New Planetary Nebula? Report

[astroron (Ron)]

10:08 UT 08:20 pm Local.Planetary Nebula hinted at in 13mm nagler as a slight small gray haze against the background, no detail
7mm radian,304xmag was able to see a slight roundish patch with 14-15 mag stars coming into view in moments of very good seeing.
7 mm Radian with 2xBarlow 608xmag was able to bring out the 2 stars but Nebula was much fainter.
O111 filter was no help at all next filter purchase will be a UHC
Also observed Comet Garradd at a guess about mag x10.
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
From about 11:00 UT Spent some time on Jupiter looking for the Bird strike using all the eyepieces in my armoury was able to see in moments of good seeing with the 9mm plossl and a 2x barlow a stretched dark marking which in moments of good seeing seemed to be split into three smaller markings.
Had a look at the Moon which even though low down was beautiful and crisp.
Called it a night at 12:45 UT.
A good nights observing

[Liz]

Thanks Ron!! Sounded like a good night with lots seen
Well done on the nebula too.

[pgc hunter]

Great report! Congrats on seeing the new PNe! I'll be sure to hunt it down, assuming it'll be clear here in Melbourne before the sun turns into a red giant and vaporises Earth...and me with it.

You seem to have spotted it quite easily visually, it's a surprise no one has picked it before with what all the DSS surveys, giant telescopes, CCD technology etc etc. Kudos to the lucky bugger who discovered it..and what a feat amongst all this technology!

Nice job catching IC1296 aswell, no chance of seeing it here....simply far too low and in the light pollution/haze. The Ring Nebula is however very nice in my 12" desite being 10º off the horizon

What size scope were you using?

[astroron (Ron)]

Thanks Liz and Hunter
I will give it a go again tonight with my Trusty 40cm Truss Newtonian.
See my signature for details of my equipment

[ngcles]

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.

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

[astroron (Ron)]

Thanks Les I read a thread on Amastro a while ago on IC 1296 and some people claimed to have seen it in a 15cm scope even though it was not glaringly bright in Peter Robbins 75cm ()30") scope
The same could be said for the central star in M57, it just popped into view but was not constant
I hope you have good weather next week for your observing session at Mudgee

[astroron (Ron)]

Re observed the New Planetary tonight ,seeing slightly better than last night for just a little while
I was able to get a sort of shape, round broader one end then graduely tapering away no real detail except three stars were seen compared to two last night.
I was able to go to mag x604 using 6mm Radian and 2xBarlow
I then did a Tour of galaxies in Pavo and Grus
Observed the Ring Nebula with the Radian, Barlow, combination, still no central star
Jupiter not as good as last night so decided not to wait for the "Bird strike" to come round.
Cheers

[seanliddelow (Sean)]

Is this a different pn from the one in sagitarius?

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by seanliddelow

Is this a different pn from the one in sagitarius?

No Sean, it is the same one

[seanliddelow (Sean)]

Have you raised this issue on the spectrascopy forums?

[astroron (Ron)]

No! I am sure that the people who do Spectra read more than just the Spectroscopy thread, so if they want to do one they are quite welcome