Nebulae

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The Great Orion Nebula - the M42 and M43 region -  December 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, The Jewel in the Sword

"My goal was to sketch all the detail I could see in M42 and M43 through my 28-inch scope and end up with a drawing I’d be proud of. Although I greatly enjoyed everything about this challenging project, I did face two difficulties – first, the sheer density of detail intimidated me, and M42 overflows the field of view of my lowest power eyepiece. Make that three difficulties, because cloud cover in western Oregon during the fall, winter, and spring offers precious few observing opportunities.

To get started, I reminded myself that a big drawing like this is actually a series of little drawings that overlap. With that in mind I carefully placed the brighter stars of M42 and M43 on my sketching clip board paper so they’d anchor the drawing and help constrain the proportions of the nebula. Although similar in intent to Sir John Herschel’s process, I used a photograph to trace the locations of the brightest stars - which sounds like cheating until you try doing it by eye with this many stars. It was quick and easy to do this at home during the day.

Then, while at the eyepiece, I roughed in the broad outlines of M42 and M43 relative to these accurately placed stars, and double checked the proportions to make sure everything would end up in their correct positions. This took roughly the first three hours of eyepiece time before I was satisfied I was on the right track.

Preparation is a drag, but an object that overflows the eyepiece is difficult to draw well without it. The temptation is to start drawing the most attractive details right away, but for me this often ends up with the overall proportions being out of whack.

Perhaps it’s not obvious, so I’ll mention that a big, highly detailed object like the Orion Nebula must be drawn on a big sheet of paper. Two reasons - first, the smallest details should be drawn at a scale large enough to do them justice, and second, there must be enough room on the paper for the entire object to fit comfortably. I used 11-inch x 14-inch tracing paper attached to a large clipboard for sketching at the eyepiece, and made my final drawing on a sheet of 18-inch x 24-inch drawing vellum. Both are very smooth and allow for fine gradations of shading needed to accurately portray the nebular detail.

The colorized version of my drawing shown above was made by photographing the finished pencil drawing with my iPhone - not as easy as it sounds because it's really difficult to get a completely evenly illuminated shot - then inverting the drawing and adding color with Photoshop. The colors are slightly more saturated than they appeared in the eyepiece.

North is to the left."

 

The Great Orion Nebula - the M42 and M43 region - December 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, The Jewel in the Sword

"This is the finished pencil drawing before inverting and adding color. I've bumped up the contrast to show fainter nebular details, but it also brings out slight variations of the paper background - which highlights one of my main difficulties in bringing a pencil drawing into the digital world. Getting a completely smooth and evenly illuminated background is one of my biggest challenges."

This video compares my drawing of the M42 area with John Herschel's famous drawing. Scroll to the 28 minute mark.

M42 and M43 region labeled - December 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, The Jewel in the Sword  

This labeled version of the original pencil sketch shows the main features discussed in my S&T article. Approximately 20 hours of eyepiece sketching time went into this and the companion close-up of the Huygens region, using magnifications from 132x to 408x. No nebular filters were used, so this represents the natural view through the my 28-inch telescope."

M42 Huygens Region - December 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, The Jewel in the Sword

"I'm not completely happy with this close-up sketch of the Huygens region because I didn't quite get the correct colors in all the correct places, and the overall proportions could be a little better. But it shows the startling detail and color that’s visible on the darkest, most transparent nights in this amazing area. Note the Fish Mouth – or Dark Bay – encroaching from the upper left (east) of the sketch. To visualize this dark nebula as a fish mouth, consider the Huygens region to be the fish head. 

The Bright Bar is the orange-ping straight feature running from the mid-left to the mid center of the image, and the Orion S area is the slightly less bright orange-pink area just to the right of the Trapezium. This sketch was drawn using magnifications from 155x through 408x and my 28-inch telescope. Color added in Photoshop, north is up."

Cassiopeia A SNR - December 2014 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, A Visual Guide to the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant

"It was a dark and transparent night at the 2009 Oregon Star Party, and as I was climbing the ladder to the eyepiece of my 28 inch scope, which was pointing nearly straight up, I could already feel my spine start to tingle from excitement and awe. I was about to see Cassiopeia A for the first time, something that only a few other people had ever seen. This is what I wrote in my notebook right after that observation:

“Holy smokes… it was immediately obvious at 105x and the UHC and OIII filters, and then without filters! Seems like this should have an NGC or IC number… Anyway, chills went up my spine when I saw it – really, and I’m still genuinely thrilled. This is a lifetime observation for me. The SNR seems to have a filamentary structure but it’s only suspected with averted vision, plus it’s nearly two objects in close contact. Wonderful, memorable object. 105x to 408x, 21.48 SQM.”

