Observations Thursday 15th October

[Lismore Bloke]

What do you do when you find yourself wide awake at 2.30 am? Grab the Dob and head outside and look at the Orion region! Only a brief summary before the moon rose. A taste of the summer nights ahead.
12" GSO Dob.
22 and 12 Naglers.
Seeing 4 out of 5, transparency 3.5 (dust mostly gone).

M42 - I don't think I have seen this wonderful region better than this morning. The 2 new Nagler eyepieces really showed their worth. Averted vision just seemed to extend the nebulosity further than I have seen before and this without any filter.

NGC 2068 - this bright reflection nebula enveloped 2 mag 10 stars. The nebulosity seemed mottled or perhaps powdery, somewhat oval in shape.

NGC 2071 - in the same field as 2068, this nebula was surrounding a mag 10 star. Smaller, fainter and more diffuse than the above but easy without a filter.

NGC 2024 - The Flaming Tree nebula's main shape and wide dark division was better with the 12mm, with Alnitak (zeta) out of the field of view. That darned Horse Head thing is around this region, but I doubt if I will ever see it.

Sigma Orion is one of the best multiple systems in the sky. Moderate magnification shows 4 stars and there is another close companion not seen, making 5. Almost a mini cluster.

Some good info on Sigma here:
http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sigmaori.html

Beta Monoceros A beautiful triple system making a long triangle shape.

Epsilon Monoceros is a bright and beautiful pair of yellow stars.

Monoceros is sometimes overshadowed by the brilliance of Orion and Canis Major, but it has some wonderful star fields, doubles and DSO's.The Canberra Astronomical Society's excellent website has this information on Moneceros and the galaxies of Dorado:
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/cas/southerncross/sc_200202.html

There was a number of meteors radiating from the Orion region and one fireball that streaked from NE towards the SE and left a glowing trail behind it. By this time the moon was rising and time to head inside. Excellent little session.

[DavidU]

A great little session Paul.Nicely topped off by some meteors.

[ngcles]

Hi Paul & All,

A good report mate and yep, what else do ya do?

NGC 2068 is also known as M78 and this area is awash with several fairly bright reflection nebulae. M42 and IC 434 aren't the only nebulae in Orion!

Sigma Orionis is a spectacular multiple --well worth the visit and it also is the likely source of illumination/ionisation of the Horsehead Complex (IC 434). It is a pity that the flame nebula is so close to Zeta Orionis which makes it so much harder to see.

Beta Monocerotis is also a fine *** -- easy at low power. As I recall ...

I do not believe it! I just went to look up my observation of Beta Monocerotis and ... I don't have one! Amazing, I've seen this triple maybe ten times over the years and it seems I never made an observation. There's another little project for summer ...

Glad to hear the Naglers are being enjoyed. They are truly wonderful eyepieces. Each to his own but I don't use anything else nowadays.

Keep trying with the Horsehead (IC 434) -- you'll get there. A UHC filter helps but don't use the OIII (it will kill it)


Best,

Les D

[mental4astro]

Hi Lismore et al.

Thanks for the report. Has given me some ideas for this comeing weekend. The Horse Head is one, the other, nearby to Orion, The Crab. I've only seen the Crab once, a year ago, at the Dubbo Observatory through on of their 12" Meade SCT's. This time I'm on my own.

Enjoy this new moon weekend all.

Mental.

[goober]

Nice report. I'll sub in for Les (never thought that would happen) and add my view of Beta Mon, as well as M78..

Beta Monocerotis - triple star in Monoceros
Date: 2008/01/14 at 2200EDT
Location: Melbourne
Telescope: 101mm, 7mm, 77x, 1 deg
Conditions: moon=-, dew=-, wind=-
Seeing: 3 (Pickering)
Transparency: -
Notes: Hint of a triple at 77x, easily confirmed at 154x. Very bright, all appear white.

M78 - emission nebula in Orion
Date: 2007/11/08 at 2300 EDT
Location: Melbourne
Telescope: 101mm, 11mm, 49x, 1.7 deg
Conditions: moon=-, dew=-, wind=-
Seeing: 6 (Pickering)
Transparency: 6
Notes: Took a few minutes to find. Hazy, misty and rather small. Two mag. 9/10 stars superimposed over it. Not spectacular from light polluted skies.

[Lismore Bloke]

Thank you for the kind comments everyone,

Alexander - you should not have any problems with the Crab, but the Horsehead ... good luck!! I hope you have dark skies, good dark adaptation and a filter or two.

Doug - how do you find the Naglers at the short end - 5 and 7? I find I don't get much shorter than 9mm in this area unless the seeing is good.

Les - have you tried for the Horsehead with a hydrogen beta filter? Some observers think it's the best but only useful for a handful of objects.

[pgc hunter]

Nice report. You should be able to catch the Horsehead with a H-beta filter. It won't be bright, the contrast between IC434 and B33 is akin to comparing satin black to flat black.

Surprisingly, I find that the H-beta helps on NGC1977 (the Running Man Nebula), I certainly can't explain that!

[Paddy]

Sounds like a good night, Paul! Thanks for an interesting report. That elusive horsehead! Took me years to find it and certainly a UHC filter helped as Les said.

[goober]

Paul, the Naglers are very good in my scope, but I'm only F5 so they aren't pushing it too much.