The rest of it

I made many other observations from TB on Friday night, mainly because it reaches dark so early.  I used my 4- & 8-inch combo refractor, along with the 3x magnifier on the PVS-14:

EGB 1 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond) = HDW 1 (Hartl-Dengel-Weinberger): 01 07 08 73 33 24:  This object has been the subject of some recent discussion on internet forums.  It was initially cataloged as a planetary nebula from inspection of the POSS plates (which presents an amorphous oval cloud).  But recent studies identify it as ionized IFM, which seems closer to how the nebula appears with contemporary imaging, which show a bright illuminated wall of gas and dust with several cometary globules, and a large Ha-bright wing fanning out from the object.  I observed it first with the 4-inch, and it was visible with just Ha but appeared brighter with the Ha+OIII dual band, though it was itself very faint and I needed to pan the scope to make sure the cloud stayed with the sky, and check the star field on my finder chart, before I confirmed the sighting.  The 4-inch image was small scale, and it appeared as the oval, mottled, and ragged-edged very thick "C" shaped cloud, with the open part facing the northeast.  With the 8-inch and further study, I could see the extremely faint, very diffuse fan shaped nebulous area extending out about 2x the main cloud's size from the "cave" or open side of the nebula.

Sh2-191: 02 36 38.7 +59 38 14 2', = Maffei I: Being a galaxy, and a very small one at that, I viewed this with the 8-inch unfiltered, and it appeared as a very small and elongated glow with a bright core.  I first confirmed the rich star field but could see the elongation which distinguished it from the stars.  

Sh2-197: 02 41 54.8 +59 38 46 5': = Maffei II: A very small, elongated smudge, bright core.  8-inch unfiltered and needed to confirm the star field on the chart (meaning, it was not noticed at first glance).

Strottner-Drechsler-Sainty 1: This is the OIII cloud recently discovered near M31.  I wanted to reconfirm the observation I made a few months ago.  Like before, using the 4-inch, it appeared to view when flipping between filters to the Ha+OIII dual band.  It's a faint, long glow running between Upsilon And and 32 And, on the M32 side of the galaxy, with the brighter end near Upsilon.  I it has two brighter streaks or filaments near the middle, and fades out slowly near 32 And.  It curves away from M31 to make a very gentle arc.  M31 showed three dust bands unfiltered, and I could see both M31's twist along with M110's.

HFG 1 (Heckathorn-Fesen-Gull) 03h 03 48 +64 53 28 15'x15': 8-inch, Ha-OIII dual band, it appeared as a very vague, irregularly round glow, with a brighter half along its southeast side.  Diffuse edges.  Did not see the arc of nebula separated from the main to the southeast.

HDW 2: (Hartl-Dengel-Weinberger): 03 11 00 62 48 00, = Sh2-200.  8-inch Ha+OIII dual band.  Extremely faint, small mottled round glow around an arc of stars 4-5 stars of similar magnitude.  Found by locating the nearby open cluster (Tr 3) and the bright star it lies between.   

HDW 3: (Hartl-Dengel-Weinberger) 03h 27 15 +45 24 19 9'x9'.  = HW 4.  Very extremely faint glimmer, 8-inch and Ha+OIII dual band only, and only by confirming the star field and panning the telescope.   

Jones 1: 23 35 53.60 +30 28 02 5': 4-inch dual band, it appeared pretty large but faint, shaped like a C-clip with a thin closed end to the west, open to the east, and thicker & brighter arms.  

MWP 1: (Motch-Werner-Pakull) 21h 17 07 +34 12 40, 13x9': Very weak curved glow originating from a single star, medium-sized.  In a triangle asterism of similar magnitude stars, which is how I identified it from the chart.  8-inch dual band.

IsWe 2: (Ishida-Weinberger) 22 13 22.0 +65 53 55 16'x14': Large, ill-defined round glow or contrast change with the background sky, moves with the sky. 8-inch Ha.  Pretty difficult.

