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View Full Version : Object of the Week February 12th, 2023 – Proplyd 159-350 in the Great Orion Nebula



ScottH
February 12th, 2023, 04:16 PM
V2279 Ori, Brun 591, Parenago 1869, [OW94] 159-350
Papa Proplyd
Orion
Ionized protoplanetary disk in naked-eye emission nebula
RA 05:35:16
DEC -05:23:50
Mag +12.73
Size 0.8” x 0.8”

It seems history did not pass down to us any record of the star Theta Orionis (labeled as such in Johann Bayer’s 1603 star atlas Uranometria) looking particularly noteworthy to the naked-eye before the 17th-century. Which is a little odd when you consider it’s one of the brightest emission nebulae in the sky, is visible as a small smudge naked-eye, and its namesake star is able to be split naked-eye by a rare few (yours truly included1). But records show it wasn’t until the first dozen years after the advent of the telescope that it was seen as a nebula with not one but three stars embedded.

The central star, still known as Theta1 Orionis, is the brightest of a very young open cluster2 that’s emerging into view3. To see more members, one needs at least a quality pair of tripod-mounted 10x50 binoculars4. This will allow you to just see the same three stars (known as “A”, “C”, and “D”) that Galileo Galilei was able to in February of 1617 with his telescope5. To see the next member star (“B”), discovered by Jean Picard in 1673, it takes binoculars with a magnification of at least 15x4.

French comet hunter Charles Messier made the nebula around Theta1 Ori the 42nd entry in his famous catalog in 1769. But it seems it was William Herschel, in his first catalog of double stars thirteen years later, who first used the name “Trapezium” to describe the four brightest members of Theta1 Ori6. He wrote “Theta Orionis. Quadruple. It is the small telescopic Trapezium in the Nebula. Considerably unequal."

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Image Credit: Franz Hofmann & Wolfgang Paech (http://www.chamaeleon-observatory-onjala.de/en/rooisand-observatory/2013/deepsky-htm/deepsky-m42-2014.htm)

The count stood at four until 1826, when Wilhelm Struve spotted the “E” star (+11.1)7. Then, just four years later, John Herschel made out the even more difficult “F” star (+10.1)7. Amazingly, these stars have been seen by many skilled amateurs with telescopes smaller than 100mm in excellent “seeing”.

The last stars to be discovered visually were done with the 36-inch Lick refractor atop Mt. Hamilton in central California. The optics for the telescope had been ground by the firm Alvan Clark & Sons and on January 7th, 1888 – the first full night of operation8 – Alvan G. Clark (the youngest son of Alvan Clark, who had passed away five months prior9) spotted star “G” (+13.7) while using M42 to test the image quality of the instrument. Finally, after years of other stars having been claimed to be seen inside the Trapezium, this was the first one whose existence was firmly established. Later that year, keen-eyed Edward E. Barnard used the telescope to discover a close double now known as “H” (+15.8) along with the star “I” (+16.3)10. But once again, intrepid amateurs under extremely favorable conditions have seen these last three stars with much less than the Lick Refractor. The smallest sighting I’ve heard of is one by veteran southern California amateur astronomer and small-business owner Donald Pensack11. On one occasion, he managed to see all three at 304x while not even specifically looking for them in his finely crafted 12.5-inch dob at an altitude of over 8,000 feet in superb transparency and “seeing”.

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Image Credit: C.R. O’Dell, and S.K. Wong (Rice University) and NASA/ESA (https://esahubble.org/images/opo0019c/)

In the following decades, photography revealed more and more stars scattered around the Trapezium. And they were believed to be just that – stars – because of their stellar appearance on even the best images. It wasn’t until 1979 when French astronomers Pierre Laque and Jean-Louis Vidal12, using interference filtered photographs taken at Pic-du-Midi Observatory in southern France, discovered that several of the stars near Theta1 Ori C displayed nebula-like emission-lines. Their interpretation was that instead of being stars, they were actually very compact, partially ionized globules with the ionization coming from the ultraviolet radiation emanating from Theta1 Ori C.

