Besides Comet A3 (I so prefer that name), I also observed a few interesting planetary nebulae and a few spooky objects.?
List: 24/1/24 25¡± A Few Spooky Objects
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
(Comet in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 7:05:47?PM
Comment: Even at dusk the comet already looked brighter than it did in the 15", even when it was dark. The comet is flanked by a bright 6.8 magnitude star on kne side and a pretty double star on the other.?
At 200x using the 16mm Nagler the wide tail looks like the exhaust flume of one of the Atlas rockets I've seen in numerous photos. The core is orange and elongated. There's a large coma around the core. The anti-tail was challenging, but visible ny rocking the scope back and forth.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6572
(Planetary Nebula in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:00:25?PM
Comment: So beautiful! Mark and I see it as emerald green, however he saw it blue with his right eye.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 11mm Nagler 6
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6633
(Open Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:03:34?PM
Comment: A beautiful open cluster of about 100 bright stars?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
IC 4756
(Open Cluster in Serpens)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:04:50?PM
Comment: A large open cluster of fairly bright stars, but with one bright yellow member?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6709
(Open Cluster in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:06:30?PM
Comment: A fairly small, kite-shaped group of about 20 brighter stars but many very faint members as well?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6738
(Open Cluster in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:08:10?PM
Comment: Lovely elongated grouping os stars.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6781
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:11:48?PM
Comment: Spooky object, perfect for observing one week before Halloween. Nicknamed The Cosmic Bubble, or The Snow Globe. Large, round planetary 12th magnitude planetary nebula with a dark area. NGC 6781 lies 5000 light years away.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
V450 Aquilae
(Variable Star in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:22:04?PM
Comment: A deep orange star near the planetary nebula NGC 6807.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6807
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:23:32?PM
Comment: A tiny, stellar planetary. I completely missed it until I blinked the Lumicon OIII Gen 3 filter?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6804
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:25:48?PM
Comment: A faint, ghostly planetary nebula. I was able to see it without the filter, but only after seeing it with the filter in place?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6803
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:28:13?PM
Comment: A stellar 11.5 magnitude planetary nebula. Blinks well. Without the filter it's much fainter than a star next to it, but brighter with the filter in place?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Vyssotsky 2-2
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:31:13?PM
Comment: Like so many planetary nebulae in Aquila this is nearly stellar. I had to blink the filter to confirm?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 60¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Peimbert 9
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 8:36:20?PM
Comment: Using the 16mm Nagler and the Lumicon OIII Gen 3 filter I caught occasional glimpses of this 14.9 magnitude planetary nebula next to a 10.4 magnitude star.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6803
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:09:04?PM
Comment: Bright, nearly stellar 11.5 magnitude PNe?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
ARO 155
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:11:09?PM
Comment: Fairly large, very faint planetary nebula. I was only able to see it occasionally using averted vision with the Lumicon OIII Gen 3 filter in place?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 6804
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:12:41?PM
Comment: Large, beautiful planetary nebula lying precisely between two stars?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
HD 176982
(Double Star in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:17:51?PM
Comment: 27.4"
Pretty little pair of yellow stars lying near NGC 6741, the Phantom Streak?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Phantom Streak - NGC 6741
(Planetary Nebula in Aquila)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:20:18?PM
Comment: The Phantom Streak is regarded as a spooky object for the Halloween season. Actually, even at 200x its quite small, but is elongated in a "streak-like" manner?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 16mm Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 7492
(Globular Cluster in Aquarius)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:31:57?PM
Comment: Extremely faint very low surface brightness globular cluster. I had to use lower power to even begin to see it?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Helix Nebula - NGC 7293
(Planetary Nebula in Aquarius)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:37:12?PM
Comment: Wow! This looked so much better than it did last night in the 15". The added light grasp of the 25" allowed me to actually see some structure of this exceedingly low surface brightness planetary?
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Atom for Peace Galaxies - NGC 7252
(Spiral Galaxy in Aquarius)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 9:54:09?PM
Comment: I was able to only see the brighter core of this challenging galaxy with a most unusual nickname, Atom for Pease. NGC 7252 lies a whopping 220 million light years away!
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Sculptor Galaxy - NGC 253
(Spiral Galaxy in Sculptor)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 10:04:37?PM
Comment: This normally gorgeous galaxy really suffers in light polluted skies. When viewed in a dark sky with large aperture it rivals M 31.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
NGC 247
(Spiral Galaxy in Cetus)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 10:08:06?PM
Comment: A highly elongated galaxy. Very low surface brightness much like nearby NGC 253.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Skull Nebula - NGC 246
(Planetary Nebula in Cetus)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 10:12:24?PM
Comment: Another spooky named object for the Halloween season. This planetary nebula is so beautiful in a dark sky. Even in light polluted skies it has an eerie look, with ghostly nebulosity surrounding several stars.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Neptune
(Planet in Pisces)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 10:15:40?PM
Comment: There's no mistaking the blue disc of tiny Neptune.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
Saturn
(Planet in Aquarius)
Observed: Oct 24, 2024 at 10:23:13?PM
Comment: Wow! Last object of the night, and ?as usual, one of the best. Robert H agreed!
Location: Virginia Beach, VA SQM-L 18.38 55¡ã H 54%
Equipment: 25" F/5 3175mm, 22mm T4 Nagler
Seeing: 9
Transparency: 9
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