NGC7000

Yesterday evening was cloudy, but the air was so transparent that the view from my balcony looked like a painting by an old Flemish master. Before I went to bed, I checked the skies - they were clear with some clouds near the horizon. I rushed to the back yard with my ST80.

I looked at the NA nebula with my new Panoptic 24mm and the Baader UHC filter. The view was extraordinary - after a couple of minutes at the eyepiece I easily saw the whole 'continent', with a lot of mottling in the Canada part. The light pollution disturbed my dark adaptation, but not the view - thanks to the air transparency.

I think this is the best setup to view this nebula. I've never had a better view, even with 8" from a dark site. The UHC filter is optimised for 5mm exit pupil, and a higher aperture would have decreased the exit pupil and the field of view. The wide field of Panoptic had put that final touch on the aesthetic experience.

Dmitri

Dmitri

Excellent report, thank you!

Where did you find the technical data on the Baader UHC filter?

Anthony

Dmitri,

I also had very transparent skies on Wednesday evening, and looked at the North American nebula using my 4-1/2" f4 reflector at 18x. I could see 'parts' of the nebula, but the vast numbers of tiny background stars actually made the continent shape difficult to see!

I could easily see the round open cluster NGC 6996 within the "Canada" area of the nebula.

I have never seen NGC7000 with anything less than 8 inches of aperture. In most text I have read about this nebula it is referred to as either a binocular object or an object for a big scope. But the optimum is perhaps an aperture in the 3 - 6-inch range.

I often observe this nebula together with the other nebulous patches west and south of it with my 12.5-inch. The region around the "Gulf of Mexico" is quite impressive with an O-III filter. However, lack of contrast makes it difficult to detect features in the northern part.

Inge S