Hi Ron,
Good to see you tracked down this new relatively bright (in context) PNe -- I was (still am actually) going to have a go at it the weekend after next up at Mudgee. Thanks for the notes on it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron
Then onto the Ring Nebula and IC 1296, I was just able to spot it with averted vision.
I have yet to see the central star in the ring nebula even though people with smaller scopes say they have seen it quite a few times  |
You and me both mate.
I dunno whether it has to do with its low elevation at culmination (though you are better off than I in that respect) or whether southern hemisphere observers are just a bunch of fools who don't know how to look through a 'scope, but I haven't seen it either after years and years of trying in 12 and 18" 'scopes. I have seen IC 1296 -- but it was a stretch. I've got a slightly bigger 'scope than yours but it is lower in the sky here to balance that. Very difficult object.
Dunno, but I am given to suspecting that
some of the alleged sightings of the central star in M57 I read from northern hemisphere observers using relatively small 'scopes might just sometimes be a product of "averted imagination" or "me too" ism ...
Maybe I'm wrong (and the benefit of the doubt probably applies) but I can't help being a tad suspicious of (at least) some of them ...
Thanks for the report.
Best,
Les D