Dengel-Hartl 5: 22h 19 34 +70 56 01, 9'x9':  =DHW 5.  Very small and faint wispy glowing arc above a relatively bright star.  8-inch Ha.

Lacerta Molecular Cloud / Sh2-126: This appears prominently on Finkbeiner but only the brightest portion is listed on most atlases (Sh2-126).  The actual nebula seen (with 3x magnifier and Ha) is more than twice the size of Sh2-126's published dimensions.  It has a bent wishbone appearance but thicker--like the Gumby character--and with a diffuse cloud wafting from it to the south.  The whole nebula is grainy, not smooth, appearing distinctly dusty.

  

Sh2-216 & Sh2-221: While panning with the 3x, I navigated to Capella and could see the large round glow (appeared small) of this very large planetary nebula, and even the distinct brighter edge along the eastern quarter.  More amazing still, between this and Capella I saw another large nebula, more elongated, filamentary and faint, which is Sh2-221 (SNR 160.4+02.8).  I saw the brighter half which is toward Capella, making it appear thinner than the image below.  All in the same small scale field and all with just 3x! This is the best image (credit to "Max S.") I could find, but it is a larger image scale -- at 3x it took only a quarter of the field.

Sh2-310: 07 24 -25 35 30, 480' diameter.   Using 3x and Ha, the nebula is huge!  A pinched "C" shape with the open end to the south, with thick arms, the brightest one to the west, and a bright knot at an to the north elbow where it makes rather a sharp turn.  The whole nebula is streaked with filaments and mottling.  Vogel's description is worth repeating in full: "Distance: 1500 pc, Size: 209.8 pc.  This vast nebula, one of the largest single HII regions known in the Milky Way, is ionised by two multiple star 

systems (Tau Canis Majoris and UW Canis Majoris) each made up of several O-class stars. This image shows only the brightest part of the enormous Sh 2-310 complex. The intense radiation from the Tau Canis Majoris and UW Canis Majoris star systems has created a cavity in the molecular clouds at the centre of Sh 2-310, which is located beyond the upper right of the image. At least one scientific paper notes the "arrow-shaped bright rim" shown in this image. Perhaps Sh 2-310 should be known as the Arrowhead nebula? The extremely luminous red supergiant VY Canis Majoris is located near the bright rim. (This incredible star is green in this false colour image because of the infrared radiation emitted by the large dust cloud it ejects.)  Tau Canis Majoris, which may be one of the brightest stars in the Milky Way, is sometimes called the "Mexican jumping bean star," allegedly because of the way it moves around in the eyepiece of amateur telescopes."

Sh2-303: 06 54 00.9 -22 25 31, 90' diameter.  4-inch and Ha, it appears as a weak, ragged shallow curve arc of nebulosity, like a broken-up vapor trail, running east to west, curved to the south.  Vogel: "Distance: 575 pc, Size: 15.1 pc.  Along with Sh2-304 and Sh2-308, this HII region is ionised by WR 6 (EZ CMa)."

Sh2-304: 06 43 26.3 -24 07 59, 200' diameter.  In same area as the last, also like a broken-up vapor trail but wider, it appears faint band of nebulosity running NW-SE.  Vogel: "Distance: 575 pc, Size: 33.5 pc.  Along with Sh2-303 and Sh2-308, this HII region is ionised by WR 6 (EZ CMa)."

Sh2-305: 07 30 08.1 -18 31 31, 4' diameter: 8-inch Ha.  Small, very faint puff of nebulosity, off the tip of a triangle of stars, which helped me to locate it in the field.  Only saw the bright round part of the nebula, not the fainter "stem" as in the POSS.  Vogel: "Distance: 4200 pc, Size: 4.4 pc.  RCW 8 is part of a huge molecular cloud complex with a distance of 4200 pc and is ionised by at least two O-class 

stars, and possibly two B0 class stars as well."

