a Mag 11 planetary nebula in Auriga. It is situated close to Beta Auriga. I used stellarium to track it down, star hopping from Beta Auriga to Pi Auriga, then onto a fainter double that began a cap of still fainter stars over the area where the planetary was located.

Using Stellarium made it easy to identify - which is a good job really as it is very stellar in appearance at low mag. In x107 I could detect a fuzziness around it, and with my OIII filter it became a bit more obvious.

Went up to x295 magnfication. Could detect an elongation roughly E/W and the central stellar brightening, but not much else in terms of detail. It is a good catch though - one I'm well pleased with.

Here is a sketch:

Next onto M1 Crab Nebula - and a pet project...trying to tease as much detail out of the nebula with my 16" as I can. Started at x107 - the mis-shapen 'S' shape is very obvious to me at this power, but no other detail. With my OIII the nebula appears marginally brighter, but alot fatter, losing the 's' shape.

Went up to x215 with and without OIII filter. I must have stood at the eyepiece for a good half-hour, and was rewarded by my best view ever of the nebula. With averted vision I was starting to detect some areas of mottling across the surface. I also got to see some fainter background / foreground stars very close and within the area of the nebula itself.

All tantalizing stuff - but the rising moon got me in the end and washed the sky with moonlight.

[Talitha]

VERY nice sketch, Seb! Well done on getting the details in M1, all i can get out of the 8" SCT is a smoky patch.

[Sam]

Great sketch Seb! and a very nice description of both objects. A Mag 11 PN is a fantastic result.

Sam