Well, I got out again on the night of January 27th, 2017, in extremely cold and frozen condition. Kudos to my Outback that handled the snow covered roads out on the Forest Land near Vernon with ease and some fun. My objects this night on my list were not as difficult as some of my last observations. They mainly focused on nebula in Monoceros and Orion, and Galaxies in Gemini.
1. NGC 2261 Hubbe’s Variable Nebula; Jan. 27th, 2017, 8:10pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi I, clear, cold, 6 degrees F; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 10mm Pentax XW, Paracorr Type II.
Been awhile since I looked at this object. Beautiful this night and fun to see this old friend. Fans out with the western edge brighter to me than the eastern edge this night. R Monoceros at apex and bright also. Fun!
2. NGC 2316 Diffused Nebula in Monoceros; Jan. 17th, 2017; 08:36pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II, clear and cold, 6 degrees F (I will post temperature changes when they occur. If I don’t post the temperture they remain at the same as the previous post); 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 10mm Pentax XW with Paracorr Type II.
Loved sketching this object! Diffused nebula that is faint and small, with a bright knot on the southern end. I cannot see any star imposed. Nice field and a good view of 3 stars next to it. Fun!
3. NGC 2346 Hour Glass Nebula in Monoceros a Planetary Nebula; Jan. 27th, 2017; 09:15pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II, clear, cold; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 7mm & 5mm Pentax XW; Paracorr Type II. Thousand Oaks OIII 1 1/4″.
The main planetary nebula is seen with the central star. Inner area is rather bright and oval in shape. The OIII gives hints of extensions from the oval core region. On top of that is an even fainter region or football shape that is very faint, much like Messier 27. Nice, very nice PN!
4. NGC 2170 Diffused Nebula in Monoceros; Jan. 27th, 2017; 10:05pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II, clear, cold 3 degrees F; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 22mm Nagler T4, Paracorr Type II; Thousand Oaks 2″ OIII.
This is a small faint nebula though my sketch makes it looke big. It surrounds a mag. 9.5 star, SAQ 132861. Field stars are easily visible, and the nebula is condenses on the central star. Nebula is round in shape and fading gradually into the interstellar background. Fun object.
5. NGC 1788 Diffused Nebula in Orion. Jan. 27th, 2017; 10:45pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove. Antoniadi II, clear, cold, 0 degrees F; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 22mm T4 Nagler, 14mm Pentax XW; Paracorr Type II; Thousand Oaks OIII filter.
Small nebula in Orion that is bright at the core. Brightness fades as the nebula spans out
6. NGC 1977 Open Cluster, Emission and Reflection Nebula in Orion. FR006 Juniper Grove. Jan. 27th, 2017; 10:40pm MST: Antoniadi II, clear, cold, 4 degrees F as temp rises; 17.5″ dob, f/4.4; 22mm Nagler T4; 20mm Pentax XW, Paracorr Type II. Thousand Oaks NB and OIII filters.
Ill defined nebula that is faint but obvious that it is a nebula. Slightly lays E to W and elongated. Three bright stars are in a row, kinda of, and it is believed that the bright star in the middle, Orionis 42 is the source of the illumination. NGC 1973 is smaller patch of light around star HD 36958 and is mag 7.36. If you look closely in the dark nebula, you can catch a hint of the running man. Fun as always.
7. NGC 2024 The Flame Nebula, Diffuse Nebula in Orion; Jan. 27th, 2017, 11;05pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II, clear, cold 6 degrees F and temp holding now; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 22mm T4 Nagler, 14mm Pentax XW; 10mm Pentax XW; DGM Hbeta Filter 2″ & 1 1/4′, Paracorr Type II.
The Flame Nenbula popped out with the filter showing its wonderful structure and shades. Many see a flame but being a fan of Tolkien’s books, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I have always seen the Tree of Gondor in the nebula. So forgive me but I call this Tolkien’s Nebula. Lost of fun in this object. Here is a link to an image of the Flame that you can compare my sketch to. My dob flips the image of the sketch upside down as a FYI. The image is right side up.
