M78 Reflection Nebula in Orion

[DarkerSky]

Sketched on 8 Jan with my 16" x107 magnification.

Notes: Two stars embedded in nebulosity, which seemed to stretch out eastwards / south-eastwards and fade. Fainter nebulosity engulfed the third fainter star further to the southeast as well.

To the north of the northernmost star (bottom of sketch), the edge of the nebulosity seemed quite sharply defined

[astrokat]

very nice bud how do you process your images on the computer

[chrisrnuttall]

Very Nice Seb

I guess the 16" makes it stand out a little more?

cheers

[WayBig]

Nice, I tried looking for this last night too, but couldnt find it with 10 inches. I'll try to find those two stars next time, and then look for the nebulosity

[DarkerSky]

very nice bud how do you process your images on the computer

I sketch pencil onto white paper at the eyepiece and then scan my image to my pc. I just use a bit of free photo software to convert to negative and get the white balance as best I can to view on my monitor.

[DarkerSky]

Very Nice Seb

I guess the 16" makes it stand out a little more?

cheers

You know it's funny. I first observed M78 way back in the 80s with a 6" scope. I had a very dark site then in North Wales. The view I got from my more light polluted skies through my 16" this time wasn't in fact that much different to how I sketched M78 some 20 or so years ago. Maybe a little more diffuse nebulosity around the fringes, and a bit more definition to the edges - but that's about all that was different.

Just goes to show the advantage you can get under a really dark sky!

[chrisrnuttall]

Yeah, that's it, if it weren't for light pollution my 8" would give great results on DSO's, but as it is they are always a little underwhelming, and i live in a semi rural location!

so it's either move to somewhere remote, or get a huge telescope.

[oldfruit]

Hi. I observed M78 also the other night with my 8 inch newt, quite similar to what is saw but was not quite so bright but i was observing from my back yard in town.

Nice work.