Elusive Eskimo nebula

[AlanK]

Is the Eskimo nebula (ngc 2392) an easy visual object or are filters needed to pick out the nebulosity?

I spent ages last night sweeping the area with the 12"Dob using a 32mm eyepiece, but no sign of a nebula! That said, seeing conditions were far from ideal with light haze dimming most M objects which appeared fainter that they did the previous night. Nearby NGC 2420 was easy enough to pick out, but that's a different kind of beast being an open cluster.

The benefit of others' experience would be a great help.

[callisto]

In a 32mm eyepiece the nebula appears quite starlike, but if you roughly know where it is, bump up the power and then you will notice a "star" become more round with a green colour to it.

If you look around the eyepiece to the edge of FOV you should notice that it blinks on and off, thats the Eskimo

[Talitha]

The surface brightness is quite good and i had no problem seeing it with the 120ST refractor. It's just below a magnitude 8.2 star (see attached sketch), and at low power it may appear to be stellar. Keep looking, you'll get it.

[swamp thing]

Hi Alan

The problem with this little blighter aint brightness its size.

It appears almost stellar at low power.

Bump up the mag a bit to say a 20-25mm eyepiece should help it stand out from the stars better.

Your 12" will show it real easy.

Regards Steve

[NGC404]

Shows up well in my 10"

As others have said, you will need to up the power

[DarkerSky]

As others have said, a moderate magnifcation will work better for you if you can zone in on the position. If seeing permits, I'd def recommend a high magnification to pull out the details. I recently had great fun with it at x300 in my 12"...a disc of light with brightness variations embedded within a larger fainter disc. A beautiful sight

[AlanK]

Job done...as you all advised a bit more power was all that it needed and I found it tonight with no problems at all.

[bish]

It's one of those things that once you have found it you will have no problem finding it again. It's not far from wasat and there are some fainter stars close by to act as pointers. Will be great in the a 12", it's bright in a 8". Keep at it.