After comitting the crime of acquiring two TeleVue eyepieces and one Orion soft eyepiece case (to be strapped around the observer's waist), I have served my sentence of three weeks of lousy weather. Last night was clear, with good air transparency and average seeing. I therefore went for a combined deep-sky and double star session.
I observed several interesting objects, many of which I have never seen before. here I will only report the ones I found most interesting.
M33 is a good object in a 12.5-inch scope. Yesterday I observed it with 63x (24mm Panoptic) and 167x (9mm Nagler). The sky background appeared much darker at the high power, and several emission regions appeared. However, I find 167x to be a bit too much for this galaxy. On the other hand 63x is too little. Therefore I have to face the cruel reality. I need an eyepiece in the 13-15mm range, probably a 13mm Nagler.
M1 also becomes very interesting with 12.5 inches of aperture. I can make out hints of the filaments in the nebula with averted vision. I think it will be very interesting to observe M1 from an extremely dark location with high air transparency. O-III doesn't improve the view of M1, it rather reduces its brightness.
I checked out two clusters with involved emission nebulae. In Auriga nebula IC410 is involved in open cluster NGC1893. The nebula is very difficult to see without a filter, but it stands out with considrable detail with the O-III. The other cluster/nebula combination I checked out was NGC2174/NGC2175 in the northern part of Orion (not far from Zeta Taurii/Eta Geminorum). The "cluster" is one of the poorest I ever saw. The nebula, however, was obvious without a filter, and with the filter it was quite large and bright. More or less in the same league as NGC281 in Cassiopeia.
I made out the Merope nebula for the first time in my life. I realise that it isn't really difficult. I simply never paid much attention to it before. I did not use a filter on this object since it is a reflection nebula.
I found NGC1535 in Eridanus, and can confirm that it is a good object. However, I observed another, much neglected planetary which I found even more interesting. This is NGC1514 in Taurus (near the Perseus border). Pointing my scope at its approximate position a saw some moderately bright stars, one of which seemed to have a faint halo. To begin with I suspected that there was some dew on the eyepiece, but the O-III filter confirmed that this, indeed, was NGC1514. This nebula is one of the ones that responds best to the O-III filter. The nebula appeared large (167x) and bright, and numerous condensations could be seen in the nebula. It was a great surprice to me, a confirmation that there are still a lot of interesting things to find in the sky. This planetary probably is best with larger aperture. It is superb in the 12.5-inch, and doesn't get the attention it deserves.
Inge S
I observed several interesting objects, many of which I have never seen before. here I will only report the ones I found most interesting.
M33 is a good object in a 12.5-inch scope. Yesterday I observed it with 63x (24mm Panoptic) and 167x (9mm Nagler). The sky background appeared much darker at the high power, and several emission regions appeared. However, I find 167x to be a bit too much for this galaxy. On the other hand 63x is too little. Therefore I have to face the cruel reality. I need an eyepiece in the 13-15mm range, probably a 13mm Nagler.
M1 also becomes very interesting with 12.5 inches of aperture. I can make out hints of the filaments in the nebula with averted vision. I think it will be very interesting to observe M1 from an extremely dark location with high air transparency. O-III doesn't improve the view of M1, it rather reduces its brightness.
I checked out two clusters with involved emission nebulae. In Auriga nebula IC410 is involved in open cluster NGC1893. The nebula is very difficult to see without a filter, but it stands out with considrable detail with the O-III. The other cluster/nebula combination I checked out was NGC2174/NGC2175 in the northern part of Orion (not far from Zeta Taurii/Eta Geminorum). The "cluster" is one of the poorest I ever saw. The nebula, however, was obvious without a filter, and with the filter it was quite large and bright. More or less in the same league as NGC281 in Cassiopeia.
I made out the Merope nebula for the first time in my life. I realise that it isn't really difficult. I simply never paid much attention to it before. I did not use a filter on this object since it is a reflection nebula.
I found NGC1535 in Eridanus, and can confirm that it is a good object. However, I observed another, much neglected planetary which I found even more interesting. This is NGC1514 in Taurus (near the Perseus border). Pointing my scope at its approximate position a saw some moderately bright stars, one of which seemed to have a faint halo. To begin with I suspected that there was some dew on the eyepiece, but the O-III filter confirmed that this, indeed, was NGC1514. This nebula is one of the ones that responds best to the O-III filter. The nebula appeared large (167x) and bright, and numerous condensations could be seen in the nebula. It was a great surprice to me, a confirmation that there are still a lot of interesting things to find in the sky. This planetary probably is best with larger aperture. It is superb in the 12.5-inch, and doesn't get the attention it deserves.
Inge S