Until a month earlier, if I thought of Cas A at all, I had considered it unobservable. Sure, there I was at the OSP with a 28 inch scope and wonderful observing conditions so you might think there’s wasn’t much I couldn’t see, but it wasn’t on my observing radar until then because of reading comments like this from time to time:

“…it is extremely faint optically, and is only visible on long-exposure photographs.”

That’s from the Wikipedia entry for Cassiopeia A, and similar statements I’d seen occasionally over the years had left me with this “unobservable” impression that, happily, turned out to be inaccurate. It’s also another example to not believe everything on the internet.

If I hadn’t read William Gates article about observing Cas A in the fall 2009 issue of Amateur Astronomy Magazine with a 9.25 SCT with an OIII filter from Arizona I’d probably never had tried observing it myself. That’s right - a 9.25 inch SCT, an OIII filter and an eyepiece, that’s all he used. So much for being “only visible on long-exposure photographs”! Even though I suddenly had every expectation to see Cas A after reading Gates’ article, some of its unobservable aura still lingered as I was climbing toward the eyepiece. Altogether it was a fabulous moment when I first saw it. 

The drawing above is a composite of sketches made with my 28-inch scope and Jimi Lowrey's 48-inch scope."

Cassiopeia A SNR - December 2014 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, A Visual Guide to the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant

"This is the original pencil sketch of the composite sketch made with my 28-inch scope and Jimi Lowrey's 48-inch scope. In Lowrey’s 48-inch, the northern arc was full of filamentary and mottled detail as shown in the sketch above. What at first looked to be a third segment of the northern arc was also seen, but it's actually part of the southern arc - another small segment of the southern arc can be seen below the double star at the center of the sketch."

NGC 6543, the Cat's Eye Nebula - August 2018 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, The Riddle of the Nebulae

"I've only had a rock-steady view of the Cat's Eye Nebula once, and then for only a few minutes but the detail was astounding. Before I could start sketching the seeing went soft and squishy and all the incredible was blurred away. Rats!

This sketch of NGC 6543 represents my second best view of the intricate inner portion of the nebula, and was made by combining high-power detail (1210x) with low power color (155x) as seen through my 28-inch f/4 telescope. The turquoise color was still detected – although barely - at 1210x, indicating how well this planetary nebula can stand up to high-power when the seeing is steady. North is up."

NGC 6543 visual spectrum - August 2018 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, The Riddle of the Nebulae

"I purchased a relatively inexpensive visual spectroscope because I wanted to recreate William Huggins historic 1864 observation of NGC 6543's that was the first to show that at least some nebulae are composed of gas. Here are my observing notes from my first observation of 6543's spectrum:

“Not just one line but two! It took a minute to figure out which was the primary spectrum, and which was the nebula because the image of the primary is so much brighter! Seeing a second line is unexpected, but the appearance of the spectrum is so different than a stellar spectrum that I can’t help but think of Huggins exclamation that he knew at first glance that this spectrum proves that at least some nebulae are gaseous. This is especially remarkable because there’s a continuous stellar spectrum right next to 6543’s lines. This is a memorable observation not only for duplicating Huggins observation, but that I can (do it) so easily and with such an inexpensive spectrograph… 15 mm Plossl / 5 spacers, 21.34 SQM. A last look showed a bit more spectrum, a faint patch on the opposite (red) side of the bright line from 6543!”

I received more email about this article than any other I've written, and they all asked what visual spectroscope I used and where it could be purchased. The diffraction grating and lens I have are from Rainbow Optics, but unfortunately they no longer sell these items. However, it was pointed out to me that Rigel Systems has a visual spectroscope that should perform very much the same:

https://telescopes.net/store/rs-spectroscope-rs-spectroscope.html

Their users manual describes how it works:

http://rigel.datacorner.com/rigelsys/00%20downloads/RS-Spectroscope%20man.pdf

To say I’ve been surprised at how genuinely enriching observing spectra can be is a bit of an understatement, and not just because of its historical roots. It’s a deeper way to actually see, and appreciate, the fundamental nature of stars and nebulae and how different they are from each other. Huggins discovery is one of the most meaningful astronomical breakthroughs of the 19th century, and if you can afford the cost of a modest eyepiece you can see it for yourself."

M45, the Pleiades and its engulfing "Bubble" nebulosity - January 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, Pleiades, Rising Thro' the Mellow Shade - Seeing the Pleiades Bubble

"If you’ve already looked at my drawing above you may be wondering what 's up with all that faint nebulosity surrounding the Pleiades, and how could I possibly have seen it. What if I told you it was all visible at a glance through my friend Chuck’s 4 inch APO refractor and a 31mm Nagler eyepiece?

