Jump to content

NLCbanner2024.jpg.2478be509670e60c2d6efd04834b8b47.jpg

Blue Snowball

DarkerSky

By DarkerSky
in Observing - Reports

Recommended Posts

DarkerSky

DarkerSky

Posted
Posted

Having tracked down Comet P103 Hartley using a naked eye asterism of stars in north-east Andromeda the other evening, I noticed on Stellarium that there was a planetary nebula in roughly the same area called the Blue Snowball - NGC 7662.

Last night I decided to track it down with my 12" scope. Took me a little time to familiarise myself with the starfield I was seeing in my finderscope against Stellarium, but finally managed to nudge the scope in the right direction.

Using a Hyperion 17mm to give me x70 magnification the plan was to scan around the area until something resembling a planetary popped into view.

It didn't take long for my plan to bear fruit - and wow, what fruit it bore!!

The Blue Snowball is like nothing I have ever seen before. It appeared as a dusky electric blue disc of fuzzy light in my EP. A real ghostly blue, but at the same time, a penetrating blue. In fact I have never seen any DSO object as blue as this. I was awestruck. Even my non-astro wife was interested in this one!

After a while I pumped up the power in moderate seeing conditions. Went up to x192 and made a careful study of the now rather large disc in my EP for about half an hour.

Details began to leap out at me. First a brighter curve of material was seen along its southern edge. This faded out as it circled the the disc, but was discernible for about three-quarters of the PN's circumference. A darker area existed near centre (not perfectly at centre), and this darkness played out towards the edge of the PN towards the quarter of the disc where the brighter arc of material was absent.

I could also see that the PN was not completely circular. It seemed to have faint wispy ears on a roughly E-W alignment.

I made a sketch and this will go up in the sketching section some point during the weekend :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
perrin6

perrin6

Posted
Posted

Havn't looked at the snowball lately but it is stunningly bright. I've looked at several planetary nebs recently and many of them look turquoise to my eyes and with little discernable detail partly due to my mirror not being great. NGC 7027 in cygnus is another interesting fairly bright P.neb with an unusual shape and detail - well worth checking out, along with M76 - the little dumbell in Perseus.

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites
philj

philj

Posted
Posted

Nice report

I frequently show non astro types the blue snowball because its bright and its blue colour really stands out. Ive never seen its ears mind so thats something to look for next time I visit. Have you tried it with an O111 filter I'd be interested to hear what it looks like then through your 12" scope.

Philj

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DarkerSky

DarkerSky

Posted
  • Author
Posted
The Blue Snowball has faint wispy ears? Sounds like the Saturn nebula's got a little brother. :icon_eek:

I've only seen this one through the 120ST so far but will take a closer look asap. Thanks, Seb. :)

If you're going to go for it with your 16LB do go at a moderate magnification - something like x180 or more. The ears are much fainter than the Saturn Nebula's ones. Definitely be interested to know what you get to see. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DarkerSky

DarkerSky

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Nice report

I frequently show non astro types the blue snowball because its bright and its blue colour really stands out. Ive never seen its ears mind so thats something to look for next time I visit. Have you tried it with an O111 filter I'd be interested to hear what it looks like then through your 12" scope.

Philj

Yes, I can see why you would show them. It's funny really, my wife 'puts up' with my astro obsession, and never really takes much interest. But when I came in and said I had found a 'blue snowball' and that it really was very blue she was intrigued enough to come out and have a look!

I've not tried it with an OIII - I was too stunned at the unfiltered view to be honest. Next tme I'll give it a go with the OIII so I can compare the views

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DarkerSky

DarkerSky

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Interesting, I thought I saw it the other night, but it didn't look blue in my 12"? Or was it NGC7640 I found instead?

Hi Sam - I've not seen NGC7640. That's the gx close by IIRC. You would notice the Blue Snowball even if you didn't see the blueness as it is much rounder than any galaxy you'd see in that vicinity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beulah

Beulah

Posted
Posted
Hi Sam - I've not seen NGC7640. That's the gx close by IIRC. You would notice the Blue Snowball even if you didn't see the blueness as it is much rounder than any galaxy you'd see in that vicinity.

I did see the Blue Snowball then, your description fits it perfectly. :)

I'll try finding it again with a telescope with smaller aperture - 8"...I would like to catch a glimpse of the blueness of this planetary nebula.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
WayBig

WayBig

Posted
Posted

I finally managed to track the this down last night, after 2 failed attempts.

It's a lot smaller than I expected, so I may have passed over it before thinking it was a star.

There was a very faint blue tinge to it in the 10inch dob. I viewed it up to about 200x mag. It wasnt noticeably more prominent using a narrowband filter

I guess I need another upgrade to a bigger dob get the full blue effect!!

Chuffed to have found it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
asteria

asteria

Posted
Posted

Hi - I saw this last night, thanks to my CG-5 Go-to. I was using a 150mm MAK CASS with around a mag. of 120. It was a bright blue shape, quite distinct. The seeing was rather poor so couldn't go higher on the magnification. Hopefully will see this on a better night with a steadier sky. Well worth tracking down.

Ed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.