Sh2-306 & Sh2-309: 8-inch, Ha.  -306 is large, diffuse, very faint, irregularly round with mottling throughout and diffuse edges.  -309 in the field is bright by comparison, more compact, round with soft edges, and with a bright streak running N-S on its E side.  

-306: 07 30 36.4 -19 06 35, 30' diameter: "Distance: 4200 pc, Size: 36.7 pc. part of the GS234-02 supershell.

-309: 07 32 06.1 -19 25 47, 12' diameter: Distance: 4200 pc, Size: 14.7 pc. part of the GS234-02 star forming supershell

Sh2-307: 07 35 32.0 -18 45 13, 6'. 8-inch Ha, Small, round, faint doughnut nebula punctuated with a bright patch on the eastern rim.  Vogel: Distance: 4200 pc, Size: 7.3 pc.  The exciting star for this nebula is the B0V star MFJ Sh 2-307 3 and the nebula contains the infrared cluster candidate [DBS2003] 8. It is part of the same giant molecular cloud complex that includes S299, S300, S305, S306 and S309.

Sh2-308: 06 54 08.9 -23 56 31, 35' diameter.  8-inch and Ha+OIII, Fairly large grey contrast change with the sky, forms a bubble shape with to stars inside it, one in the north and brighter in the center.  The western rim is brighter, and the eastern is barely detected.  Vogel: "Distance: 575 pc, Size: 5.9 pc.  This ring nebula surrounds the Wolf-Rayet star WR 6."

Sh2-309: 07 32 06.1 -19 25 47, 12': 8-inch and Ha+OIII.  Very subtle contrast change with the sky, irregularly round.  Vogel: "Distance: 4200 pc, Size: 14.7 pc. This HII region is part of the GS234-02 star forming supershell."

Sh2-311: 07 52 20.4 -26 26 28, 45' =NGC2467.  Round, bright, with star and dark intrusions.  Very mottled, chunks coming off it.  8-inch Ha for detail, in the 4-inch it looks like a comet with a wide tail to the east.  Vogel: Distance: 4850 pc, Size: 10.6 pc.  "sometimes called the Mandrill nebula, is ionised by the O6 star HD 64315 and includes the star clusters Haffner 18ab and Haffner 19. The bright foreground star on the far left of the image is the B8 IV subgiant HD 64455."

Sh2-283: 06 38 38.6 +00 42 45, 3': 8-inch Ha.  Very faint, very small, oval, mingled with an N-S arc of four similar magnitude stars.  Vogel: "Distance: 9100 pc, Size: 7.9 pc.  Includes the infrared cluster [BDS2003] 84."

Sh2-312: 09 25 00 -28 00 00.  3x and Ha.  Wow!  Giant, fills two fields of view, like a comet starting from a fine bright tip and extending in a long wispy fan shape like a comet with a very long tail.  Brighter streaks highlight the tail, especially in the central area.  This is the last Sharpless observation, what a way to go out.  Vogel: "It is the fourth object in the Sharpless catalog by area of apparent sky covered. As this is in the general direction of the Vela Molecular Ridge, perhaps it is a fragment of the even larger Gum nebula?"

Beyond Barnard's Loop

Having discovered the Finkbeiner sky map last year, I've been fascinated to make observations of the many filaments which appear to connect the brighter nebula in the sky.  Of particular interest to me is the Orion-Eridanus super bubble, of which Barnard's Loop is only a part.  The super bubble is a series of nested shells of supernova remnants and resulting ionizing of the gas; it appears large on the sky because it is relatively nearby.  While I had visually observed small bits and pieces of Barnard's Loop, the brightest section of Eridanus A, and the Lambda Orionis nebula, it is only with night vision that I hoped to see not just these relatively brighter structures better, but also the faint connecting filaments.

