Object of January 28th - NGC281

Started by Inge_S, 01/28/2011 01:41PM
Posted 01/28/2011 01:41PM Opening Post
For the amateur astronomer, NGC281 in Cassiopeia is an interesting combination of a diffuse nebula and a multiple star, Burnham 1. I split this posting in two, and describe the nebula here and the multiple star under the double star forum.

NGC281 is quite large and faint, and is hardly visible without a filter. In order to locate it, I prefer spotting the central multiple star which appears as a small triangle at low magnification. Having found Burnham 1, I usually see a weak brightening of the sky background in the field. Application of the O-III filter turns this featureless glow into a circular cloud with a well defined bay. The overall appearance becomes like the Packman from which the nebula got its popular name. It is a good object for apertures above 8 inches, but like all extended nebulae a dark, clear sky is needed to see it well. I have been using 63x and 115x magnification on NGC281. The higher magnification makes the sky background darker and brings out some more detail in the nebula.