Glorious Orion Nebulae

Observation Notes:

In my ongoing effort to refine my observation and sketches of M42/43, I made a new sketch on January 14. I used most of the previously sketched star field as a starting point so I could spend more time on the nebula. Working within a larger 6 inch circle really helped. The minty green color was striking throughout the nebula, particularly around the trapezium. As for structure, the sketch pretty much tells the story, except for the fact that there was a lot more detail to be squeezed out. I can tell that I’ll be coming back again and again for more.

Object Information:

The Orion Nebula lies 1500 to 1600 light years away and is the brightest diffuse nebula in the sky. It is the brightest portion of a much larger cloud of gas and dust which extends over an area of 10 degrees. This cloud also contains Barnard’s Loop, the Horsehead Nebula and the reflection nebula around M78. The brilliant M42 extends to a diameter of 30 light years.

The incredible complexity of the nebula is so great that various aspects of it have been given some creative names. Some of the more prominent are: Fish’s Mouth = the dark lane extending from the north into the brightest portion of the nebula
Wings = the bright regions to both sides
Trapezium cluster = the bright cluster of stars pointed to by the Fish’s Mouth
The Sword = the wing extension to the south on the east
The Thrust = the bright nebulosity below the Trapezium
The Sail = the fainter western extension

The Hubble Space Telescope discovered dark, protoplanetary discs called Proplyds around the region of the Trapezium. These investigations have shown that the blazing radiation of the Trapezium stars is eroding the Proplyds so that the lower-mass stars forming there may not maintain enough material to form planetary systems.

M42 was discovered by Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc in 1610, but it seems strange that its nebulosity was not discovered sooner, since it is easily visible to the naked eye. Charles Messier cataloged it in 1769.

Subject M42 (NGC 1976) / M43 (1982)
Classification Diffuse Nebulae
Position Orion: M42: [RA: 05 35 17.2 / Dec: -05 23 27]*
M43: [05 35 31.3 / Dec.: -05 16 03]
Size* M42: 90′ x 60′ / M43: 20′ x 15′
Brightness* M42: 4.0 bMag / M43: 9.0 bMag
Date/Time January 14, 2010 – 10:00 AM
(January 15, 2010 05:00 UT)
Observing Loc. Cinder Hills Overlook, Sunset Crater National Monument, AZ
Instrument Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dobsonian (203 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces/Mag. 32 mm (37.5X)
Seeing 5/10 Pickering
Transparency Mag 7+ NELM
*Sources DSS; NGCIC Project; SEDS
*Based on published data.

Jeremy Perez

An Unexpected Sight Close to Alnasl

An unexpected sight close to Alnasl (gamma sgr) and W sgr:
“Black lines coming out of W sgr.

Object Name: Dark lines and NGC 6528 and NGC 6522 (Globular Clusters and Barnards)
Location: Benacebada, Granada (Spain)
Date: 2010.07.10
Media: graphite pencil, white paper.

Telescope: 16″ Dob. The observing conditions: with new moon, the seeing and transparency excellent.

I hope you enjoy it!
Leonor

Visita nuestra web de Leonor y Fernando:
www.astronomadas.com

The Sagittarius Paradise

Hallo!
This is sketch of Messier 8 – The Lagoon Nebula in Saggitarius Constellation. Sketch was made in Jodłów during astronomical meeting StarParty 2010.

Object: Messier 8
Scope: Schmidt-cassegrain 5″ with SWAN 20mm and UHC-S filter.
Date: September 11, 2010
Place: Jodłów, The Sudetes.
Weather: Excellent. Clear, black sky.
Technique: Graphite pencil
Tooling: Inverted, some correction in GIMP2
Author: Aleksander Cieśla (Wimmer)

Two Sisters

A view of the great Veil nebula: East (at left, NGC6995 and NGC6992) and West (at right, NGC 6960).

They are expanding remnants of an ancient supernova in Cygnus located 2000 light years away from us, and span on area of 100 light years (3 degrees of arc).
A wide feld eyepieces and a narrowband filter (such as O3 or UHC) is recommended for viewing the Veil, even under dark skies, to distinguish the nebula from background star glow of the milky way.

