Gum 5

[glenc]

Gum 5, also Sh 2-301 or RCW 6 looks fairly bright.
It forms a large isosceles triangle (sides 6 degs long) with Sirius and M41. Has anyone seen it?
Diameter is 9', RA is 07 09 55 and dec -18 30.
http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/details.py?id=21586&t=hii&s=4_p2.5xp8.5&name=Gum%205
The image below is from wikisky.org. It shows Gum 5 left, Sirius top right and M41 lower right.

[glenc]

I was "observing" with wikisky.org and came across this interesting object called DG113 about 1.5 degrees west of M50.
The 52' wide image below also shows the small (2' long) comet like nebula NGC 2313 top left,
and the large (10' across) faint nebulae Sh2-291 top right. DG113 or LDN 1655 is at RA 06 57 08, dec -08 14.
NGC 2313 was discovered with an 11" refractor in 1862 by d'Arrest.
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/ngcic/persons/d-arrest.htm

[glenc]

Saw Gum 5 with my 12" Dob last night using a 13mm EP and a UHC filter. It was faint but not difficult. I picked it up by sweeping the area at 115 times. It was also visible with no filter but only just. There is a map in post #1 below. Gum 5 is 19,000 light years away and 50 light years across.

[pgc hunter]

I haven't tried for it, but might do so next clear sky. Looks like an interesting object, reminds me of the flame. Did you see the dark gap?

[glenc]

No didn't see the dark gap.

[kevinjardine]

Hi Glen,

Great to see that you've been looking at Gum 5. I've been studying this region in preparation for writing the next section of my Commentary on the Galactic Plane:

http://galaxymap.org/drupal/node/96

If you look at this region in hydrogen-alpha, it appears to be just a small nebular patch midway between the Seagull nebula and Sh 2-310:

http://galaxymap.org/iras/iras.php?centreLon=231.52587890625&centreLat=-4.02099609375&zoom=6&tile_source=2&show_markers=1

but if you look at it in infrared, it seems to be part of a huge shell:

http://galaxymap.org/iras/iras.php?centreLon=231.52587890625&centreLat=-4.02099609375&zoom=6&tile_source=1&show_markers=1

If you take a look at this recent paper:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008ApJ...672..930V

You'll see that this is the direction in which the Orion spur starts to cross the Perseus arm on its way into the outer galaxy. So there are lots of objects here at many different distances.

Kevin

[glenc]

You have done an amazing lot of work Kevin and your website is fantastic.
I saw the Seagull nebula this morning with 20x80 binoculars, also NGC 2359, NGC 2467 and part of the Gum nebula (around RA 08 30, dec -50) between NGC 2457 and IC 2391. Also saw the part of Barnard's loop near M78 with 20x80s.

[pgc hunter]

How likely am I to spot the seagull nebula with my 12" from outer suburban location? I have tried, but never succeeded although I may have been tired and hasty on the occasions.

[glenc]

I saw it with my 20x80s this morning as I said below but it needs a low power and no light pollution.
A UHC filter will help too with the 12", although I didn't use one today.