Then, in 1987, two papers were published (Garay et al.13 and Churchwell et al.14) in which compact radio sources were observed from all six of the objects found by Laque & Vidal. Garay suggested that “[these] neutral condensations are dense fragments remaining from a massive molecular cloud after it was blown out by the action of the ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from…Theta1 Ori C.” However, Churchwell offered a second, more tantalizing theory in that they could be “low-mass stars surrounded by an evaporating protostellar accretion disk.”

Churchwell’s theory was born out in 1993 when, less than three years after its launch aboard Space Shuttle Discovery and despite its flawed primary mirror, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaged part of the area south of Theta1 Ori C. In those images taken by O’Dell, Wen, and Hu (1993)15, entire protoplanetary disks could be seen in silhouette against the backdrop of the nebula while being illuminated on the end facing towards Theta1 Ori C. These objects quickly became known as proplyds (short for ionized protoplanetary disks).

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Image Credit: NASA, C.R. O’Dell, and S.K. Wong (Rice University) (https://esahubble.org/images/opo9545j/)

After the HST’s optics were corrected, the next images16 were detailed enough to show that the proplyds appeared different depending on their viewing angle with respect to Theta1 Ori C. Those lying directly behind the star were nearly stellar with little more than their ionized side being visible while those lying at the same distance to Theta1 Ori C displayed dark, ragged disks with the end nearest the star being illuminated. These high-resolution images showed the shocking truth that some of the brightest proplyds were those that had been discovered over a century earlier with the Lick Refractor! The Trapezium member stars “G”, “H”, and “I” (Laque & Vidal 2, 5, and 3, respectively) are actually newborn stars shrouded by gas and dust and only visible due to their “sunlit side” being illuminated.

The brightest proplyd in the Orion Nebula shines at magnitude +12.7 and lies 28” south-southwest of Theta1 Ori C. Also known by the variable star designation V2279 Ori17, it was found and cataloged by O’Dell in that first set of HST images as HST 0315. However, in O’Dell & Wen (1994)16 it received the designation 159-350 based on its coordinates. They did this after many more proplyds were found using the newly refurbished HST and wrote “Since the Orion Nebula covers only a limited range of right ascension and declination, the common numbers in the coordinates are dropped, being assumed to be 5 hours 35 minutes of right ascension and -5°20' in declination.” Therefore, an object at 5:35:15.94 -5:23:50.04 would be called proplyd 159-350.

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Proplyd 159-350 from Bally et al. (1998) (https://www.astroexplorer.org/details/10_1086_300399_fg4)

What I believe the next easiest/brightest proplyd (about +13.8) to see is only a little fainter, lies 16” southeast of Theta1 Ori C, and was discovered by Churchwell (1987)14 as a radio source using the Very Large Array. Later, it then was cataloged as proplyd 170-334 by O’Dell & Wen (1994)16.

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Proplyd 170-334 from Bally et al. (1998) (https://www.astroexplorer.org/details/10_1086_300399_fg3)

Inspired by Akarsh Simha to take a stab at observing proplyds late this past year, I readily found my copy of the February 2021 issue of Sky & Telescope and re-read the excellent article on them by Dave Tosteson. I still thought Tosteson had gone too deep (even for the Going Deep column!), but I figured I’d have a decent shot on an upcoming trip to use a friend’s 36-inch f/5.3 alt-az driven dob. After performing my own research, I found that the two brightest ones on amateur images (such as this one by Jerry Lodriguss (https://www.astropix.com/images/sliders/astro_022.jpg)) were 159-350 and 170-334. However, while Tosteson had mentioned 159-350 in his article, he had oddly failed do the same for 170-334.

On my one night with the 36-inch in late October, I could fairly easily see the two brightest proplyds as stellar with 664x and even suspected the brighter one might be visible under better conditions with my 16-inch. Less than 10 days later, on a dark morning with excellent seeing, I got to test that idea. I was shocked to find that not only was I able to see the brighter one without difficulty at 600x, but the fainter one too! From that observation, it dawned on me that 159-350 might be just bright enough to see in my 10-inch SCT if I could find an equally perfect night.

