[Lismore Bloke (Paul)]

Observations in Puppis – Part II – and some other objects elsewhere, just because they’re there!

Over 2 nights, Thursday 11th and Friday 12th February
30cm Dobsonian
17, 12 and 9mm Naglers
Transparency 4/5, seeing about the 3.5/5.
Dew: light. Enough to dampen the maps but not affect the scope.
Sizes, positions etc are from Deep Sky Browser.

NGC 2453 OC – PUPPIS
07h 47.8 -27.14
SIZE 5.0’ MAGNITUDE 8.3
A tiny little cluster with 3 stars brighter than the rest. One dense group near the edge almost looked unresolved, but using the 7mm (214X) resolved them into a small clump of powdery stars. Both this cluster and the following Planetary fitted into the field of the 7mm easily.

NGC 2452 PN – PUPPIS
07h 47.26 -27.20
SIZE 31” X 24” MAGNITUDE 12.2
This one appeared as a grey, somewhat elongated PN. Using the barlow revealed that the centre was a bit darker than the edges, but only slightly. No sign of a central star.

NGC 2298 GC – PUPPIS
06h 48.26 -36 00
SIZE 6.8’ MAGNITUDE 9.29
Compact globular, not exactly bright but easily spotted in the field. There was no general resolution into individual stars, just the barest hint of granularity, especially towards the edges. The shape in the outer regions seemed a bit ragged or irregular.

NGC 2310 GX – PUPPIS
06h 53.53 -40 51
SIZE 5.0X1.2 MAGNITUDE 12.48
Puppis isn’t exactly the first constellation you think of when chasing galaxies. I was happy to spot this faint one and made a voice record and rough sketch of the star field to check later. Just to be sure I was seeing it. Slender, quite faint haze but there seemed to be a stellar nucleus when seeing improved momentarily. Very pleased, as it’s one of the faintest galaxies I have seen from home.

NGC 2579 OC + BN – PUPPIS
08h 21 -36 11
SIZE 10’ MAGNITUDE 7.5
This is a small but bright nebula with a mag 10 star embedded in it, there is another similar star close by. Deep Sky Browser states that it is in a HII region. The haze was fairly uniform and helped when I used the UHC on the 12mm EP – it seemed to extend the size of the haze a bit and improved the view. Perhaps an O-III may work better. It is classed as an open cluster with nebula, but you could be forgiven for thinking – cluster, what cluster? The stars are very loose and scattered, seeming to merge into the starfield. A number of other clusters in Puppis also seem to merge into the rich background starfield that runs through the area.

NGC 4361 PN - CORVUS
12h 24 -18.47
SIZE 114” MAGNITUDE 10.9
Pretty large and bright PN, imagine the PN at the point of a triangle with Gamma and Delta Corvi as the base. This one seemed fairly even in brightness, but again, an O-III filter might reveal more. The central star was very obvious. The shape seemed a bit elongated.

NGC 3132 PN - VELA (Eight Burst)
10h 07 -40 26
SIZE 84” X 53” MAGNITUDE 9.87
This is a beautiful glowing sight in the eyepiece. It appeared as an oval shaped ring or annulus. There is a bright star at the centre (Mag 10) surrounded by a darker area. Definitely need an O-III filter to see if more of the detail can be seen.

NGC 3242 PN – HYDRA (Ghost of Jupiter)
10h 24 -18 38
SIZE 45” X 36” MAGNITUDE 7.8
This PN is even brighter than the Eight Burst. It has the appearance of a planet but the colour seemed bluish - more like that of Neptune than Jupiter. A closer look with the 9mm and 2X Barlow showed a glowing disk with a somewhat darker centre. There seemed to be a ghostly band around the edges that gave it a diffuse appearance. The central star flickered in and out as seeing changed. Am I seeing it? Ah yes, there it is. This one is a real stunner.

NGC 1952 (M1) – Supernova Remnant – TAURUS (Crab Nebula)
05h 34 +22 00
SIZE 6.5 X 5.0 MAGNITUDE 8.77
Not far from Zeta, the Crab Nebula is a fairly bright glowing object, somewhat oval shaped. It has been compared to the shape of a potato, and that’s a pretty good comparison. The brightness seemed uneven across the disk and the edges had a suggestion of raggedness or unevenness. An easy object to pick up.

After these were examined I ended by looking through Orion.

NGC 2024 – Emission Nebula – Orion (Flame Nebula)
05h 41 -01 49
SIZE 35’ X 30’ MAGNITUDE 10.7
Well, I have looked long and hard for the famous Horsehead, and it’s still out there somewhere. This nebula is much easier to catch. It appears and a pair of glowing strips of gas with a dark lane separating them. Easier to see if you leave Zeta out of the field.

The session ended with another look at M42, the Trapezium and Rigel with its pretty little companion sitting alongside. Easy to spot it even in the 17mm. The observations above were conducted over two of the best nights I have spent at the eyepiece. Very enjoyable. Thanks for looking!