LINK.
8. NGC 1980 Emission Nebula in Orion. Jan. 27th, 2017; 11:40pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II, clear, cold, 6 degrees F; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 22mm T4 Nagler, 10mm Pentax XW; Paracorr Type II; Thousand Oaks OIII and NB filters.
The nebula is faint and elongated NE to SW. Direct vision and averted is needed to see it as this is faint and good observing techniques to see the nebula disperse out around the stars. Nebulosity pronounced around Iota Orionis. Nebulosity easily fades into the background.
9. NGC 1982 and Messier 43 in Orion. Jan. 27th, 2017, 11:55pm MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 22mm T4 Nagler & 7mm & 10mm Pentax XW; Paracorr Type II.
NGC 1982 is the tail of Messier 43 and to be truthful, I really dislike how this sketch came out. Shows some you like, some you don’t. M43 is tight and condensed and both are easily seen.
10. NGC 2274 & NGC 2275 Galaxies in Gemni; Jan. 28th, 2017; 12:40am MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 10mm Pentax XW and Paracorr Type II.
NGC 2274 is the round galaxy and NGC 2275 is the ill shaped one below it. NGC 2275 is faint, smaller than NGC 2274 with a rather even surface brightness that is elongated SSW to NNE and hints of curvature which I exaggerated. NGC 2274 is fainter and round and small. It has a bright core region.
11. NGC 2289, 2290, 2291, 2294 galaxies in Gemni. Jan. 28th, 2017; FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 10mm Pentax XW and 22mm Nagler T4; Paracorr Type II.
NGC 2290 is the top galaxy, below it to the left is NGC 2289, NGC 2291 is below that and NGC 2294 is to the bottom right. The best galaxies of this bunch to observe are NGC 2289 and NGC 2290. NGC 2291 and 2294 are much harder to observe and capture. Aperture and experience in observing are needed for those two. NGC 2289 has a faint outer shell and is lenticular in shape. Has a brighter inner core region. NGC 2290 has a faint outer shell with a slightly brighter inner core region. Oval in shape. NGC 2291 is round in shape, faint and somewhat brighter inner core, almost equal in surface brightness. NGC 2294 is extremely faint, soft and has a bright inner core.
12. NGC 2339 a galaxy in Gemni. Jan. 28th, 2017; 12:55am MST; FR006 Juniper Grove; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; Antoniadi II; 10mm Pentax XW, 22mm Nagler T4; Paracorr Type II.
This is a small and relatively bright galaxy that gets brighter toward the core. High magnification 400x plus revelas a stellar nucleus. Fun object and my personal favorite sketch of the night.
13. Comet C 2015 V2 Johnson’s Comet. Jan. 28th, 2017, 01:35am, FR006 Juniper Grove; Antoniadi II; 17.5″ dob f/4.4; 22mm Nagler T4, 10mm & 14mm Pentax XW. Paracorr Type II. Above the top of Bootes which is lower in the sky.
Wonderful little comet that shows 2 tails here easily! Very easily visible and hows a nice bright core. Fun object.
I stayed too late. I wasn’t cold when I was ready to tear down, but I was tired. I got broken down and loaded in 20 minutes. Great thing about winter observing is I don’t drag that much out in to the field. My Lenovo Thinkpads held up great and I only had to use one. When I left it was at about 40% charge or about 3.5 hours to 4 hours left on the charge. It was easier to drive out since the roads were frozen but I went slow leaving the forest land. It was so, so quiet that night. No coyotes howling, no birds making sounds, just peaceful and so quiet. Now the temperature has risen, the snow is all melted, but we are back to having rain and plenty of clouds. It was 60 degrees today so that was nice. Now rain and clouds through Saturday, then clear from Sunday to Wednesday if the National Weather Service is correct (they are pretty good for the 7 day). Well I hope others can get out! Hope I get out again at new moon. It’s been a hard, extremely hard winter if your an amateur astronomer I think!
Jay's Astronomical Observing Blog 