These objects were sketched during observations through Orion 8″ f/5 newtonian, 25mm Sirius plossl eyepiece, and Orion ultrablock filter.
Drawings were rendered at different times (2009 and 2010) , under similar conditions, in Negev desert skies in Israel.
Technique is a pretty standard one – black graphite pencils, white paper, eraser, cotton balls and a red light. Later the sketch was inverted and processed in Photoshop.

Michael Vlasov

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”

Beauty to the Third Degree

Object Name: NGC 6514
Also Known As: Messier 20, C 1759-230, Collinder 360, LBN 27, Trifid Nebula
Object Type: Emission + Reflection Nebula and Open Cluster
Constellation: Sagittarius
Right Ascension (2000.0): 18h 02m 42.1s
Declination (2000.0): –22° 58′ 19″
Magnitude: 6.3
Dimensions: 20′ x 20′
Distance: 5,000 light years
Discovery: Guillaume Le Gentil c. 1747, Charles Messier on 5 June 1764 with 3.3-inch refractor
NGC Description: !!! vB, vL, trifid, D* inv

Telescope: Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6″ f/6 Newtonian Reflector
Eyepiece/Magnification: 20mm Parks Gold Series Plössl + 2x Barlow • 90x • 35′ Field of View
Filter: Lumicon UHC
Date/Time: 4 September 2010 • 03:15-05:15 UT
Observing Location: Oakzanita Springs, Descanso, San Diego Co., California, USA
Transparency: NELM 6.3; TLM 12.2 (with filter)
Seeing: Pickering 8
Conditions: Clear, calm
Media: #2 pencil, cartridge paper, artists’ chamois, blending stumps; scanned and processed in Microsoft Picture It!

One of the four “Great Nebulae” of the Summer Sky (the others being M8, M16, and M17, of course), Messier 20 is faintly visible to the naked eye from a dark site (and easily visible in binoculars from most anywhere). Look for it about 1½° NNW of larger and brighter M8, above the spout of Sagittarius’ Teapot asterism. Famously photogenic, M20’s contrasting pink (emission) and blue (reflection) components, each with their own illuminating central stars (and distinctive dark lanes in the former) are familiar to all astronomy enthusiasts and recognizable as one of the icons of the night sky even by those with only a casual or passing interest in things astronomical.

Through the eyepiece, our view of M20 is less spectacular than the photographs we are all familiar with, but the view is exquisite nonetheless. M20 stands out even at low magnifications as a silver mist in two lobes surrounding a pair of 7th magnitude stars; the southern lobe is slightly larger and brighter than the northern. Increasing the magnification to moderate levels (60x-90x) reveals the intricate web of dark nebulosity running through the southern lobe, dividing the HII region into the segments responsible for its popular name, the Trifid Nebula. The bright central star is resolved into two blue-white components known as Herschel 40 (7.5, 8.9; 10.7″; 212°); a 10th magnitude companion found between these two stars is best seen at high magnifications. Numerous faint stars are superimposed on the face of the nebulosity – this scattered grouping is presumably the open cluster component of our target and is also designated Collinder 360. The tendrils of dark nebulosity across the face of M20 are part of a larger cloud of interstellar dust which isolates the bright nebulosity from the surrounding star fields; this dark cloud is designated Barnard 85, it’s most prominent patch drives a blunt wedge between the emission and reflection portions of the nebula from the NW.

Eric Graff

Giant Eruptions of Eta Carina

Eta Carina star & Key hole nebula
2010.7.15 19:00~22:00
Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
Trans 6/6, Seeing 4/5, Limiting Mag. 6.5
Obssesion 18″ UC (f=1915mm)
Televue Ethos 13mm (147x)
Black paper(A4 size) and pastel.

Last July, I went to Australia with obssesion 18″ UC to observing star.

(My hometown is S.Korea)

During my observation trip, lots of cloud covered with Australia.

So we rented a car, and moved everyday to find clear sky. (Goondiwindi, Miles, Coonabarabran)

Eta Carina star is incredible!!!

It is not difficulty for observe erupted materials from Eta Carina star.

I did’n expect observing “Giant eruptions”, but I observed this feature with 18″ UC and extremly clear sky

(I saw belt of venus and zodiacal light every night)

Key hole nebula is clear and impressive dark nebula beside Eta Carina star.

Kanguk Cho, Nightwid