I avoid observing when the Moon is in the sky. I know it’s a luxury, but my skies are dark enough that even a crescent is enough to brighten my skies. So when I’m inside looking out at the Moon in a clear sky, I try not to think about the fact that I’m possibly passing up otherwise top-notch viewing conditions. But on February 3rd of this year, I chose to set up my 10-inch SCT and observe even though a 13-day-old moon was 36° up at the beginning of night. I already knew I had excellent transparency when I was setting up, but I would have to wait until nightfall to find out about the “seeing”. I figured the Moon couldn’t hurt me anyways considering my primary targets were the recently discovered open cluster Gaia 118 (which lies just 10’ east of brilliant Sirius) and proplyd 159-350 inside brilliant M42! Much to my surprise, the "seeing" was excellent and I saw both at 580x with a 4.8/110° eyepiece producing a 0.45mm exit pupil and an 11’ TFoV.

I look forward to the day I see the next brightest proplyds (106-417 and 167-317 [the “G star”]). Until then,
“Give it a go and let us know!”



For further reading on proplyd 159-350, check out Bally et al. (1998) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AJ....116..293B/abstract). The breathtaking details in the color images alone are worth the visit. And for further reading on proplyd 170-334, check out Mesa-Delgado et al. (2012) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012MNRAS.426..614M/abstract).

[1] Astronomy, Feb. 2023, p. 52 (https://www.zinio.com/za/explore/free/astronomy/february-2023-i581832/the-theta-orionis-challenge-a39804)
[2] Menten et al. (2007) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007A&A...474..515M/abstract)
[3] Theta1 Ori C is moving deeper into the Orion Molecular Cloud (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993ApJ...410..696O/abstract)
[4] Amateur Fisk Miles splits Trapezium into three with 10x, four with 15x (https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/852195-10x-trapezium/?p=12316434)
[5] Galileo splits Theta1 Ori into three (http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2009/05/31/chasing-galileo-the-trapezium/)
[6] Page 129 of William Herschel’s first Catalogue of Double Stars (1782) (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstl.1782.0014)
[7] (https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1971Astr....7..177L)
[8] The Immortal Fire Within by William Sheehan (1995)
[9] Alvan Clark (1804-1887) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvan_Clark)
[10] Burnham (1889) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1889MNRAS..49..352B/abstract)
[11] Private communication with Donald Pensack
[12] Laque & Vidal (1979) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979A&A....73...97L)
[13] Garay et al. (1987) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987ApJ...314..535G/abstract)
[14] Churchwell et al. (1987) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987ApJ...321..516C/abstract)
[15] O’Dell et al. (1993) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993ApJ...410..696O/abstract)
[16] O’Dell & Wen (1994) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1994ApJ...436..194O/abstract)
[17] SIMBAD (https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=%5BOW94%5D+159-350&submit=SIMBAD+search)
[18] Koposov et al. (2017) (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017MNRAS.470.2702K/abstract)

Clear Skies
February 14th, 2023, 12:27 PM
Last night I observed double stars from my backyard using my 12" SCT, which I like to do in lieu of deepsky observations under Dutch skies; the fainter fuzzies have a bit of trouble burning through the atmosphere in this part of the world, so I save these for better skies and sites abroad.

Having observed STF doubles in Orion, I turned to M42 to see what a bit of magnification could tease out of the Trapezium. The seeing was quite good, I rated it 8/10 and transparency was better than average. Elevation of M42 was 32 degrees, that's below the threshold of 40 degrees that I abide to for 99% of my planned observations, but whatcha gonna do about that...

I used the guide I pieced together (https://clearskies.eu/csog/downloads/dsfootw2023#7) for this tiny region, displaying both the components of Theta-1 Ori (WDS05353-0523 (https://www.stelledoppie.it/index2.php?menu=29&iddoppia=20539)) and WDS05353-0524 (https://www.stelledoppie.it/index2.php?iddoppia=20573) directly south, along will all proplyds Scott mentioned and all in the Hubble paper linked to.

