Category: planetary

A Bipolar Planetary Nebula

NGC 3699

NGC 3699, A Bipolar Planetary Nebula
Sketch by Eiji Kato, text by Frank McCabe

Sky catalogue 2000.0 incorrectly lists this planetary nebula as an emission nebula. It is located in eastern Centaurus and glows visually at about 11th magnitude. Like M-76 in the northern sky this southern sky planetary is also a bipolar planetary. The central star was very massive and is now extremely hot. A central dark rift divides this planetary as can be seen in the sketch. An interesting description of this planetary can be found here.
This object was discovered by John Herschel April 1, 1834.

Coordinates: R.A. 11hrs 27min 58sec
Dec. -59° 57′ 28″

Drawings made using a home-built 47cm f/4 Dobsonian reflector.

Space Duo

M97 and M108

M97 “The Owl Nebula” and Galaxy M108
Sketch and Details by Janusz Krysiak

Hi,

These are the planetary nebula M97 and the galaxy M108. Together are beautifully visible.

Object Name: M 97, M 108
Object Type: Planetary nebula, Galaxy
Location: Pyrnik(Poland)
Date: 14.04.2009

medium: pencil, white paper
equipment: Newton 305/1500
magnification: 68 x

Saturn Nebula with Large Aperture

NGC 7009

NGC 7009, the “Saturn Nebula”
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, translation by Frank McCabe

This was an unforgettable astronomy stay in the collar of Restefond high in the French Alps. I had the opportunity to notice in the T600 F/D 3.3 (24”) of David Vernet, a perfect scope that was thriftily handled by his owner.
On August 29th, 2008, the sky was particularly stable, which allowed the use of extreme magnifications of 2000x on nice planetary nebulas. These conditions allowed for the rediscovery of these objects, their reading and their understanding becoming obvious from the first glance. NGC 7009 “Saturn Nebula” appeared smooth, as if drawn in the brush. It also introduces numerous details both in the central zone and in the external shell. It is amazing to determine how much the 2 external blips are fine.

The Ghost of Jupiter

NGC 3242

NGC 3242, “The Ghost of Jupiter” in Hydra
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

NGC 3242

I made an observation of the Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242) in Hydra on February 19, 2009 (05:15 U.T.) using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain at 78x (inset image at 352x) under average to good seeing conditions (5-7/10). The Ghost of Jupiter lies approximately 1,400 light years from the Sun. This planetary nebula has a shape that reminds an observer of the planet Jupiter where it gets it’s nickname from. The Ghost of Jupiter exhibits a bluish color as noted. At higher magnification (352x) the inner shell of the nebula has an elliptical shape with a central “eye” and an outer diffuse shell. This is one of my favorite planetary nebulas to observe.

Carlos E. Hernandez

Object: Ghost of Jupiter NGC 3242 – Artist: Carlos E. Hernandez – Sketch Date: 2-18-2009 – Sketch Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida USA

Celestial Jester

Clown’s Face Nebula

NGC 2392, The Clown Face Nebula in Gemini
Sketch and Details by Marek Płonka

Sketch information:
My sketch shows NGC 2392 in Gemini.
The object is easily found.
The nebula didn’t show much more contrast with UHC-S filter.
I didn’t notice the blue colour of nebula. I didn’t see the central star,
which is of visual magnitude 10.5.

Object name: NGC 2392
Scope: Skywather dobs 1200/200 + 15mm SWA
Place: Poland, Silesia, Skrzyszów
Seeing: 8/10 Transparency: 2/5
Date and time: 2009-02-28 23.15
Technique: Pencil + GIMP
Author: Marek Płonka (Poland, Silesia)

When NGC 6826 Doesn’t Blink

The Blinking Planetary

NGC 6826, The Blinking Planetary Nebula
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, translation by Frank McCabe

Our club organized a trip for visual telescope use at the observatory to Astroqueyras of St Véran. Six members of the group for 9 days (from the 18 to 26 of October, 2008) observed during the pre-winter period, with a program focused mainly on planetary nebulae. These were our preferred targets using the 9 m focal length Cassegrain telescope of 62 cm aperture.
Weather conditions were not optimal, but each period of good seeing was used to the maximum.
We familiarized ourselves with the instrument the first night and pointed it at obvious targets…. We spent a considerable length of time on NGC 6826, the blinking planetary with a blue in color at magnifications up to 1900x. With this instrument at these high magnifications, the central star does not blink and the central shell shows a very special form with an edge almost straight. The external hull shows zones that are nearly symmetrical and alternating between bright and dark but aspect slightly different…. Some details of contours and nuances ideally complement this observation.

