M42 in color

How large of a mirror does one have to have to see color in M42?

I know my 90m refractor is not going to do it!!!

I doubt that we can not afford the telescopes that give the pictures they
show at:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Fred Scharmann wrote:
How large of a mirror does one have to have to see color in M42?

I know my 90m refractor is not going to do it!!!

I doubt that we can not afford the telescopes that give the pictures they
show at:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

90 metre refractor!


I am not worthy I am not worthy I am not worthy

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:09:14 -0500, "Fred Scharmann"
wrote:

How large of a mirror does one have to have to see color in M42?

I know my 90m refractor is not going to do it!!!

You might be surprised. Seeing color isn't really about aperture (the
surface brightness doesn't change with a bigger scope). What you need
are good dark skies and sensitive vision. I can see some green in the
nebula naked eye and with binoculars. Whether you see hints of red
depends more on your eyes than your optics, I think.

But at best you will only see hints of color in a few objects- nothing
approaching what is possible with images.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

"Don't Be Evil" wrote in message
oups.com...
A 90m refractor should show lots of violet in M42! Here's a 100m
reflector for comparison:
http://www.gb.nrao.edu/epo/GBT/gbtpix.html

Seriously, it depends a lot on your eyes. I've seen it in an 8 inch,
but it's very subtle. Just a hint of green.

I have seen some colour in my 10" SCT, under light polluted skies....
--
Martijn (astro-at-pff-software.nl)
10" LX200GPS-SMT
Coronado PST, William Optics Z80
www.xs4all.nl/~martlian

Fred Scharmann wrote:
How large of a mirror does one have to have to see color in M42?

I know my 90m refractor is not going to do it!!!


90 meters? Then you are colorblind

Colors are hard to see visually. But a 15-30 sec photo exposure (ISO
1600) shows lots in my 8" SCT.

Phil

You can start with at lest the 200 inch mirror and then add a CDD to it to
get the color that the human eye can't see.


--

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
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www.sidewalkastronomy.info
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"Fred Scharmann" wrote in message
...
How large of a mirror does one have to have to see color in M42?

I know my 90m refractor is not going to do it!!!

I doubt that we can not afford the telescopes that give the pictures they
show at:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

On 16 Mar 2006 13:45:03 -0800, "Don't Be Evil"
wrote:

Seriously, it depends a lot on your eyes. I've seen it in an 8 inch,
but it's very subtle. Just a hint of green. To see it clearly, a 16
inch would be my guess.

Why would you necessarily expect a larger telescope to show more color,
especially for a large object that isn't being viewed at very high
magnification?

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Fred Scharmann wrote:
How large of a mirror does one have to have to see color in M42?

I know my 90m refractor is not going to do it!!!

I doubt that we can not afford the telescopes that give the pictures they
show at:


HI:

Pictures are nice, sure, but they really don't capture the glorious
appearance of M42 as seen visually in a wide-field eyepiece in a good
scope.

As for color, I've seen green in M42 in scopes as small a 8 inches
(I've even had hints with the ETX125) when the conditions were right.

But you're probably talking about those luscious reds. Well, I've been
able to see traces, at least of brownish-red in scopes in the 25 - 30
inch class. ;-)

Even in a 42 inch, however, they are NOT like what you see in the
pictures. ;-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Join the SCT User Mailing List.
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sct-user
============================
See my home page at
http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland/index.htm
for further details!
============================
For Uncle Rod's Astro Blog See:
http://journals.aol.com/rmollise/UncleRodsAstroBlog/

Starlord wrote:
You can start with at lest the 200 inch mirror and then add a CDD to it to
get the color that the human eye can't see.




Yeah .. maybe they will sell Palomar and he can take it home with him

Phil

Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:09:14 -0500, "Fred Scharmann"
wrote:

How large of a mirror does one have to have to see color in M42?

I know my 90m refractor is not going to do it!!!

You might be surprised. Seeing color isn't really about aperture (the
surface brightness doesn't change with a bigger scope). What you need
are good dark skies and sensitive vision. I can see some green in the
nebula naked eye and with binoculars. Whether you see hints of red
depends more on your eyes than your optics, I think.

Planetary nebulae with strong OIII output are more obviously coloured
even in conditions of high light pollution.

I don't think light pollution can seriously affect the ability to see
M42 in colour at low magnification (although the smallest aperture I
know of that can trigger colour vision within city limits is 0.5m).
Light pollution just destroys the fainter extent of the nebula - the
rectangular patch around the trapzium is amazingly bright.

Anecdotally seeing red emission in M42 seemed to be sex linked in the
relatively small sample of females we had available. It looks pale apple
green to grey to me and most other males.

But at best you will only see hints of color in a few objects- nothing
approaching what is possible with images.

Planetary nebulae are not bad for colour. The Eskimo is about the most
saturated one I can ever remember seeing. Most are just tints of grey.

Regards,
Martin Brown