5032 5033

Starting with my go to magnification of a 16mm Nagler - 191x / 26', stars A through F of Theta-1 Ori (WDS05353-0523) were readily visible. Upping the magnification, 9mm / 339x and 5mm / 610x, did not reveal anything more. 3.5mm / 871x (FoV a mere 6') did, however. With AV is was able to easily observe and hold a stellar source south of the Trapezium.

The position of this "star" matches that of components AB of the southern double star WDS05353-0524 (second image above). It was able to determine with certainty that this was not the subject of this week's OotW, 159-350, as that is a tad further south. When taking the separation between Theta-1 Orionis' components B and C as one unit of measure, then using that unit going south from component A, the "star" I observed is 1 1/2 units of measure from A and is due south of it, where the position of 159-350 is 2 unites of measure from Theta-1 Ori A and is a hair towards the east (roughly due south of Theta-1 Ori B).

I have marked the exact position on both images below:

5034 5035

So what did I see..? Components AB of WDS05353-0524: that I am absolutely sure of. Taking into account the objects plotted in the guide (double star components directly from WDS data, proplyds imported directly from SIMBAD), 155-338 (https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%5BOW94%5D+155-338&submit=submit+id) and 159-338 (https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%5BOW94%5D+159-338&submit=submit+id) are nearby. I believe 155-338, the western of the two, is most likely to be a match for AB of WDS05353-0524. 155-338 directly east thereof is much fainter, in the image.

That raises the question whether or not the "star" I observed as marked in the color image above, is in fact proplyd 155-338.

I spent a good 15 minutes re-determining angles and distances at the eyepiece. 159-350 is definitely further south.

Any thoughts on this, observations in large apertures perhaps?

Finally, there is this paper that WDS links to (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005ApJS..160..353G/abstract) for the "double stars" that use the abbreviation GET (Getman, K.V., Feigelson, E.D., Grosso, N., McCaughrean, M.J., Micela, G.); GET35 is used for components AB of WDS05353-0524, which I believe could very well be 155-338.

Skies look promising tonight so I may be able to give it another go.

Clear Skies
February 14th, 2023, 08:43 PM
Just got back in after a backyard observing run. More doubles, ending the session as I did yesterday with the Trapezium region.

I can confirm yesterday's observation of the stellar AB component of WDS05353-0524, the "155-338 candidate" (?).

A bit more detail that may help to pinpoint it: directly NW is a brighter smudge of M42 nebulosity. It's elongated NNW to SSE and its size is approximately equivalent to the height (north-south) of the Trapezium. The "star" / 155-338 candidate is SE thereof, detached from it.

To the SSE of the "star", just south of what would be the position of 159-350 is another brighter smudge of nebulosity. This one elongated east-west, approximately equal in length to the aforementioned smudge, but a bit thicker north to south. 159-350 ought to be just north of that, but I could not see it.

ScottH
February 15th, 2023, 03:34 AM
Victor, I can confirm that what you drew an arrow to on one of the images I posted is the proplyd 155-338 (SIMBAD link here (https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%5BOW94%5D+155-338&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id)). I'm truly surprised you saw that instead of 159-350 (SIMBAD link here (https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%5BOW94%5D+159-350&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id)), which I've found is the brightest thing around in my 16-inch and a 36-inch. Playing around with high magnification in the Orion Nebula is a strange experience and I've struggled to "pin down" phantom flashes when chasing proplyds. I'm glad you felt that it was worth a shot because I think it's important for people under worse light-pollution to realize that this challenge is perfect for them!

I spent the better part of my afternoon and evening today trying to dig up more proplyd images. In doing so, I've found a possible contender for second brightest. But I also came to the conclusion that when viewing proplyd 159-350, it's not as pure a view as I'd prefer. If I'm being honest, the light I'm seeing is probably mostly the "exposed" YSO inside it with a little bit of ionized nebula glow. So, that hurts! Tomorrow I'll try and post a finderchart for the brightest proplyds that don't have any part of their YSO exposed.

As always, the more I dig, the more I learn!!
Scott

Atlas
February 15th, 2023, 10:07 AM
Hi Scott,

this is a really interesting project!

