CalStar OR: Some obscure Planetaries and a few NGC's

Alvin Huey

Overall this is one of the best CalStars I've attended. I setup between Bill Porte and Marsha Robinson, the only TAC-Sac observers at CalStar as far as I know. I was close to Pete S, Mark W and Rich N and few others. Best of all, I finally got to meet Dr. Planetary Nebulae, Kent Wallace. He was right next to me with his 20" Starsplitter reflector. He has many stories to share to us all.and we had some good views through his scopes. I unfortunately did not record them, but do remember some PNe's we looked at through his scope. They include the Raspberry nebula (IC 418), Magic Carpet nebula (NGC 7027), Spare Tyre nebula (IC5148/50), Campbell's Star (Henize 2-438), Jones 1, etc.

There are many daytime activities I will not attempt to write about. I had a great time meeting quite a few TACos in person, naming a few; Greg Claytor, Mark Johnson, Kent Wallace.

My daughter, Evelyn, had a lot of fun despite that she didn't hang out with any kids.

Anyhow, I'll put out this first part, the planetaries I observed.

I also observed a number of Shakhbazian groups, Dwingaloo 1 and a Palomar Globular. I'll post that tomorrow or Thursday evening.

Planetary Nebulae (both nights). Keep in mind that these are pretty rough notes as I pretty much just copied what I wrote on my observing notebook here.

Minkowski 3-30 (18 41 14.8, -15 33 39, 14.6p, 17", Scutum)
22" (287 and 460x) - Bright, small round glow. About 15" across. Responds well to O-III filter. A 14.6 magnitude star lies just 20" ENE from the center. Removing the O-III filter reveals an extremely faint star on the S edge.

IC 1295 (18 54 37.2, -08 49 33, 15.0p, 120x90", Scutum)
22" (287x) - Very bright, very slightly elongated patch with a slightly darker center. "Double" central star and a 12.6 magnitude star on the SW edge. Lies in a rich star field. About 1.5" across. PA = 90. Responds well to O-III filter

Henize 1-3 (19 48 26.4, +22 08 34, 16.0, 12", Vulpecula)
22" (287 and 460x) - Very faint, very small glow. Barely visible without O-III filter and responds very well to it. No central star detected. 10" across.

Minkowski 2-48 (19 50 28.6< +25 54 27, 16.5p, 29x13", Vulpecula)
22" (287 and 460x) - Very faint, 2:1 elongated small patch. PA = 90. About 30" long. Forms a trapezoid wth three 14-15th magnitude stars. No central star. Responds well to O-III filter

Henize 1-6 (20 17 21.5, +25 21 44, 14.9p, 24", Vulpecula)
22" (287 and 460x) - Considerably bright, even surface brightness glow. Small. Well defined edges, but the SE edge is soft. No central star. 20" across. Responds well to O-III filter

PC19 (18 24 44.6, +02 29 27, 12.1p, 14", Serpens)
22" (177 and 287x) - Considerably faint, very small glow. This PNe is confirmed at 177x by blinking with O-III filter.

RCW 181 (18 54 56.9, +06 02 41, -, 5.1', Serpens)
22" (177 and 287x) - Not detected. Tried using UltraBlock and O-III filters

Koh 3-34 (19 24 02.9, +25 18 47, 15.8p, 10",Vulpecula)
22" (287 and 460x) - Blinked with O-III filter to find it. Very small, considerably bright, almost stellar disk.

Sharpless 2-80 (19 11 30.9, +16 51 35, 8.2 IR, 1.8', Sagitta)
22" (177, 287 and 460x) - Not detected. Tried using UltraBlock and O-III filters.

PK 51+1.1 (19 19 18.8, +17 11 45, -, 20", Sagitta)
22" (287 and 460x) - Extremely faint, very small. Blinking showed very small improvement.

Henize 1-5 (20 11 56.1, +20 20 04, 16.2p, 40", Sagitta)
22" (287 and 460x) - Very faint, round glow with a very bright central star. Responds well to O-III filter. It appears as a faint round glow over a vB star.

NGC 7139 (21 46 08.6, +63 47 31, 13.3v, 86x70". Cepheus)
22" (287x) - Considerably faint, round, even surface brightness glow. Well defined edges. No central star. 60" across.

Minkowski 2-51 (22 16 03.8, +57 28 33, 13.5v, 72", Cepheus)
22" (287 and 460x) - Considerably bright, round even surface brightness. Well defined edges. 40" across. Responds well to O-III filter

Minkowski 2-52 (22 20 30.9, +57 36 18, 14.0p (15.3v), 14", Cepheus)
22" (287 and 460x) - Considerably bright, almost stellar. Blinked with O-III filter to locate it.

PK 111+1.1 (22 19 33.9, +70 56 05, -, 8.8', Cepheus)
22" (177 and 287x) - Not detected. Used both O-III and Ultrablock filters.

NGC 7354 (22 40 20.1, +61 17 06, 12.2v, 24", Cepheus)
22" (287 and 460x) - Bright round even surface brightness glow. Very faint central star. 20" across.

NGC 246 (00 47 03.6, -11 52 20, 8.0p, 240x210", Cetus)
22" (177, 287 and 460x) - Very bright, mottled surface, very well deined edges. East edge is diffuse. 3 stars, including the central star, is on the halo.