The Pleiades is one of the most well-known objects in the sky, but well-known doesn’t always mean carefully observed. Human nature being what it is we usually see what we expect to see, but sometimes a new perspective makes something previously unnoticed too obvious to ignore.

That happened to Mel Bartels the first time he pointed his brand new 6 inch f2.8 Dob at the Pleiades, which also happened to be first light for his wonderful telescope.

For the first time he saw the Pleiades in context to their surroundings and suddenly the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) they’re passing through and illuminating was impossible not to see. He dubbed it the Pleiades Bubble.

I saw it through his new scope at the 2014 Oregon Star Party – and it was a really cool sight. I was in the final stages of building an 8 inch f3.3 Dob for my wife Judy, and as soon as it was finished, and got it under a dark sky, I went looking for the Bubble myself.

Surprisingly, I didn’t see it the first couple of times I tried.

The 2.7 true degree field of view (TFOV) the 8 inch produces with a Paracorr 2 and 21mm Ethos eyepiece isn’t quite large enough to frame the Bubble adequately. Mel’s 6 inch has a 4.2 TFOV with the same P2 / 21mm Ethos combo, which frames it perfectly.

More readily available is the 4 inch f5.5 APO refractor I mentioned above with a 4.3 TFOV. Everyone with access to a dark sky and a very wide field scope should see the Bubble. I put it on the 2016 Oregon Star Party advanced observing list and the people who gave it a go were delighted.

My drawing above was made using Judy's 8-inch f/3.3 scope."

M45, the Pleiades and its engulfing "Bubble" nebulosity labeled - January 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, Pleiades, Rising Thro' the Mellow Shade - Seeing the Pleiades Bubble

"This is the inverted version of my drawing of the Pleiades and the Pleiades Bubble, with the major features labeled. Depending on your monitor it may or may not show the Bubble nebulosity better than the original negative pencil sketch."

IC 349, Barnard's Merope Nebula - January 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, Pleiades, Rising Thro' the Mellow Shade - Seeing the Pleiades Bubble

"Discovered visually by E.E Barnard in 1890 with the Lick 36 inch refractor, he measured 349 as being only 36 arc seconds from Merope and 30 arc seconds in size. He also saw it in a 12 inch Clark refractor using an occulting eyepiece, an observation duplicated by S&T columnist Sue French with her 14.5 reflector. Her occulting eyepiece gave 212x. 

I’ve seen IC 349 in 20 to 48 inch Newtonians and found a second key to a successful observation when using a reflector - making sure the nebula is placed between Merope’s diffraction spikes. For my scopes that means the Pleiades must be within an hour or so of the meridian. IC 349 is the brightest knot of the IFN associated with the Pleiades. It’s physically close to Merope and is slowly evaporating by its radiation pressure, as evidenced by the nebulous streaks in the HST image. Seeing this slowly dissolving nebula is a rare treat.

I used an 8mm Plossel eyepiece with my 28-inch f4 telescope to make this sketch of IC 349. Placing Merope just outside the field of view when the nebula was between Merope’s diffraction spikes made this observation possible."

M17, the Swan / Omega / Checkmark / Horseshoe / Lobster Nebula - September 2017 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, M17: the Nebula with Too Many Names

"M17, as sketched over 4.5 hours of drawing at the eyepiece over three nights at the 2017 Oregon Star Party. Although it shows details I saw with my 28 inch telescope, most of what I sketched can be seen in considerably smaller scopes under a dark sky. I mostly used 253x, but did not employ nebula filters. Notice how the entire body can appear twisted like a barber pole because the orientations of the brighter areas are similar. North is down, west is to the left.

M17 is a bright HII region in the Milky Way with a colossal but hidden star cluster. It’s also the brightest portion of a giant molecular cloud (GMC) located approximately 6000 light years away in the Sagittarius spiral arm. That makes the optically visible portion of M17 roughly 15 light years in length.

M17 has nourished three waves of star formation. The first formed roughly 2000 stars approximately 5 million years ago, followed by the rapid compression of M17’s gas and dust. That increase in density, nearly 2 million years ago, kick-started the formation of approximately 12,000 more stars and continues today, making up the huge NGC 6618 star cluster. Unfortunately, these stars lay mostly unseen within the HII gas of M17 and are best seen in infrared. 

A third phase of star formation is ongoing in the outer regions of M17’s GMC, involving about 1000 stars. 

