Along the Milky Way

[glenc]

Looked at some nebulae with the 12" last night from 11:30pm to 1am.
Started with a 26mm Plossl and a UHC filter and looked at:
eta Car, NGCs 3324, 3247, 3199, 3581-2, 3603, 6164-5, 6188, 6357, 6334, 6604
also ICs 2944-8, 2872, 4603, 4606, 4628 and M20, M8, M16, M17.
Then I used a 13mm Hyperion without a filter and looked at NGC 6726-7, 6590.
The faintest nebulae were NGC 6164-5 and 6604. N6165 was easier than N6164 and only a small part of N6604 was seen.

[glenc]

There is some great information about filters and nebulae at:
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/raycash/filters.htm

Filter Performance Comparisons for Some Common Nebulae
by David Knisely Prairie Astronomy Club
The following is a summary report of visual observations of emission nebulae comparing the performance of various filters intended for such objects. The instrument used is a 10" f/5.6 Newtonian, working at 59x, 70x, and 141x, as well as a few unaided-eye observations using the filters hand-held and looking up at the sky (for Rosette, North America, California, and Barnard's Loop). The filters used were Lumicon's DEEP-SKY, UHC, OIII, and H-BETA, and were usually all mounted in a modified Lumicon multi-filter adapter. This allowed rapid comparisons between filters, thus avoiding some of the judgement problems caused by the time needed to change filters or reports from inaccurate single-observation anecdotal accounts. Observing was done from a dark-sky site (visual naked-eye limit 6.5 to 7.0). For detailed descriptions of the objects, see any of the various observing handbooks. Two methods were used for rating filter performance. In the first method, each filter was given a 0-5 point "Score" performance ranking behind it for each object observed; Example: OIII (4) means the OIII gave a large improvement in the view over non-filter use and contributes 4 points to its overall score total. Items such as overall surface brightness, area of nebulosity observed, and contrast of detail were used to judge how well a filter improved the view. However, since this judgement contains some of the personal preferences of the observer, the exact results may be somewhat subjective in the long run. Different observers might have slightly different ratings of various filters on various objects, so small differences in judgments are to be expected. Still, the scoring does on average give a reasonable idea of overall filter performance.

[glenc]

Saw about 25 diffuse nebulae with the 12" Dob after the moon set at 11:30pm last night. Started in the south with NGC 3199 and worked my way north along the milky way to NGC 6888, NGC 6992, IC 1318 and NGC 7000. Used a UHC filter for the emission nebulae. Saw the triangular part in the middle of the veil (Fleming's wisp) as well as 6960 and 6992-5. http://www.astrocruise.com/veil.htm
Also saw the two parts of IC 1318 to the left of gamma Cyg in the first image here. http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/~mclark/i1318.htm (http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/%7Emclark/i1318.htm)

[glenc]

Here are some nice images of nebulae.
http://www.fourthdimensionastroimaging.com/Nebulae.html

[glenc]

I saw NGC 1579 last night, tried a UHC filter first and it was difficult.
However it was easy to see without a filter using a 13mm EP (115x & 40' field) on the 12" Dob.
http://www.ngcic.org/dss/n/1/n1579.jpg

[glenc]

The center of the Milky Way is about 3.5 degrees to the right of M6 at 8pm tonight and it is 7 degrees to the left of M20. Well actually it is about 30,000 light years away in that direction.
In the opposite direction, the outside edge of the MW is about 4 degrees above M37 at 3am and also 4 degrees down to the right of beta Tau. More correctly it is 20,000 light years away in that direction.
More info is at: http://www.seds.org/messier/more/mw.html

[glenc]

Take a look at these nebulae in the southern milky way. http://www.wikisky.org/?ra=10.671660798241708&de=-59.62157475205197&zoom=5&show_grid=1&show_constellation_lines=1&show_constellation_boundaries=1&show_const_names=0&show_galaxies=1&img_source=DSS2
Move your mouse over objects to find their ID. From left to right the nebulae are NGCs 3603, 3576, 3372 (eta Car), 3324, 3247 and 3199.
Zoom in for a closer look. Also take a look at IC 2944-48 down to the left of NGC 3603.

[glenc]

"The Chambliss Award for Amateur Achievement for 2008, presented by the American Astronomical Society (http://aas.org/) (AAS), was awarded to Steve Mandel of the Hidden Valley Observatory, Soquel, California, last week. Mandel was cited for his many contributions to wide-field imaging, including collaboration on the Mandel-Wilson Unexplored Nebulae Project (http://www.galaxyimages.com/UNP1.html), a survey searching for extremely low surface brightness interstellar clouds in the Milky Way..."
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/39135422.html
http://www.galaxyimages.com/M81-82Color.html
http://www.galaxyimages.com/UNP1.html