In Search of the Crab Nebula (M1)

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

mmm interesting, i think i might have to see if a o3 filter could help me. never know

[mcross]

Still waiting for the clouds to clear up here..........

[charsiubau]

It depends on your expectations - just seeing the Crab Nebula for the first time was a buzz for me. Admittedly it was under fairly dark skies. Also supernova remnants tend to be subtle compared to other types of nebulae. The Crab is quite bright and easy to see for a supernova remnant

[toryglen-boy (Duncan)]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

Yes its not a lot to look at sometimes ,, It dosn't get very high and as such average seeing dosn't do it any favours ,, anyone viewed it from northern latitudes ?.


Its an interesting object historicaly in that its formation was likely
noted by other astronomers almost a thousand years ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula

i have viewed it several hundred times from Scotland, before moving down under, and its not bad looking, it looks more puffed out than the ring nebula in Lyra, and is worth viewing, it looked good even through a 114mm reflector.

Maybe Southern skies arent suited to viewing it

[astroron (Ron)]

I think the problem is that we have so many Large Bright Nebulae visible from the Southern Sky,such as the Eta Carina nebula and M42 that a lot of people expect too much after seeing these objects.
Also Messier cataloged these object as not to confuse them with COMETS.
We do not get many very bright Comets so why to we expect Messier objects to be any different
Just think that you are seeing a remnant of a Supernova that was seen in the night sky in 1054 AD and at 6300 light years away is in my opinion quite bright in a 16" scope on a clear night of good seeing.
So just enjoy the view and glean as much detail that many observations will bring you

[mcross]

Just to clarify my original post...

It was not so much being disappointed in the object. It was more that what I was looking at, to me, looked more like a faint globular cluster, which made me question whether I was in the right region of the sky or whether I had accidentally starhopped to another nearby object, hence the request for feedback...

I am yet to go back and have another look - hopefully tonight - but I do agree that the historical value alone makes the Crab worth a look!

Thanks to all for thier thoughts and ideas...

Mark