Friday night was my chance, so I headed out to a location on the central coast, which has no light domes south or west.  Transparency was average and seeing poor.  I feared for heavy dew, but it turned out to be light and froze to frost by 11pm.  SQML was 21.3.  While I waited for Orion to culminate, I busied myself with some large planetary nebula (more of which in a different report).  I used the PVS-14 at 1x with a 7nm Ha filter, though the nebula were rather weak.  I had the best views with a 3nm Ha filter front-mounted to a 3x magnifier screwed to the PVS-14's objective.  I used a mirror mount for a steadier (but flipped) view, and also a monopod.  The 3x's field of view captured all of the Lambda Orionis nebula with room to spare.

I found it easiest to navigate by finding a bright and familiar nebula, then following any filaments I noticed coming off it.  Using the below image as reference (I didn't have it in front of me but have memorized it): Barnard's Loop was bright, thick, and heavily knotted.  The northern fork, which flows to Betelgeuse, was easy.  The bright & mottled eastern part of the "C" had a haze of nebula coming off it to the east, like a fog evaporating from ice.  I could not see individual filaments, but by panning the device north-to-south, I could easily distinguish the faint, subtly mottled nebula from the darker sky background -- it had a soft but distinct edge.  Following the trail to the east led me just north of the Seagull (which showed not just the bright body and wings, but the wider, fainter extensions which form a complete bubble in themselves).  I then panned to the north following the diffuse knots of Sivan 5 & 7, then three bright Sharpless nebula leading to the Rosette and the Fox Fur.  The Rosette was very bright, shot through with dark lanes, numerous inner and outer ring crenelations, and had bowed extensions forming a twisted path to the large and diffuse Fox Fur.  I could make out the Christmas Tree cluster and the bright star forming the tip of the Cone Nebula, and with some concentration could see a hint of the dark nebula itself (at small scale).

Back to the Lambda Orionis, or Angelfish nebula: I could see its dark eye, and the dark lanes which separate the dorsal and pectoral fins.  There was a small round bright nebula (Sh2-63) near its mouth like a piece of bait.  From the dorsal fin I followed a moderately bright fission of nebula which hooked west and -- to my amazement -- went through the southern half of the Hyades!  Continuing east the nebula stream thickened and brightened and then turned sharply south -- this was the eastern arm of the Eridanus nebula, Eri A.  It dimmed somewhat further south, but I distinguished where it forks with the western arm, Eri B, and followed that until it petered out.  Moving back to the fork, I followed the dim diffuse nebula fog as it made its broken way back toward the southwest end of Barnard's Loop below Rigel.

Back to Lambda Orionis, on the southeast side there is a faint haze which organizes into a flow to the west, barely detected.  I did not see this clearly, but the haze flows (what appears to be) behind Eri A and connects to the tip and body of Eri B.  To my eye, this forms one large, quarter section of a unified bubble, though the paper I referenced labels these as merely "high latitude clouds."

The whole thing is enormous and engrossing, and probably the most satisfying observation I've ever made.

But wait, there's more!

After making the Orion-Eridanus observation, I moved on to finish up my Sharpless Catalog observations (I'm happy to say I've now made observations of all the Sharpless Catalog!).  The last item was Sh2-312, which was in Pyxis (09 25 00 -28 00 00).  Once it had risen sufficiently, I made my observation, again with the 3x and Ha.  OMG what a beautiful nebula!  It filled more than 2 fields (roughly 15-degrees long and 5-degrees wide) and looks like a comet: starting from a bright point in the southeast, it fans out to the northwest and forks into two relatively bright filaments, which then fade and fan out slowly.  Here's what it looks like in the Finkbeiner all-sky map (a little brighter and more detailed than as I saw it):

Well, that got me panning around the area and it turns out I could see the upper loops of the Gum Nebula (Gum 12)!  The bright claw-like body in the upper right is Sh2-310, which lies behind the "feet" of Canis Major.  I saw the two bright N-S mottled loops below it, along with the bright patches to the east (RCW-19, -20, 27, & -33).  

The entirety of Gum 12 is now on my bucket-list.  I need to head south and get a view of this enormous structure, which is as large as the Orion-Eridanus super bubble, but much brighter, at least as Finkbeiner illustrates: