Last week I promised to write about the flashlight at night as a metaphor for stargazing techniques — and I'll get to that in due time. But first I want to write about my observing session last weekend.

IC 1396 in Cepheus

The huge cluster and emission nebula IC 1396 is the centerpiece of Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders column for November 2010. Click above for a larger image.

Photo: Richard Crisp; Labels: S&T

The forecast for Saturday night was good, so I made the long drive to my country home just to get in five or six hours of stargazing between the end of dusk and moonrise. I obviously wanted to look for Comet Hartley 2, which I did. (See my brief observing report.) But I also wanted to get to my deep-sky bread and butter; Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders columns. Due to vagaries of weather and schedule, I hadn't done either the October or November 2010 column yet, and I also had an old one (September 2006) to catch up on.

Can a little 3-page column really keep a deep-sky observer busy for hours with a pretty big telescope at a fairly dark site? You bet it can — and then some!

First of all, Sue has a gift for finding fascinating, oddball objects that don't make most people's regular observing lists. I'd never seen either NGC 7281 or 7261 before, and as Sue says, they turn out to be connected by a charming (though totally accidental) chain of stars, which she calls the Dit-Dit-Dit asterism. And I'd never even contemplated observing the interesting planetary nebula Minkowski 2-51. That one took me a bit of work.

IC 1396A, the Elephant Trunk Nebula

Photo: Richard Crisp; Labels: S&T

But the real payoff came when I hit IC 1396, the huge star cluster and nebula in Cepheus. I'd made several forays into this object before, but Sue's guidance gave me that critical little nudge to get to the next deeper layer of understanding of this vast, difficult, enigmatic object.

This was the first time I'd tracked down the dark Elephant Trunk Nebula, IC 1396A, which is a favorite subject for astrophotographers but challenging to pick out through the eyepiece of a telescope. And it was certainly the first time I'd though to look for Struve double stars or dark Barnard nebulae inside IC 1396.

Preite-Martinez 1-333 Finder

Photo: Richard Crisp; Labels: S&T

And then, to cap it all, what Sue describes as "the little-known planetary nebula Preite-Martinez 1-333." Little-known indeed! Where does Sue find stuff like this? How many people besides her have ever viewed it through a telescope? Not many, I bet.

It was also a vindication of the hard work I'd put into labeling the photo shown above. It took some serious effort to pinpoint the location of PM 1-333, but sure enough, there it was. "Faintly visible with averted vision, but a narrowband filter makes it fairly easy," just as Sue said.

I'm not done with IC 1396, mind you — not by a long shot. Like the Great Orion Nebula, this is an object to last a lifetime. Next time, I think, I'll revisit it with a smaller telescope, something that can fit the whole nebula in one field of view, like my 4-inch refractor or the 4.5-inch StarBlast.

Comments


Image of George Normandin

George Normandin

October 4, 2010 at 4:06 pm

Thanks for reminding me to take along some of Sue’s columns for next weekend’s observing trip!!

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Juliette

October 6, 2010 at 6:05 am

Where exactly Comet Hartley might be seen, far from Jupiter which is the most shining in our area! Thanks

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Image of Forrest Lockhart

Forrest Lockhart

October 8, 2010 at 3:19 pm

Way back when Walter Scott Houston went skyward, I didn't have much hope for the Deep Sky Wonders column ever returning. We were very fortunate that Sue French stepped in to fill Scotty's shoes.And fill them she did.I've seen more deep sky objects at her monthly prodding than in the 40 years pre-Sue.
I still read my collection of old Houston articles, but only after I've done some monthly skywatching with Sue.

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ED GREDING

October 9, 2010 at 1:47 am

I use Sue French's column every single month to great advantage. She is a fine observer and writer, and has led me to many objects not in the NGC and Messier catalogues that I didn't know about. I hope to meet her someday, perhaps at a star party. Often she can see things with a 10" scope that I can't with a 25". so it's true that I do feel some concern for Sue's eyes, and I wonder if she should see an ophthomologist. But, perhaps it's just that mine are 70 years old, her's much younger! Long may she write and observe the stars!

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Image of Jay

Jay

October 10, 2010 at 3:14 pm

Actually Preite-Martinez 1-333 was observed by Steve Gottlieb on September 16th, 2009 as reported on his post over at Cloudy Nights, post #3352419. So others great observers have seen this object.

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