A Real Hoot

The Owl Nebula

M97 (NGC 3587), The Owl Nebula
Sketch and Details by Ferenc Lovró

M97 (The Owl Planetary nebula)

M97 (NGC 3587), also known as the Owl-nebula, is a very spectacular, famous planetary, in the vicinity of M108. It’s a nearly regular circle, slightly elongated in E-W directions. Also on the Eastern and Western corner one can find two darker spots, the eyes of the owl. The planetary itself is quite an easy object, looks much brighter than the 11th magnitude as listed in catalogues, a homogenous shape with sharply fading edges. Discovering the eyes is a bit harder: especially the Western spot which tends to blink. Using your averted vision helps a lot to see the details. I was using my Baader UHC filter to finish this sketch, however according to my experiences a slightly better seeing helps much more than the filter.
This is an inverted pencil sketch.

Sky location: R. A.: 11h 15m: Dec.: 55° 1′: Constellation: Ursa Major
Date/time: 2008.04.24 20:30 UT
Equipment: 12″ f/5 Newtonian
FoV: 20′
Magnification and filter(s): 167x + UHC filter
Seeing: 3/10 Transparency: 3/5
Sketching Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary
Observer: Ferenc Lovró

The Spirograph Nebula, IC 418

IC 418

IC 418, The Spirograph Nebula
Sketch by Serge Vieillard, text by Frank McCabe

This beautiful planetary nebula shows a distinct green color in Serge Vieillard’s impressive drawing. The central collapsing star (about 10th mag.) is somewhat variable in brightness as it continues to evolve to the white dwarf stage of its life. This planetary is about 2000 light years away in the constellation of Lepus the hare. Some observers have reported this planetary as appearing red accounting for its other name the “Red Planetary”. The visual magnitude of this planetary is about 11. This observation was made at St. Véran in the French Alps back in October of last year as a club group of 6 ascended the mountain to visually observe with the great 620mm Cassegrain there. Serge commented that all in the observing group were surprised by the color of this nebula.

A Pearl Within It’s Shells

NGC 1514

Planetary Nebula NGC 1514 in Taurus
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

Planetary Nebula NGC 1514

The last time I examined this planetary on a not so transparent night with my 10″ scope and using an ultrablock filter, I was disappointed with the view. Last night that all changed. Between nightfall and 3 am local time the seeing and transparency was about as good as it gets in these parts. I used my largest scope to take advantage of the good seeing and rare transparency. NGC 1514 is a double shelled planetary nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The outer faint shell was not at all visible at the eyepiece. The brighter irregularly illuminated inner shell which is about 1.9′ across was easy and much enhanced by the filter and averted vision. The bright central star was clearly blue and is classified as a late O-type star. This star is believed to be a close, short period binary with an A-III type companion. The apparent magnitude of the central star is 9.5. This planetary was discovered by William Herschel 218 years ago this month.

Location: R.A. 4 hrs 9 min. 17 sec.
Dec. + 30° 46′ 33″

Sketching

Date and Time: 11-29-2008, 4:15-5:20 UT
Scope: 18” f/5 Dobsonian. 21 mm Hyperion eyepiece 109x, ultrablock filter,
8”x11” off-white recycled sketching paper, 2H, 2B, 6B graphite pencils, yellow crayola sketching pencils, blending stump, eraser shield, scanned and inverted, some star magnitude adjustments and background made after scanning using Microsoft Paint.
Temperature: -3°C (26°F), calm
Seeing: Pickering 8/10
Transparency: Above Average 4.5/5
nelm: 4.8