Saturday was very good

[mickoking]

G,day cobbers,

Saturday night was a beautifull one for the stars. Even living on the edge of Perths suburban sprawl The milky way was easily visable. While I was dark adapting I had fine views of Omega Centauri and the fantastic M104, then it was down to buisness. Musca was my first port of call. I checked out the two bright globulars NGC4833 and 4372. I found the dark nebula next to NGC4372 fun to navigate along with my Dob. I am suprised such a conspicious object has no catalogue number Next in Musca were the two planeteries NGC 5189 and 4071. NGC5189 aka the spiral planetery is one of the easiest planetery nebulae in the sky and I have seen plenty of detail on it previously on my old 200mm Dob. With a 300mm it is a real treat and to me looks a bit like the LMC. The other planetery NGC4071 is new to me. Much fainter than the spiral planetery as it required an OIII to show its form well. The Skysurvey image below shows its general appearence.

After Musca it was over to the bright patch of milky way in Norma/ Ara. Open cluster NGC6134 was worth a peek and then it was on to the Nebula NGC 6164/5 which was barely visable with OIII. NGC6193 was a pretty open cluster shaped a bit like a crown (like Corona Australia) but when I attached my trusty OIII filter the extensive nebula NGC6188 was readily apparent next to the western portion of the cluster. Elongated N-S the view of the nebula was teriffic with averted vision bringing out faint and complex details. The pic below shows the nebulosity well but doesn't do justice to the cluster.

Clear skies Mick

pics, NGC5189 (Gemmini South), NGC4071(NGC online), NGC6188(astronomy pic of the day 2006 jun1)

[astronut (John)]

Hi Mick, the skies were great on Saturday here as well 200km south of Sydney in the dark skies. I noticed you were poking around in Norma.
Have you ever gone after PK 329.2.1 Shapely 1, it's a planetary nebula around mag 12. I tried but couldn't find it, I will try again this w/e
Try for the Helix nebula, can't miss it half as big as the moon, but low surface brightness.

[mickoking]

John, I will look for Shapely 1 next time I am out. I can't find it in Uranometria I have seen the Helix several times. The best view I got was with my 120mm skywatcher refractor and OIII filter, superb. I havent looked for it with my 300mm Dob yet.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Nice report Micko

John, I have found Shapely 1 with my 12.5" from a dark site a year or two ago. Unlike the beautiful pictures available around the web, visually it is very subtle and I suggest you get some detailled star maps printed of the immediate area to make the job a lot easier. I was able to pick up some uneven brightness around the annulus from memory. I also think I enjoyed the unfiltered view more (though I only had a UHC at the time - will have to check it out with my OIII next time). One of my favourite annular planetaries is NGC 6337 near the scorpian's stinger. If you haven't chased this one down yet, make an effort because it is worth it and easy to find too

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Enjoyed your report too Micko
I must go and have a look at the Spiral Planetary again myself !
I need to spend more time under these clear skies, recording some more of these beauties !
It is certainly worth spending the time in one constellation, taking in all the visable delights, starhopping from one to the next.

[astronut (John)]

Hi Andrew, Long time astronomer but new to my LB12".
What am I going to see from a dark site when looking for Shapely 1.
A friend on Saturday had a detailed close up map of SH1, I found the general area on my Sky Atlas 2000 which are very good charts.
What is the best mag to use once you are on the general area.
As a common thread, compared to the ring nebula at 60x what am I going to see. I was probably looking at it but couldn't "see" it

[astro_south (Andrew)]

John,

from memory it was fairly faint and averted vision was required to confirm the ring shape. Not sure I remember what power I was using at the time, but most likely I was at 100x to find it (19mm Pan) and 145x (13mm Nag) and 238x (8mm Rad) to observe it. Really going from memory here, but I do remember some relatively "bright" stars in a line in which the nebula was situated which may make it harder to see the nebula.

It is significanly fainter than the ring nebula and I can't remember the apparent size, but it isn't huge. I will read Hartung's when I get home and see what he said about it.

edit - just found this pic done by Scott Alder that gives you a sense of how faint it is: http://www.nas.org.au/activities/shapely1.html You can see the smattering of brighter stars that may make its detection harder - of course this may help you find the right neighbourhood though.

[mickoking]

I managed to find Shapely1 in my Uranometria, it is listed as PK329+2.1 (thanx Astronut). It sounds like a great challenge, I await the next clear moonless night

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Got a look at the Spiral Planetary myself tonight
Could see it as a disjointed oval, not much detail apart from this.
Definately one to revisit !

[hector (Andrew)]

Hi all
Just a few more interesting planetaries in the skies that you can look at at this time of year.
The Bug NGC6302 a fantastic bipolar planetary and it is VERY bright.
The Diamond Ring NGC6337 a good smoke ring with a star on its edge.
The Blue Planetary NGC3918 lives up to it's name. go for it early
IC5148 in Grus. it is another good smoke ring.
Though this is not a planetary it is a great view none the less and has been mistaken for a planetary in the past. Look for NGC6164/6164 in Norma. It is an ejection shell from a Wolf-Rayet star.
Enjoy your observing
Andrew

[mickoking]

Thanks for that list Hector Love planeteries, they are always underrated