The massive O stars in NGC 6618 blast out intense ultraviolet radiation that excites the hydrogen gas in the M17 molecular cloud to emit visible light, creating the emission nebula / HII region we’re so fond of naming."

"Note how dark the molecular cloud inside the curve of the head and neck appears, and its sharp corner. This scan of my original pencil sketch makes some of the outer bits of faint nebulosity easier to see. North is down, west is to the left."

M27, the Dumbbell Nebula - July 2018 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, Messier 27, The First Planetary Nebula

"This is my inverted pencil sketch of the Dumbbell Nebula as seen with my 28-inch f/4 Newtonian, showing all the features described in my S&T article. Magnifications from 155x to 408x were used while drawing M27 from the dark, transparent skies of the Oregon Star Party over three nights. About three and half hours of observing time went into this sketch. Note the east and west extensions from the ends of the faint wings that complete the oval shape of M27 and are pushing out to become the brightest parts of the outer halo.

There were too many field stars to plot, so imagine about ten times more and you’ll get the idea of what a beautiful scene this is in a large telescope, and how they contribute to a faux 3D effect.

M27 has the second brightest magnitude and highest surface brightness of any large planetary nebula, which may be why Charles Messier was able to discover it the night before the full moon of July 1764. His description reads in part “nebula without a star” and “it appears of oval shape”. That general appearance fit many of his discoveries, so to him it became just another object on his list of enigmatic nebulae that didn’t move relative to the stars." 

M27, the Dumbbell Nebula - July 2018 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, Messier 27, The First Planetary Nebula

"Today we know M27 was the very first planetary nebula ever discovered. Messier was using a 6-inch speculum mirror Gregorian telescope at 104x when he first found M27. His discovery not only shows that searching for comets didn’t wait for the Moon to get out of way but is also a dramatic illustration of M27’s brightness, because at best a speculum metal mirror reflects only about 66% of the light that hits it, so the images in his 6-inch were - at best - no brighter than a modern 4-inch scope produces."

M20, the Trifid Nebula - June 2016 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, An Unexpected Bloom, Take a Fresh Look at M20 the Trifid Nebula

"A few years ago I was thrilled when my step-daughter Kara unexpectedly arrived with her mom to join me at the Oregon Star Party for a few days. While looking at the Trifid Nebula for the first time she said “Howie, it looks just like a Dogwood blossom.” I’d always thought it looked like a four leaf clover, and not knowing what a Dogwood blossom looks like her comparison came as a surprise.

It was also unexpected enough that I looked it up when I got home – and sure enough she was exactly right. Really, check it out.

The inverted and slightly colorized version of my Trifid drawing above shows the subtle difference between the warm hue of the HII region (south) and the cool hue of the reflection nebula (north). It takes a dark and transparent night for them to be seen. My best view ever was at 135x with my 28 inch f4 Newtonian at the 2014 Oregon Star Party. Color was added in Photoshop

M20 labeled - June 2016 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, An Unexpected Bloom, Take a Fresh Look at M20 the Trifid Nebula

"The Trifid is a busy place. This drawing of the Trifid Nebula was made over many nights spanning several years using my 28-inch f4 Newtonian at magnifications from 135x to 408x. No filters were used. A total of 8.5 hours went into sketching at the eyepiece and another several hours into this finished drawing. 

Nearly all HII regions start as molecular clouds (interstellar dust and hydrogen gas) collapsing under their own gravity with the help of an outside shove like a galactic density wave or a nearby supernova.

Not the Trifid. It’s the result of two molecular clouds that have, and still are, colliding. That makes it an astrophysical rarity – it’s the second cloud-cloud collision HII region ever discovered. Although cloud collisions are uncommon, the crowded and turbulent area around the Trifid is just the sort of place it would happen.

The 2km/s Cloud (Barnard 85) is moving toward us and is in the foreground, while Cloud C is moving away from us and is in the background. Their positions were reversed at the beginning of their collision 1 million years ago. The labels refer to features discussed in my S&T article.".

HD164492, multiple star in M20 - June 2016 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, An Unexpected Bloom, Take a Fresh Look at M20 the Trifid Nebula

"This is the brightest star near the intersection of the Trifid’s dark lanes, and is a powerful O7.5 star that doubly ionizes the Trifid’s hydrogen gas with its intense ultraviolet output, creating the red HII region. Even though it’s not the only star visible here, only its ultraviolet output is powerful enough to make the Trifid Nebula glow as an HII region. 

But that doesn’t make the other stars uninteresting. They’re part of the multiple star system dominated by HD164492A, and are first generation stars created by the Trifid’s colliding clouds. They’re only about 300,000 years old.

On a steady night, they can be seen aligned north-south and together form the bright heart of the Trifid. Stars A and C are the brightest and are easy to see at low power, while the fainter stars need more magnification. On a steady night I’ve been able to see components A through G with my 28 inch f4 Newtonian using 408x."

B33, the Horsehead Nebula - January 2019 issue of Sky & Telescope - Fleming's Semicircular Indentation

"IC 434 provides the slightly brighter background the Horsehead is silhouetted against. Without this background the Horsehead would be invisible to visual observers, so it’s IC 434 that’s crucial to detect – if you can’t see IC 434 you won’t see the Horsehead.

An important tool for visual observation of IC 434 is an h-beta nebula filter. Sometimes referred to as the “Horsehead Filter” it increases the contrast between IC 434, the background sky, and the Horsehead. It’s useful on more than just the Horsehead of course, but its nickname is deserved because it can make this famously difficult object a lot easier to see.

Although I was able to detect the Horsehead using an UHC filter with my 20-inch, an h-beta filter increased contrast immensely and produced a much more satisfying image. On the other hand, if you’re ever under a pristine dark sky with Orion near the meridian, try to see the Horsehead without a filter and you may be pleasantly surprised. On these rare nights I’ve thought it looked like a Knight, the chess piece."

B33, the Horsehead Nebula - January 2019 issue of Sky & Telescope - Fleming's Semicircular Indentation

"IC 434 provides the slightly brighter background the Horsehead is silhouetted against. Without this background the Horsehead would be invisible to visual observers, so it’s IC 434 that’s crucial to detect – if you can’t see IC 434 you won’t see the Horsehead.

An important tool for visual observation of IC 434 is an h-beta nebula filter. Sometimes referred to as the “Horsehead Filter” it increases the contrast between IC 434, the background sky, and the Horsehead. It’s useful on more than just the Horsehead of course, but its nickname is deserved because it can make this famously difficult object a lot easier to see.

Although I was able to detect the Horsehead using an UHC filter with my 20-inch, an h-beta filter increased contrast immensely and produced a much more satisfying image. On the other hand, if you’re ever under a pristine dark sky with Orion near the meridian, try to see the Horsehead without a filter and you may be pleasantly surprised. On these rare nights I’ve thought it looked like a Knight, the chess piece."

M1, the Crab Nebula - February 2019 issue of Sky & Telescope - Above the Southern Horn of Taurus

'"The Crab Nebula is the youngest, brightest and closest supernova remnant, and its neutron star pulsar is the collapsed core of the supernova’s progenitor star. It is approximately 20 kilometers in diameter and is a sphere of tightly packed neutrons that rotate 30 times per second with a collimated beam of light blasting out from each of its magnetic poles. The pulsar produces a relativistic outflow of synchrotron radiation that accelerates the expansion of the Crab Nebula.

The Crab is approximately 6500 light years away, stretches 13 light years along its major axis, and is expanding at 1500 kilometers per second. In other words, it’s an absolutely fantastic object."

"This sketch shows the view through the 28-inch using an OIII filter. The filter radically changes the apparent shape of the Crab Nebula by bringing out its overall oval outline as well as a few of the brighter filaments. The OIII filter also dims many of the stars seen in the unfiltered view. Note that this sketch has been left with many pencil marks around the perimeter of the nebula to suggest the sense of detail that was just out of reach. The scale and orientation are the same as in the unfiltered sketch below."

M1, the Crab Nebula - February 2019 issue of Sky & Telescope - Above the Southern Horn of Taurus

"An OIII filter is even more essential to seeing filaments in the Crab than the h-beta filter is to seeing the Horsehead Nebula. When using an OIII filter with my 20 and 28-inch scopes the Crab’s brightest filaments become visible and the overall shape of the nebula becomes oval. I get excited each time I see this transformation, and my sketches illustrate the difference as seen through my 28-inch scope.You’ll also notice I’ve seen only suggestions of the fainter filaments and hints of a ragged perimeter. The filaments are low contrast, difficult to see features under even the best observing conditions with a large amateur telescope. I’ve tried many times to see more but the OIII sketch shows my best effort with my own scopes."

M1, the Crab Nebula - February 2019 issue of Sky & Telescope - Above the Southern Horn of Taurus

"The sketch below shows the unfiltered view through my 28-inch scope. Magnifications from 253x to 408x were used for this sketch, but depending on how steady the seeing is, I've used over 1000x on the Crab pulsar. The only difference between this unfiltered view and the OIII view is the use of an OIII filter. North is up."

M1, the Crab Nebula - February 2019 issue of Sky & Telescope - Above the Southern Horn of Taurus

"Location of the Crab pulsar, PSR B0531+21. The 16th magnitude pulsar, and the very slightly brighter field star that’s appears next to it, are exaggerated in brightness in this sketch so they’re easily visible. North is up."

M1, the Crab Nebula - February 2019 issue of Sky & Telescope - Above the Southern Horn of Taurus

"My sketch from the night of April 12, 2010, showing the amplitude of the Crab Pulsar’s brightness changes using Dan Gray’s chopper. The minimum to maximum frequency was about 2 seconds as seen using 1210x on the 90-inch Bok telescope at Kitt Peak. The pulsar is the star on the right. North is to upper left. This observation will always be one of the most exciting things I’ve see through a telescope. North is to the upper left." 

NGC 2261 - Tracking Hubble's Variable Nebula - February 2020 issue of Sky & Telescope

"A striking example of actual change in form has been found in the case of the nebula N.G.C. 2261 … one of the few real examples of cometary form in the sky and easily the finest of them. Photographically it is well defined and has almost the form of an equilateral triangle with a sharp stellar nucleus at the extreme southern point. There are faint extensions from the northern portion of it. One long streamer which projects from the northern edge extends almost due north."

Edwin Hubble, from his first published paper in 1916.

My series of sketches - below - range from March 10, 1999 through October 9, 2019 and show just how much, and in some cases, how quickly changes of the nebulae's apparent shape can be seen.  The sketches were made using 8, 20 and 28-inch scopes, and even though the larger scopes showed more detail, the 8-inch scope showed changes nearly as nearly as well, although they were more difficult to see. Steady seeing is a big help in tracking short term changes, but sometimes long term changes are dramatic.

M8 - Swimmin' in the Lagoon, August 2020 issue of Sky & Telescope

"I used my 28-inch scope for these observations. I had two goals in mind: First draw the Lagoon with my lowest power eyepiece and record the entire nebula without nebula filters. Second, zoom in on the Hourglass region (again without nebula filters) and sketch every detail visible. They were equally challenging sketches, but oh so much fun. Based on these rough sketches, I created finished drawings with more accurate proportions to realistically portray how I saw the entire object. For the low-power drawing of the Lagoon as a whole I used magnifications of 131x and 155x, and for the close up of the Hourglass I used 253x and 408x."

"A combination of good seeing and high magnification is essential for spotting the white dwarf (central star). At magnitude 15.678 it's a tiny spark that looks even fainter due to the Ring's surrounding brightness. Reduced contrast with the subtle nebulosity in the Ring's center doesn't help either. The star is worthy of its tough reputation. That said, on the very best nights the  white dwarf's blue color can be seen in large scopes.

Northwest of the white dwarf is a magnitude 16.184 star that's unrelated to M57 peeps through the Ring's dark center. I figured this star should be visible nearly as often as the central star - it's only a half magnitude fainter - but it took me another 15 years to see the darn thing."

(The 15.678 and 16.184 magnitudes are from the Gaia DR2 release, and shows the other, fainter star is 4 times farther away than M57)

This is a positive (white nebula with black sky background) version of my full Cygnus Loop drawing that appeared in the September 2021 issue of Sky & Telescope, and best represents what I saw through my 28-inch f/4 and 8-inch f/3.3 Newtonians under the pristine skies of central Oregon.

"The Cygnus Loop comprises five main sections. Surprised? Me too! The two brightest arcs are the western and eastern sections, which understandably draw the most attention at the eyepiece because of their relatively bright, impressive details and mesmerizing shapes. Most observers are somewhat aware of a fainter section between the arcs, but in fact there are two, side by side. In addition, there’s a little-known southern section connecting the southern ends of the two central regions. These five parts together make up the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop.

Through the course of my sketching project (see the sidebar on page 32), I’ve unofficially come to think of each section as an individual “Veil” and the entire complex as the Cygnus Loop. The visual intricacies of each Veil give them distinct personalities, making all five worthy of exploration."

Veil #1

Veil #2

Veil #3

Veil #4

Veil #5

"My original goal was to only make renderings of the three brightest sections of the Veil Nebula as seen with my 28-inch scope from the dark skies of central Oregon’s high desert. I’d observed the brighter parts of the Loop for 30 years but never sketched them.

At the start of the project, I set up three 15 × 16-inch sketching clipboards to use at the eyepiece. Then I lightly traced the outline of the three brightest sections of the Cygnus Loop from photographs so I could depict details in their correct places and proportions. A useful rule of thumb is to draw at a size that allows the smallest detail to be clearly shown, hence the large sketching clipboards.

