Yesterday night I had a nice time with two of my fellow astronomers and my Portaball. We observed quite a few objects, and a full observing report would make a very long post. Therefore I decided to split it up and make several posts spread over a few days.
We started early when the moon still interfered a lot. The seeing was not good enough for double star observing, so we decided to look for some planetaries to begin with. NGC6543 (Cat's eye in Draco), NGC2392 (Eskimo nebula in Gemini) and NGC7662 (Blue snowball in Andromeda) were all well placed for observations. It was interesting to compare these three objects. Although they are quite similar in size and brightness they look quite different. With the 12.5-inch 6543 shows most structure (with O-III). It has a clear green colour, while 2392 is more dull and 7662 is blue. I find the surface of 7662 to be more homogeneous in brightness than the other two which are brighter near the centre.
We also observed M76 in Perseus, and the miniature edition of it, NGC2371/72 in Gemini. They have the peanut or hourglass shape in common, and as such they can be said to have an interesting shape. Their colour, however, appears greyish to me.
At the time when the moon was gone we observed two more challenging planetaries. PK205+14.1 in Gemini is very different from the other two Gemini planetaries. It is very faint and large. Anyhow it can be spotted without a filter. The O-III makes out its unusual crescent shape. I don't know any other planetary looking like this "Medusa Nebula".
The last planetary of the evening was a very good one, NGC1514 in Taurus. This is another planetary where the O-III filter is very useful. It appears as a pretty large, slightly oval disk with hints of structure. The central star is relatively bright, and this would be nearly the perfect example of a planetary nebula for a public demonstration. It is definitely one of my favourites, and it is a pity that it is often neglected.
Inge S
We started early when the moon still interfered a lot. The seeing was not good enough for double star observing, so we decided to look for some planetaries to begin with. NGC6543 (Cat's eye in Draco), NGC2392 (Eskimo nebula in Gemini) and NGC7662 (Blue snowball in Andromeda) were all well placed for observations. It was interesting to compare these three objects. Although they are quite similar in size and brightness they look quite different. With the 12.5-inch 6543 shows most structure (with O-III). It has a clear green colour, while 2392 is more dull and 7662 is blue. I find the surface of 7662 to be more homogeneous in brightness than the other two which are brighter near the centre.
We also observed M76 in Perseus, and the miniature edition of it, NGC2371/72 in Gemini. They have the peanut or hourglass shape in common, and as such they can be said to have an interesting shape. Their colour, however, appears greyish to me.
At the time when the moon was gone we observed two more challenging planetaries. PK205+14.1 in Gemini is very different from the other two Gemini planetaries. It is very faint and large. Anyhow it can be spotted without a filter. The O-III makes out its unusual crescent shape. I don't know any other planetary looking like this "Medusa Nebula".
The last planetary of the evening was a very good one, NGC1514 in Taurus. This is another planetary where the O-III filter is very useful. It appears as a pretty large, slightly oval disk with hints of structure. The central star is relatively bright, and this would be nearly the perfect example of a planetary nebula for a public demonstration. It is definitely one of my favourites, and it is a pity that it is often neglected.
Inge S
