mickoking
16-07-2006, 04:23 PM
G,day all,
After a partly cloudy day the clouds seemed to dissapear at sunset and left me and the Dob in peace for some fine viewing. One object I finally got round to seeing was Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our solar system at a mere 4.21 light years away. When I finally found the 11th magnitude beast there was absolutely nothing to differentiate it from the other stars in the field, what a feeble star :P
Time now for some serious deep sky action and it seems planeteries are high on the agenda again tonight. The action started in Norma and first up is Shapely1 (PK 329+2.1). Swept it up quite easily due to a convenient field star and saw Sp1 with averted vision. With my trusty OIII filter the planetery is easy but faint, quite circular with the NE edge slightly brighter. Menzel 2 (PK 329-2.2) is very easy to find being next to the bright, speccy cluster NGC 6067. Mz2 is both brighter and smaller than Sp1, round and featureless ghostly grey. Open cluster NGC 6067 is worth a visit if only to see the pretty double star at it's centre, orange and blue by my reckoning. Over to Scorpious and NGC 6302 The Bug Nebula lives up to it's name. Orientated roughly E-W this planetery consist's of two 'lobes'. The east lobe is bighter and the west lobe is fainter but more elongated. A faint envelpoe of luminous material appears to extend eastward form the brighter lobe. The Bug is also quite bright, one of the brightest objects in the field. Nearby NGC 6337 is a easy to find planetery that seems to show a central star. With the OIII filter NGC 6337 presents a pretty smoke ring similar to a miniture M57.
Thanks Astronut (John) for reccomending Sp1 and likewise thanx Hector for putting me onto NGC's 6337 and 6302. Well it looks like being another clear one tonight, may everyone have clear skies, Mick :)
After a partly cloudy day the clouds seemed to dissapear at sunset and left me and the Dob in peace for some fine viewing. One object I finally got round to seeing was Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our solar system at a mere 4.21 light years away. When I finally found the 11th magnitude beast there was absolutely nothing to differentiate it from the other stars in the field, what a feeble star :P
Time now for some serious deep sky action and it seems planeteries are high on the agenda again tonight. The action started in Norma and first up is Shapely1 (PK 329+2.1). Swept it up quite easily due to a convenient field star and saw Sp1 with averted vision. With my trusty OIII filter the planetery is easy but faint, quite circular with the NE edge slightly brighter. Menzel 2 (PK 329-2.2) is very easy to find being next to the bright, speccy cluster NGC 6067. Mz2 is both brighter and smaller than Sp1, round and featureless ghostly grey. Open cluster NGC 6067 is worth a visit if only to see the pretty double star at it's centre, orange and blue by my reckoning. Over to Scorpious and NGC 6302 The Bug Nebula lives up to it's name. Orientated roughly E-W this planetery consist's of two 'lobes'. The east lobe is bighter and the west lobe is fainter but more elongated. A faint envelpoe of luminous material appears to extend eastward form the brighter lobe. The Bug is also quite bright, one of the brightest objects in the field. Nearby NGC 6337 is a easy to find planetery that seems to show a central star. With the OIII filter NGC 6337 presents a pretty smoke ring similar to a miniture M57.
Thanks Astronut (John) for reccomending Sp1 and likewise thanx Hector for putting me onto NGC's 6337 and 6302. Well it looks like being another clear one tonight, may everyone have clear skies, Mick :)