Category: planetary

A Ghost in the Sky

Hey!

I send you the planetary M. 97, “A ghost in the sky”.

This planetary is faint with diffuse edge, and the “eyes” on > the limit of my telescope.
The central star is too faint for me, but in much larger scopes it > is visible.
M. 97 is often called “The owl”, but to me it looks like a > ghost. The colour was grey.
I used graphite pencil on white paper and inverted.
The observation was made outside Trondheim city, Norway.

Clear sky to all, from Per-Jonny Bremseth.

Fading Planetary Nebula

Abell 72
PK 59-18.1
Planetary Nebula
Delphinus
07/08/10
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5.0 dobsonian telescope
Field: 27′
Magnification: 218x with OxyIII filter
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:65

Black Canford paper
White pen
White oil pencil
White pastel chalk
Soft white pencil
Paint brush

George Ogden Abell’s classic catalog of planetary nebulae contains 86 objects which are quite faint and challenging for avid deep sky observers.

A good example of what to expect when tracking down these elusive nebulae is the ghostly Abell 72 seen here.

Delphinus is a fair way north from my observing site, but the sky conditions on the night offered up some good transparency which assisted in observations.

Scott Mellish

The Blinking Planetary

Hey!

I send you N.G.C. 6826 “The blinking planetary”.

I could easely see the blinking from direct and inverted vision. The central star was bright, but I could
not see any inner ring in the nebula as some artists reports. The central area near the star appears
dark to me, but the nebula itself looks bright and easy. I am sorry, my drawings gets older and older, and so am I, but I have practiced astronomy for nearly 50 years , so…… But I think the D.S.- objects looks the same today!

Thank you very much for fine comments on my earlier sketches!
Clear sky to you all!!

from Per-Jonny Bremseth.

First Globular Cluster with a Planetary Nebula

Messier 15 (NGC 7078 in Pegasus)

Messier 15 is my favorite bright, compact, globular cluster in the fall night sky. At magnitude 6.2 it is a bright globular target from poor suburban skies. The brightest stars of this target resolve well in a 10 inch scope. This globular is 33,600 light years distant and just filled with ancient stars.
This cluster is one of the densest of the 158 Milky Way globular clusters. It is the very first known to contain a planetary nebula (Pease 1) discovered in 1928 at Mt. Wilson Observatory.
The sketch was made with a wide field 24mm eyepiece at 60 x. The inset contains a higher magnification sketch using a 9mm eyepiece at 160 x.

Sketching:
Messier 15 (NGC 7078)
Date and Time: 11-1-2010, 10:15pm – 11:00pm local time
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 24 mm and 9 mm eyepieces 60x and 160x
8”x 12” white sketching paper, B and 4B graphite pencils,
blending stump, scanned and inverted
Seeing: Pickering 6/10
Transparency: Average 3/5
Faintest stars visible overhead 4.3
Temperature: 4°C (40°F)
Cluster magnitude: 6.2, brightest member stars 12th magnitude
Distance: 33,600 ly
Location Constellation: Pegasus

Frank McCabe

“Perhaps the Finest…”

Hey !

I send you the planetary M.27, “The manual”.

This is a easy object, bright and perhaps the finest in the
northern hemisphere. But M.57 is the most
special for us in Norway. I did not see any central star in this
planetary, and the “ears” were very faint.
It is a very splendid object in small telescopes too. More info on
my sketch!
I used crayons (watercolours) on black paper only.
The sketch was made outside Trondheim city, Norway.

Clear skies, from Per-Jonny Bremseth.

The Strongman’s Nebula

Object Name: M27, the Dumbell nebula
Object Type: Planetary nebula
Location: Sepsiszentgyörgy, Transylvania (Romania)
Date: 2010. 09. 09. (21h30′ UTC)
Media: graphite pencil, white paper, rubber, digital tools (color inverting)
Telescope: 114/900 Celestron newtonian
Transparency: 5
Seeing: 7-8
Eyepiece: 20mm Kellner (45X magnification)
FOV: 1,14 degrees
Filter: Castell 1,24″ UHC filter
Mount: Eq2 with RA motor drive

Pityu Nagy

Little Gem in Sagittarius

Object Name: NGC 6818
Also Known As: H.IV.51, PK 025-17.1, VV 241, Little Gem Nebula
Object Type: Planetary Nebula
Constellation: Sagittarius
Right Ascension (2000.0): 19h 43m 57.7s
Declination (2000.0): –14° 09′ 11″
Magnitude: 9.3
Dimensions: 22″ x 15″
Voronstov-Velyaminov Classification: 4
Distance: 5,500 light years
Discovery: William Herschel on 8 August 1787 with 18.7-inch reflector
NGC Description: ¡, B, vS, R

Telescope: Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6″ f/6 Newtonian Reflector
Eyepiece/Magnification: 7.5mm Parks Gold Series Plössl + 2x Barlow • 240x • 13′ Field of View
Filter: None
Date/Time: 4 September 2010 • 05:15-06:00 UT
Observing Location: Oakzanita Springs, Descanso, San Diego Co., California, USA
Transparency: NELM 6.3; TLM 15.2
Seeing: Pickering 8
Conditions: Clear, calm
Media: #2 pencil, cartridge paper, blending stump; scanned and processed in Microsoft Picture It!

Tucked away in the neglected northeastern corner of Sagittarius is a small but bright annular planetary nebula known as NGC 6818. To find this little gem, center your finder on a trio of 5th magnitude stars: 54 Sgr, 55 Sgr, and HD 186185. The later star is the farthest north and farthest east and should next be centered in your low to medium-power eyepiece. From this star sweep 1.3° north. About halfway there (if you are at a dark sky site), you may see the elusive glow of Barnard’s Galaxy, NGC 6822 sliding along the eastern half of your field of view. Passing this fascinating galaxy by, you soon arrive at the appointed field of view.

At low magnifications (30x), NGC 6818 appears stellar, indistinguishable from several other similarly bright stars in the wide field of view. At medium magnifications (60x), NGC 6818 is discernibly non-stellar, showing a featureless blue-green disk . High magnification (120x) reveals a dark center surrounded by a small, but brilliant ring of uniformly lit blue-green fire. Bumping the magnification up to 240x and 300x reveals several bright clumps and dark patches in the ring. The two most prominent are NE and SE of the nebula’s center. I was not successful in spotting the 13th-magnitude central star, though the transparency and seeing conditions were excellent. I was also surprised at how dark the center was, most observers report only a slight darkening in the central region.

Eric Graff

Diamonds in the Summer Sky

Hi artists,all o.k.?I’m o.k.,i follow in this time the Giant Jupiter,near the opposition,with my dob.10″.Wath awful image in the eyepiece! Nextly i sent you my sketch about this.
But this Summer i made,before “Giant Veil Nebula” ,the sketches about the splendid Nebula in Sagittarius.Is the first time that i observe this with my Dob.10″…..Incredible vision!!Wow! I made the sketches from 10,20 p.m.to 01,00 a.m.
I used the 12,4mm eyepiece Meade”Resrch Grade”with the UHC-S filter and 6mm lantanium only for M57in Lyra.
I hope like you.Compliments at all artists of ASOD and in special at Frank and Erika for your last splendid Moon sketches.
Ciao a tutti e cieli sereni.
Giorgio Bonacorsi.

Site:Pergola (Serraspinosa Hill)at 400 m. over the sea level.
Date:09-10 of July 2010
Instrument:Dobson GSO 10″
Eyepiece:6mm lantanium for M57,12,4mm + UHC-S filter
Seeing:Good
Temperature:light hot,no wind.
Technics:white pencill and penn on black paper “Fabriano 3”