God is infinite, so His universe must be too. Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of His kingdom made manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of worlds.
/ Giordano Bruno /



In memoriam Halton C. Arp (1927-2013).


My astronomy sketches. Hover mouse over image for the inverted look. For fainter objects, take a look at the black-on-white original, sometimes it reveals more details.


Need advice? Want to discuss an observation? Feel free to contact me at flovro gmail*com.

ÚJ! Amennyiben elérhető, a ikonra kattintva magyarul is olvashatod az észlelést.


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NGC 40 (Planetary nebula)
Also known as: Bow Tie Nebula
Right ascension: 0h 14m Declination: 72° 36'
Constellation: Cepheus
Date/time: 2012.10.20 21:30 UT
Equipment: 12" f/5 Newtonian
FoV: 7' Magnification and filter(s): 469x
Seeing: 7/10 Transparency: 4/5
SQM: 21.14 m/as2 Temperature: 10°C
Humidity: high Wind: none
Sight: 3 - definite details, interesting look
Difficulty: 4 - hardly visible, dark adaptation and very dark skies needed, averted vision is required to see details
Position: 4 - hard, complex starhopping needed
Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary
Observer: Ferenc Lovró
Description:

Tiny planetary, at 71x it looks like a star with a small halo. Especially with averted vision you can see its round shape. At high magnification I discover lots of details, for example a thin, brighter arc on its Northern border, and a brighter blob next to the central star to the South, and a darker patch to the Southwest. With averted vision, the round shape transforms to a little bit of oval, elongated in the East to West direction.

What makes this observation special is that it is actually an error, because I've already observed this object about a month ago, but again, I failed to mark this object in my list of observed objects: click here for that observation. So I've sketched it again, and what's more interesting is that I have used the same magnification! Although the subjective classification is a bit different, but alltogether the two observations are quite the same.

Lessons learned: a.) the faint details I've sketched last time were also there this night, so I have a strong proof now that I can trust my senses, even if the details are extremely faint or low-contrast. b.) I'm getting older, shouldn't trust my memory anymore. :)


Hi-resolution image: [ reversed sketch | original sketch ]
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