by Steve Gottlieb
At both the Sierra Buttes last Tuesday (7/17) and Fiddletown on Sunday (7/22) I took at look along with Jim Shields and Ray Cash at a recently discovered supernova remnant G65.3+5.7 near Phi Cygni. This object was originally listed in the Sharpless (Sh 2-91 and Sh 2-94) and Lynds Bright Nebulae catalogue (LBN 147) but was discovered to be a SNR in 1997 in an emission line survey of the galactic plane. On deep OIII images a huge filamentary structure is revealed, roughly 4 degrees x 3.3 degrees but visually the brightest thread (Sh 2-91) is located about 15' south of mag 4.7 Phi Cygni and perhaps 10' in length.
The Sky Catalogue 2000 gives a position for Sh 2-91 of 19 35.6 +29 37 with remarkable dimensions of 120'x2' but the section I observed is centered one degree further ENE at ~19 39.7 +29 57 (2000). This is one of the largest, optically visible supernova remnants and in a pretty short list of SNR accessible to amateur scopes! The filament which passes through mag 8.5 HD 185735 responds well to an OIII filter and should be visible in a dark sky with smaller scopes.
| G65.3+5.7 = Sh 2-91 = LBN 147 | 19 39.7 +29 57 |
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17.5" (7/22/01): viewed along with several others at 64x with OIII filter.
Appeared as a faint, thin wisp ~8'x0.5', appearing to dangle from mag 8.5 HD
185735 and oriented WSW-ENE. The filament also passes through a mag 11 star
4' NW. Fairly easy with an unusual appearance with averted vision.
17.5" (7/17/01): Picked up this HII strip or possible supernova remnant at 64x (31 Nagler) using an OIII filter. Appeared as a very faint, long filament of nebulosity starting north of a mag 9 star and trailing NE for ~6-7'. The strip is at most 1' in width and seems slightly bowed out to the south away from mag 4.7 Phi Cygni 14' N. Nebulosity was suspected continuing just west of the mag 8 star (V2086). For such an obscure object, the observation was surprisingly easy, though this may just be the brightest portion of a larger complex. | |