I observed the Orion trapezium yesterday at 800 meters altitude, using my 25" f4 Dobson. Fst was around 5,5 mag.
At 500x proplyd 159 was easy to see. Proplyd 170 was more difficult as it showed up only intermittently, but clearly recognizable. I could not see the G star however.

Greetings
Johannes

Uwe Glahn
February 19th, 2023, 03:26 PM
Great write-up Scott.

I found an older observation which a collection of all visible "stars" under 7mag skies and good but not perfect seeing. Instrument was my 27-inch with magnification of 586x. Trapezium star "G" was visible. I saw and encircle the objects 170-334, 170-337 and 159-350. I could not detect 177-341.

Last new moon I again tried some of your mentioned proplyd's.

Under 7mag skies but very bad seeing (F difficult to separate) I could steadily hold 159-350 with averted vision. 170-334 was popping in but out of view and sure visible.
One night later under 6mag skies but better seeing (G popping, F easily visible) I could saw 159-350 with direct vision and 170-334 steadily with averted vision.

ScottH
February 21st, 2023, 02:43 AM
Alrighty. I've done some more research AND observing of proplyds in M42. But it seems I still have a long ways to go. So please bear with me as I continue to learn.

I've now observed THREE objects in which I believe the light I see is purely that of an ionized protoplantary disk. From easiest to hardest at 600x in my 16-inch, they were: proplyd 244-440 (nonstellar), proplyd 170-334 (stellar), and proplyd 143-425 (stellar).

The brightest object I have seen and the subject of my OotW is proplyd 159-350. I am currently of the opinion that the light I'm seeing is a roughly 50-50 mix of the ionized disk and the young stellar object (YSO) visible seemingly behind it. So please note this fact in your logs if you observe it.

In the image below, I've gone ahead and labeled three YSOs. These are objects that have proplyds associated with them but that are too faint to be visible. To read more about the three, check out Walter van Rossem's 2014 thesis (https://www.astro.rug.nl/opleidingsinstituut/reports/bachelor/Astro_Bc_2014_WvanRossem.pdf) on them. Proplyd 218-354 is the most famous of the three because it consists of a YSO surrounded by a pure silhouette disk, which means its protoplanetary disk is seen in silhouette against the bright background nebula. Apparently, the distance to Theta1 Ori C and Theta2 Ori A is large enough that the radiation from either star is not intense enough to start a neutral, photo-evaporative flow. I can tell you firsthand it's easier to see than proplyd 159-350!

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North is up and East is left. Image Credit: Franz Hofmann & Wolfgang Paech

Final thoughts. From observing and from studying a bunch of images, I still am struggling to believe that Victor is seeing proplyd 155-338 while not seeing proplyd/YSO 159-350. Also, for the first time ever, I found the "E" star in the Trapezium to be reddish-brown at 440x in my 16-inch on the evening of 2/17. That was so amazing that it would've been the highlight of my night...if it wasn't for me seeing the (apparently) largest known proplyd in the Orion Nebula, 244-440, as nonstellar at 440x!! It's disk is about 5" across, which corresponds to over 2,000 AU across. Incredible. I'm just starting to research it, but it might be the brightest "pure" proplyd visible...

Scott H.

Clear Skies
February 21st, 2023, 08:03 AM
Hopefully the skies will cooperate before the Moon starts interfering later this week, to again verify what I observed.

Whether or not is was 155-338... all I know is that I observed a single stellar source that was, with regards to component A of Theta-1 Ori, at a position angle just greater than 180 degrees from that star. When drawing a north-south line (a 'meridian') along the Trapezium's western border, the "star" is just west of that line. 159-350 ought to be just to the east of that, and at a greater separation from the Trapezium.

I do a bit of double star observing, as I was in the two short sessions I posted about, so that should have warmed me up sufficiently to determine PA's & sep.'s.

Regardless, this a fun challenge. One unknown to me before this OotW and shedding a whole new light on the core of M42.

Coming to think of it: I'll create a basic chart with just the Trapezium's stars A through F and a meridian running through component A, with a known separation (such as the sep. of BC) marked on it, to be able to narrow down the position of the star I observed. Having that available at the eyepiece, printed on paper, ought to make it a simple case of "X marks te spot".

