Orion Nebula

[iceworks]

Dark, clear skies in Swan Hill last night, spur of the moment put the telescope on the back decking. Happened to land upon the Orion nebula. What a magnificent creation. ETX 125 with 26mm plossl, no cooling down time, no nebula filters, yet I was blown away by the beauty of it. First nebula that I have seen( always thought one needed special filters and big aperture ). Who needs colour photography, the natural colours of white and grey was magnificent? Can anyone recommend other nebulae worth viewing au naturale?:thumbsup:

[erick]

Eta Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) - but you'll need to move to your front porch!

Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) (in the Large Magellanic Cloud) - Look right from your front Porch.

:)

[GazzMeister]

Gotta go with Erick on the Eta Carina, it still gets a look in every session I'm involved in. But in saying that, I still (personally) love the Orion Nebula, It was my first neb too :D.

[Domol]

Don't forget M8 and M20 in the winter time, but you'll need a warm jacket!

[mark3d]

ive been looking at orion every time too. its good value.. easy to find, amazing to view :) i like how with the nake eye you can only just see what looks like a star - look through the scope and its so much more.

i'm yet to find another but am determined too. this thread will help!

[John Saunders]

Orion is my favourite. But, the other night I was scanning across the Milky Way and before I realised it I was in Eta Carina. I put the neb filter on and it was FANTASTIC - from my back yard as well. A good dark night with the new moon - I had forgotten what a darker sky can be like. My eyepiece was literally full of stars. I've been doing this for a few short years, but still get awed on a dark night.:)

[iceworks]

Don't forget that Swan Hill is a holiday town and has wonderful dark skies and clear nights, especially in Winter when I have lots of time off. I even have access to five thousand acres of Mallee country not far from town( clear horizons and absolutely no light pollution). Anyone( serial killers not withstanding) is welcome, I have plenty of spare rooms and space for tents and swags. I'm on sixty acres next to the Murray river about eight minutes from town. Love to catch up with stargazers with experience to learn from. Free accomodation in return for picking ur brains for knowledge.:hi:

[Screwdriverone]

Damn, that rules me out..... :lol:

Just joking


Chris

[crazzyroo]

You took the words right out of my mouth, my next door naighbour pointed me in the direction of Orion neb on the weekend and WOW (only had my scope 3 weeks).

In terms of the other two nebs...where can you find them? from the north sky I can find orion, mars & saturn at first glance...so yeah...how to from there?

I live on the gold coast if that helps...

Many thanks in advance

Nick

[erick]

Brett, that's a very tempting offer come this winter. Remind me - Melbourne to Swan Hill - about 6 hours drive? Where is Swan Hill relative to your place on the Murray since there must be some sky glow in that direction. Hopefully it's east or west and not north or south?

But it might be wishful thinking - finding a free weekend with time to get to and from Swan Hill might be a challenge for me. Others might take you up?

[erick]

Nick

Sounds like you don't have any suitable maps or planetarium software. Lots of guides in the threads on this site, but try here:-

http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

Download the latest map for the Southern Hemisphere (currently March) as a pdf or zip file.

That gives you a view of the sky at a particular time of the evening, with objects marked on it and a good listing of targets for naked eye, binoculars and telescope.

Enjoy!

[iceworks]

4 hours from Melbourne to Swan Hill. My place is north-west of Swan Hill. No sky glow from town.

[tnbk00]

Im with Erick...I would be interested in a field trip some time ;)

[desler]

I have to agree Swan Hill in winter sound good.


For using skymaps, if you have trouble, say figuring what to see to the south, hold the map with south closest to you and then turn to the south, what you see in the sky is then printed right in front of you, if you go past the small cross in the centre of the map, your not facing south, your facing north so turn the map around.

I know it sounds basic, but it had me scratching my head for a while.


Darren :screwy:

[Moonboy]

The trip to Swan Hill sounds good.
Please tell me when its happening.

I can't really recommend any nebula, because I've only seen the Orion nebula.
Me think that the white and gray colors are better then the fancy colors of the photography.

Gus

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop:
yes yes get ya woollies on and get ya butts to swan hill i have some learning to do :thumbsup:

[Brian W]

Hi Triffid and Lagoon nebula, not to forget the Swan if they get up into your sky are quite impressive in my 4.5 reflector without filters. And one of the prettiest asterism, nebula is the Butterfly which is in the same general vicinity
Brian

[renormalised]

Nick....if you look towards the Sth'n Cross follow the (faint) Milky Way across to the larger False Cross (an asterism made up of stars from Carina and Pupis). Now come back towards the Cross till you're just a little on the Cross's side of halfway between the two. If you look carefully and to one side of that patch of sky, you'll see a faint, hazy cloud-like object that's shaped a bit like an upturned triangle, about the size of the full moon. That's the eta Carina Nebula:D. I've knocked up a map for you that's attached to this post, that'll show you a few of the sights around the area of the sky. Use it to find your way about:D

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: