New Giant Planetary Nebula

Apparently a new planetary nebula 2 degrees in diameter has
been discovered in Sextans south of Leo ( RA 10h37m
dec 00d18m)

See
http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/astro-p...11/0311087.pdf

I wonder is this would be visible visually.
I suspect it would take a very dark site, and
either Mark I eyeballs or 7x50 binos to see it.

Tom Clarke

"Tom Clarke" wrote in message
...
Apparently a new planetary nebula 2 degrees in diameter has
been discovered in Sextans south of Leo ( RA 10h37m
dec 00d18m)

See
http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/astro-p...11/0311087.pdf

I wonder is this would be visible visually.
I suspect it would take a very dark site, and
either Mark I eyeballs or 7x50 binos to see it.

It may never be visible. But I plan to try photographing it with Elite
Chrome 200 film and a telephoto lens. I don't know if I'll get anything.

Does it show up on the original Palomar Sky Survey red plates, I wonder?

Tom Clarke wrote:

Apparently a new planetary nebula 2 degrees in diameter has
been discovered in Sextans south of Leo ( RA 10h37m
dec 00d18m)

See
http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/astro-p...11/0311087.pdf

I wonder is this would be visible visually.
I suspect it would take a very dark site, and
either Mark I eyeballs or 7x50 binos to see it.

Tom Clarke

Thanks Tom.
-Sam

"Michael A. Covington" wrote:

Does it show up on the original Palomar Sky Survey red plates, I wonder?

I just downloaded an image from the digitized POSS II red plate centered
on the region and I don't see it. Digital downloads are limited to 1
degree square, though, so I could have been looking right through it and
not know. I'd bet it shows up on the original 6.5 x 6.5-degree plate.

Mike Simmons

"Tom Clarke" wrote in message
...
Apparently a new planetary nebula 2 degrees in diameter has
been discovered in Sextans south of Leo ( RA 10h37m
dec 00d18m)

See
http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/astro-p...11/0311087.pdf

I wonder is this would be visible visually.
I suspect it would take a very dark site, and
either Mark I eyeballs or 7x50 binos to see it.

Tom Clarke


After scanning the pdf document, I saw no mention of the surface brightness.
Interestingly, the document makes reference to caluclating a surface
brightness, but it seems to me that this value should have been stated.
Perhaps it was and I simply missed it.

I went to this second closest planetary's position by way of LEDAS and saw
no trace of it. . .nor did I expect to; had there been, discovery would have
occurred long ago. It seems to me that 7x50 binos, even combined with the
darkest of skies, would be to little avail in spotting this truly huge
object. I would welcome being in error with this assumption.

What I did find interesting is that a fairly faint galaxy, NGC3325 at a
visual magnitude of 12.7 and a surface brightness of 13.0 lies behind the
gigantic planetary. A galaxy through a planetary would make a wonderful
catch. . .NGC3325 at 1.2' x 1.1' is now on my list of new objects for the
spring.

--
Martin
To reply remove "ilikestars" from my email address

Michael Covington wrote:
[Tom Clarke wrote:]
Apparently a new planetary nebula 2 degrees in diameter has
been discovered in Sextans south of Leo ( RA 10h37m
dec 00d18m)

See
http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/astro-p...11/0311087.pdf

I wonder is this would be visible visually.
I suspect it would take a very dark site, and
either Mark I eyeballs or 7x50 binos to see it.

It may never be visible. But I plan to try photographing it
with Elite Chrome 200 film and a telephoto lens. I don't
know if I'll get anything.

Does it show up on the original Palomar Sky Survey red plates,
I wonder?

Over lunch, I drove up to Lowell and had a look at the POSS II plates. To
sum up, there's no organized nebulosity at the coordinates given in the
paper on blue, red or near-IR exposures. The near-IR exposures are pretty
crummy to begin with.

Considering that this thing is not visible in the POSS images and is barely
detectable in Ha and OIII images taken with the 2.5-meter Isaac Newton
telescope, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it is definitely not a
visual object.

However, the central star is not only visible, but easily seen in moderate
aperture under a reasonably dark sky. The central star is PG 1034+001, RA:
10h 37m 03.8s; Dec.: -00d 08m 19s (J2000). According to Brian Skiff, this
is a very reliable Landolt standard star having a Vmag. of 13.23. It's B-V
is -0.37, indicating a very blue object which is not surprising considering
it is a white dwarf.

MegaStar users and others not having the PG catalog can find this star by
searching for GSC 04912-00085. Otherwise, you'll find it 45' due west of 8.47
magnitude HD 92390 in Sextans.

Regards,

Bill Ferris
"Cosmic Voyage: The Online Resource for Amateur Astronomers"
URL: http://www.cosmic-voyage.net
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