Last night I looked at 16 Planetary Nebulae with my 12" Dobsonian and an 8mm eyepiece at 190 times with a 25' field.
The PN were ICs 418 & 2501 and NGCs 1535, 2346, 2392, 2438 in M46, 2440, 2867, 2899, 3132, 3195, 3242, 3699, 3918, 4361 and 5189.
The most difficult PN was I2501 as it is almost stellar. I had to use a UHC filter to confirm it. I418 is also small. N2346 has a bright star in it and also needs a UHC filter. N2867 is small. N2899 and N3699 are large and faint. N3195 is small and faint. The rest are pretty easy to see.
Among the other objects I observed last Friday there were a number of Planetary Nebs that you also visited Glen, including NGC3132, NGC2438 in M46, NGC2392, NGC 2440, NGC2867, NGC 3242, NGC3918.
Seeing was not great when I started that night but certainly improved as the night wore on - all these were nice easy objects..
Sounds like you had a good night. I was also out last night for a couple of hours with the 12" for the first time in weeks. Apart from clouds now and then conditions were very good. Clear and steady. Mainly looked at OC's, but there were a few other ring-ins. Spotted 3918 blue planetary, can find it regularly now, once you showed me where it was!! Also saw the usual showpieces, 5139, 5128, 4372 in Musca (nice one). One of the highlights was cruising around 3372 Carina with various EP's, ranging from a 45mm Plossl to a 15mm, the latter was best, having more contrast at the higher magnification. No wonder it is a great favourite. Saturn with the rings nearly side-on was great. Last was the combination of 2437 and 2438 (Puppis). I saw this years ago with the old 10" and just spotted it in the viewfinder. I don't know whether the PN is embedded in the cluster or just a line-of-sight effect. Great object though, with the PN seeming to wink at me when running my vision around the cluster. Hopefully many more nights outside. The wife has had a huge Certificate 4 project to do at the school and we have been doing little alse for weeks. Cheers, paul.
I looked at 8 more PN last night with the 12" at 190X.
NGCs 1360, 5307, 6153, 6302, 6337, 6369 and 6563 also Menzel-2.
N5307 is small, N6337 is very faint, the rest are fairly easy.
I wish the view of this pair through the EP was as impressive as the image, although it is still a pretty cool object!! Very prominent central star, of course didn't see that. I'll have another look tonight. I am still trying to find NGC 3132. I might try using the stars of Vela as a guide - Antlia is a bit too faint for me to pick out. NGC 2392 is also possible, once it clears the house ... my north view is rubbish - Saturn is just skimming the roof from our backyard. You must have been out late, the Scorpio area was just rising when I went to bed, so I will wait for a month or so when it is higher. Those of us who have to work can't stay out all night. Cheers, Paul.
The attached SkyMapPro map is for 10pm tonight.
Paul, I suggest you find mu Vel first then the GC N3201 then the PN N3132. (mu looks like a fancy U)
The star down to the left of 3132 looks double in a finder.
Thanks for the map Glen. After some finger pointing and star hopping it wasn't that hard to find. I started with the 32mm and thought, have some sense, it's a PN - small!! The 12mm Ortho with the old nebula filter screwed in was best. That's as much power as I normally use, except on moon and planets. Movement in azimuth is still rather jerky. The central star was very prominent, there was a sense of structure about it, but I wasn't too sure. I wish I had Rob's 16" mirror and fancy eyepieces and filters. Also spotted NGC2392, very similar object in size, although the gaseous envelope seemed more diffuse at the edges, but again I am not sure. All in all it was a good night. Rob has been posting on the Northern Rivers thread, that's where he mentioned the Eskimo Neb.
Thanks for posting the map, it was a real help in finding it.
A nice object too, thought I could make out some detail in my 12" despite some annoying nearby lights. Though that could have been wishful thinking too.
The attached file contains 50 bright planetary nebulae.
I prefer the larger fainter PN rather than small bright ones so there is a bias in my selection.
36 of the 50 PN are between dec +50 and dec -50, 7 are north of dec +50 and 7 south of dec -50.
Surface brightness comes into play alot more than globs. I have only managed about half of the top 50 from surburban Canberra with a 9.25".
(Using a list of top 50 purely by mag)
Grant did you use an OIII or UHC filter?
The faintest objects in my list of 50 PN are NGC 6772 - mag 12.6, diameter 70" and NGC 5844 - mag 13.3, diameter 68". The later is easy in a 16" Dob with a filter.
The smallest PN in my list of 50 PN is NGC 6752 - mag 8.0, diameter 16".
A couple of nights back I looked at 31 PN with a 16" scope.
NGC 6309 looks like a double star with a 13mm EP (139x) and UHC filter.
A 9mm EP (200x) shows it is a PN and mag 12 star. https://picasaweb.google.com/1100488...70033830034498
I looked at 22 planetary nebulae last night with a 16" scope at 200 times.
The GC NGC 6440 and the PN NGC 6445 make a nice pair.
They are mags 9.3 and 11.2 respectively and only 22' apart.
The PN is 2.1 deg from the OC M23 in pa 241.
The wikisky.org image below shows the PN top and GC.
Guys,
You may find using a prism at the eyepiece (or a slit-less DV spectroscope) makes spotting small planetaries easier.
Stars form short spectra, the PN remains as a bright point.
Hartung used this method very successfully ;-)
Last night I saw the very faint PN NGC 7094 (mag 13.4, size 1.6') with a 16" GSO Dob.
It was visible with a 21mm EP and a UHC filter but not with a 9mm EP and no filter. The PN is 1deg 47m east of the GC M15.
Lewis Swift discovered it in 1884 with a 16" refractor from the Warner Observatory in NY.
He described it as a star [mag 13.6] in an eeF nebulae, very difficult. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Observatory
On 23 Apr I looked at 19 PNe with a 16" GSO Dob and a TV T6 7mm Nagler (260 times) between 10pm and midnight.
The faintest PN was NGC 6337. NGCs 2818 and 2899 were also faint.
NGC 2867 and NGC 5882 were small.
The other PN were NGCs 2438 (in M46), 2440, 3132, 3195, 3242, 3699, 3918, 5189, 6153, 6302, 6369, 6563, IC4406 and Menzel 2.
NGC 3699 has a dark lane through it.
NGC 6153 forms a mini cross with 3 stars.
NGC 6369 has a dark core.
I wish I could see the PN's, but there's not much I can do with a nice big moon at the moment. I've got about 10 on my observing list and they've been on my list for a month. If it's not cloudy, then the moon is big!