Combining the individual eyepiece sketches of all five Veils into one drawing of the Loop required a 32-inch-square piece of paper. This allowed me to transfer all the detail I’d recorded in my eyepiece sketches to the finished pencil drawing without any loss.

I didn’t count, but there are many overlapping fields of view represented in the finished drawing. It shows what the entire Cygnus Loop would look like through my 28-inch scope if it had a wide enough field of view — or if the 8-inch f/3.3 scope could produce an image as bright and detailed as the 28-inch.

The two telescopes gave such different views that I consider them both essential to the success of the project. Even though I did all my eyepiece sketching with the 28-inch, without the 8-inch scope I wouldn’t fully appreciate the impact of the Cygnus Loop as a single object. It was the view through the 8-inch that changed how I think about this beautiful supernova remnant."

This is the version of my Cygnus Loop pencil drawing that appeared in S&T, and is the largest astronomical drawing I've attempted so far.

Punching a Hole in the Sky, NGC 1999, February 2022 issue of Sky & Telescope

"Inconspicuously tucked away a degree south of M42 is the small reflection nebula, NGC 1999. It has a remarkable feature – a dark and well-defined void that runs completely through it (1, 4). Prior to a 2010 study lead by Thomas Stanke (ESO) it had been assumed the keyhole shaped patch was a dark nebula in front of NGC 1999, and was a likely spot for new stars to form. That was a pretty good assumption given that this part of Orion is bursting with new star formation. 

NGC 1999 is illuminated by V380 Ori, a quadruple pre-main sequence star system located in the Orion A GMC (Giant Molecular Cloud). The dark void to its immediate west is approximately 20 x 30 arc minutes in size, which translates to about 10,000 AU along its longest dimension at its distance of 1250 light years. Normal nebular turbulence should close this void fairly quickly, so how did it form and why is it staying open?

"“I can see the glow of 1999 when I look at the right spot at low power (39x) and it’s pretty evident. Pretty easy to pass by just by sweeping though.  With 206x and 274x the glow of 1999 is more evident and slightly oval, which is caused by the dark void. But the void is only suspected, probably because the sky background is too bright to show the glow of 1999 more distinctly all the way around it. 19.45 SQM.” 


My 28-inch scope produces a great view... The void has a sharply defined keyhole shape that looks almost artificial during periods of steady seeing. The clearest views have been with magnifications of 408x and 545x, with the void starkly contrasted against the bright portion of 1999:

“The dark nebula (i.e., the dark void) is sharply defined and has a distinct trefoil shape. The perimeter of the bright nebula has a somewhat ragged edge with hints of little (and short) streamers. Very nice! 408x, 21.30 SQM.” 

"HH 1/2 (read as “HH one / two”) are the first two Herbig-Haro objects ever discovered, and are conveniently located in the same high-power field of view as NGC 1999. Even though they’re among the brightest of their class, they’re still pretty faint, and it takes a great night to see them. But don’t let that scare you away - I’ve detected them with my 8-inch scope in moderately light polluted but very transparent skies. They’re both fairly easy to see with my 28-inch scope in the same conditions.

Part of the fun of visual observing is trying to see exotic objects like this, no matter how difficult they are - especially when armed with a little knowledge of how the titanic forces of star formation can, sometimes, punch a hole in the sky."

M78, A Hotbed of Stellar Activity,  January 2024 issue of Sky & Telescope


Three years after Pierre Méchain discovered M78, William Herschel wrote:


“1783, Dec. 19 (Sw. 59). Two large stars, well defined, within a nebulous glare of light resembling that in Orion's sword. There are also three very small stars just visible in the nebulous part which seem to be component particles thereof. I think there is a faint ray near 1/2 deg long towards the east and another towards the south east less extended, but I am not quite so well assured of the reality of these latter phenomena as I could wish, and would rather ascribe them to some deception. At least I shall suspend my judgement till I have seen it again in very fine weather, tho' the night is far from bad.” [13]

 

Herschel’s report is definitely describing M78, but I am a little surprised he didn’t see more nebulosity given all the faint galaxies he discovered throughout his career.  Maybe the sky had poor transparency the night he observed M78.

However, the one night I had great conditions showed me a whole lot more in and around M78. In March 2021 I was able to see way more than I anticipated, and later found out that I’d also seen lots of YSO’s, which are everywhere in and around M78. 

Herschel’s report is definitely describing M78, but I am a little surprised he didn’t see more nebulosity given all the faint galaxies he discovered throughout his career.  Maybe the sky had poor transparency the night he observed M78.