Howard B
February 22nd, 2023, 01:19 AM
I just checked my sketch of the Huygens Region from several years ago, and it seems that I may have swept up both 155-338 and 170-350 without knowing they're proplyds:

5048

I used my 28-inch f/4 and magnifications of 253x to 408x for the sketch.

ScottH
February 23rd, 2023, 02:56 AM
I've studied your excellent drawing Howard and proved my own opinion as to which proplyds you've seen. Your drawing matches up exceptionally well with the image I recently attached of all the brightest proplyds labeled. See below for your image:

5049

Scott H.

Howard B
February 23rd, 2023, 06:51 AM
That's really cool! I get steady seeing so rarely when M42 is up, but I hope to make a conscious effort to go after more proplyds in the future.

ScottH
March 19th, 2023, 09:21 PM
Alright, guys and gals. It's time for me to announce a major error in my first OotW. :angry: The visual light from proplyd 159-350 is wholly dominated by the young stellar object (YSO) at its center. Alas, the same is true for 170-334 -- the other proplyd I saw. Thus, these are not the brightest proplyds.

I now know that proplyd 159-350 isn’t the brightest one considering that well over 50% of the light we see in visual wavelengths is from the young stellar object (YSO) near its center (and it’s not even the brightest YSO in the Trapezium). It’s taken me a lot of work to come to this conclusion, and I credit professor John Bally (https://www.colorado.edu/aps/john-bally)(University of Colorado Boulder) with helping me to realize that nearly all the gorgeous images of M42 taken with the Hubble Space Telescope were done through special filters that enhanced the light from the ionized shock front of each protoplanetary disk and dimmed the YSOs that are visible. It’s sorta like viewing the Ring Nebula through an O-III filter. The nebula becomes more prominent while you don’t stand a chance of glimpsing the central star. But without the filter, the true visibility of the central star is revealed.

So where does that leave us? Well, I was going to walk away from this project with my head hung low considering how much research I’ve put in and how I have yet to see more than the YSO of various proplyds. But luckily, the last time I observed M42 with my 16-inch, I redeemed myself. On February 17th, I saw 244-440, a true giant among proplyds. And I know I saw the ionized protoplanetary disk because it was nonstellar at 440x in my 16-inch. NEAT FACT: On that same night, I noticed for the first time how distinctly brown the "E" star was at just 440x...


5072
proplyd 244-440 lies 142.3” from Theta1 C and 29” from Theta2 A


So, in my current opinion, the brightest proplyd (which displays more light from its ionized front than the YSO) is 244-440. But I'm not terribly sure which one is the second brightest...though I've got a list of candidates for you all to investigate further. They include 155-338, 177-341, 142-301, 170-249, and 158-327. I will state upfront that the reason I don't have 158-323 (H star), 163-317 (I star), and 167-317 (G star) on that list is because I'm undecided.


5073


5074
Above is what I used to come to my conclusion of which proplyds are the brightest


Interesting side story, the 2009 ESA/HST press release (https://esahubble.org/images/heic0917ab/) mislabeled proplyd 244-440 as 106-417. This led Dave Tosteson to make the same mistake in his Going Deep in the 2021 issue of Sky & Telescope. I've since informed Dave of his error and ESA/NASA. He acknowledged the error while a note was added to the press release image I link to (above).

Thank you all for your time,
Scott H.

Howard B
March 19th, 2023, 10:32 PM
I'm impressed by the time and effort you've put into this Scott! I looked at my sketch again and it seems I also saw 244-440:

5075

It appears as a small fuzzy patch at the right spot.

ScottH
March 20th, 2023, 01:44 AM
I'm impressed by the time and effort you've put into this Scott! I looked at my sketch again and it seems I also saw 244-440:

5075

It appears as a small fuzzy patch at the right spot.

Thank you, Howard! That means a lot. I typically do put in a lot of effort into every one of my projects. I can't seem to help it.

Also, I'm relieved to see that you did see 244-440 and that you, too, saw it as nonstellar. I personally was shocked and frankly, would be pretty depressed if I hadn't somehow managed to see it.

Scott H.