 

However, the two nights I had great conditions while observing with my 28-inch f/4 Newtonian, using magnifications from 155x to 408x, showed me a whole lot more in and around M78. In March 2021 I was able to see well beyond what I anticipated, and later found out that I’d also seen lots of YSO’s, which are everywhere in and around M78:

 

NGC 2071

Located just north of M78, this nebulous region is connected to it by the subtle and uneven glow of background nebulosity that suffuses this area, and gives the strong impression that all the brighter nebulae are part of the same complex that are visually separated by dark nebulae. The brightest part of 2071 is punctuated by the star HD 290861, a 10th magnitude YSO.

 

The nebula surrounding this star is roughly circular, colorless, but with noticeably irregular edges. It gradually dims the further it gets from HD 290861 until it joins the background glow to its south and northwest, where it brightens again around the star HD 290860, which is also 10th magnitude [12]. It quickly dims into background glow of this region.

 

M78 = NGC 2068

This is the largest and brightest area of nebulosity, and is what Méchain, Messier and Herschel saw. However, the first part of Messier’s description doesn’t really match M78. There’s not only no cluster of stars here, there’s a noticeable lack of them around M78, which has me wondering why he described it as a “cluster of stars”. Where he quotes Méchain is spot on though, and Herschel’s precise notes confirm he was seeing NGC 2068 too.

 

My sketch shows what I saw. Notice the sharp but slightly uneven northern boundary of NGC 2068 makes with the curved dark nebula, LDN 1627 [16]. I saw one definite notch and perhaps another – to paraphrase Herschel, “I am not quite so well assured of [its] reality” but I did have the impression the northern border of 2068 was somewhat serrated.

 

To my eye, LDN 1627 helped define the structure of all the bright nebulosities shown in my sketch, and is the dark backbone of this area. It’s as visually important as the bright portions, and I imagine it’s brightly illuminated all along its far side.

 

The two stars within 2068 stand out as evenly bright, and conjured up a pair of stellar eyes within a ghostly face. The northern most, HD 38563, a B2II-III star [17], is a close double that I saw as a single star, and shines at magnitude 10.8 while the southern star, HD 290862 is a young stellar object (YSO) [18] and is slightly brighter at magnitude 10.4. The third star mentioned by Herschel, just south of the brightest part of NGC 2068, is the 13th magnitude [SSC75] M 78 11 [12].

 

The three nondescript stars trailing off to the southeast from [SSC75] M 78 11 turn out to be rather interesting. In descending order of brightness, we have a T Tauri star (EM* LkHA 309), a close double (EM* LkHA 312 and EM* LkHA 313A), which I saw as a single star, made up of a YSO and another T Tauri star, and finally a high proper motion star (PM J05472-0000). Many stars in this area are rather interesting if you look up their basic properties [12].

 

The nebulosity of NGC 2068 is partially defined by LDN 1627 along its northern and northwest border, and also by how it gradually fades to the south and east. It doesn’t fade away completely, because the entire area is dappled with a subtle mix of dark and barely detectable bright nebula, with the most noticeable part straggling off to the south.

 

NGC 2067

This is the elongated bright nebula on the northwest side of LDN 1627, and follows the curve both to the west and south of NGC 2068. The brightest portion of 2067 is near its northern end. A roughly 10th magnitude star – a close double consisting of a YSO (CXOU J054635.3+000858) and a star of uncertain type (VSS VI-4) [14, 15] – punctuates the brightest part of the nebula as it trails southward down the visual length of 2067.

 

NGC 2064

Following the curve of 2067 southward, we come to NGC 2064, a subtle knot that’s easy to miss at first glance, but with averted vision it appears more substantial. It’s right about here where LDN 1627 becomes indistinct, and the western side of NGC 2068 begins to merge with NGC 2064. Keep following the overall curve to find a wide double star. I saw a faint halo around the eastern most star, magnitude 14.6 EM* LkHA 301 [8], which is yet another T Tauri star. Its wide companion, V*V2764 Ori is also a T Tauri star. By the way, the location of McNeil’s Nebula is just west of this young stellar pair.

This is a variable nebula discovered photographically in 2004 by Jay McNeil. Looking much like a smaller version of Hubble’s Variable Nebula (NGC 2261) the illuminating star for McNeil’s Nebula is the protostar V1647 Orionis, which is usually impossible to see at magnitude 18.1 – and it seems that no one has seen the nebulosity since 2018.

[B77] 106

Continuing to follow the overall curve of this region southward, I came to a small knot of nebulosity, [B77] 106. Although I only noticed the fairly bright glow of the nebula, there’s a T Tauri star embedded within. YSO’s really are everywhere around M78!