Object of the Week July 6, 2014 - NGC 7026 The Cheeseburger Nebula

Object of the Week July 6, 2014 – NGC 7026 Cheeseburger Nebula

NGC7026
PK 89+0.3

Cygnus

RA 21 06 18.5
DEC 47 51 08

Type: Planetary Nebula

Size: 40.0”

Magnitude: 11

(You come across some incredible information as you right up an OOTW)

July 6^th, 1873. 141 years ago today, SW Burnham using his 6” Alvan Clark refractor discovered this weeks OOTW selection. Having a total of 6 NGC and 21 IC objects to his name, Burnham came upon NGC 7026 while measuring double stars from Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern University in Evanston Il , a northern suburb of Chicago. Burnham has been credited with compiling and cataloging 13,665 double stars, all within 121º of the north pole which have been published in his General Catalogue of All Double Stars. His catalog was the basis for what would become the Aitken Double Star Catalogue then the Index Catalogue and finally, the Washington Double Star Catalog, the worlds principle database containing 128870 systems.

NGC 7026 is an 11^th magnitude bipolar PN nearly 6000 light-years away in Cygnus, just 5º northwest of Deneb and 1/3º NW of 63 Cygni. In my opinion, NGC7026 is one object in which visual observation offers more to the eye than photographs. In photographs, most times this object is completely washed out and over exposed, giving it a look of a bright rectangle. But in the eyepiece, you see a stunning PN!

The PN itself comprises of two symmetrical lobes oriented NE-SW separated by a very defined and apparent dark band running through its center. If you weren't careful, you could very easily confuse this object with a galaxy that contains a very dark dustlane. In scopes 10" and larger, the contrast between the two brighter lobes and its center dark lane provide an object that sort of resembles a cosmic cheeseburger, hence the nickname. How small a scope will reveal the burger? I revisited this object just last week under 21.41sqm skies using my 25” as well as John Spacks 18” f/4.2.

Not being the best note taker, here's what I scribbled:

25” f/5 At 450x, the two lobes are apparent as is the dark lane give the PN an obvious elongated glow. The NE lobe appears to be slightly smaller than the other lobe. Both lobes appeared considerably brighter near their centers than near their ends. The lobes just fade out

There you go, a cosmic cheeseburger of sorts. Its truly is one of those objects that resembles its nickname. This object was discovered with a 6” refractor, so its definitely an OOTW that most any observer should be able to see. And remember,

“Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and Great viewing!"



Attachment 1287
DSS Image

Attachment 1288
©Stephen R. Waldee

The curious "Chicago" facts are, firstly, that Burnham's 6" was his own backyard (or front yard) telescope. The discovery had taken place years before he became affiliated with the Dearborn Observatory. And the latter event, in turn, was years before the observatory became affiliated with Northwestern and was moved from Douglas Park (!) to Evanston. Steinicke gives the location of Burnham's house, where the 6" was installed, as "Ellis Park"; it probably means Bronzeville in modern terms.

Ivan, I stand corrected. I actually did know that the observatory was moved but neglected to mention it. (actually, it has been moved twice over its history) Dearborn Observatory, during Burnhams time, was located at 3400 S Cottage Grove and he lived a few blocks away at 36th and Vincennes. (Both areas I would recommend you do not visit today) He became director of the observatory in 1876.

He had purchased his refractor from Alvan Clark for $800 and that it was his personal telescope. What I failed to realize was that he was doing his research on his own and was not affiliatied professionally with Dearborn until 1876. He would occasionally use the 18.5" refractor at Dearborn, but his primary instrument was his own 6".

Dearborn Observatory was originally affiliated with the University of Chicago. When that school went bankrupt at the turn of the century, the Chicago Astronomical Society moved the telescope to Evanston. It was actually CAS that was the owner of the 18.5" instrument.

Sheesh, this will teach me NOT to write up an OOTW at 2am! Thanks for the corrections Ivan!

Above, dear reader of this thread, you find the real wealth of knowledge. As to the advisability of pilgrimage to those historical sites, Dragan's knowledge is even professional. Try to see the 18.5" at its present location in Evanston, though, and the 6", as I gleaned from Steinicke's book, is now at the Washburn Observatory in Madison WI. Both places, I believe, hold public nights.

Thanks for the insider infos Dragan. A "non Herschel " object seems to be always interesting in his discovery history.

Here we go with my two attempts on NGC 7026.

16", 450x, NELM 6m+, Seeing II
http://www.deepsky-visuell.de/Zeichnungen/NGC7026.jpg

27", 837x, NELM 7m+, Seeing II
http://www.deepsky-visuell.de/Zeichn...NGC7026_27.jpg

I'm not going to be much help here guys, but this object is a real trip down memory lane for me. Checking my records, I noted that I observed this object on July 29, 1989 at 12:20 a.m. EDT from my heavily light polluted backyard in Dorval, Quebec (an inner suburb of Montreal and the location of the current international airport - at the time it was handling only North American flights). At any rate, a major runway of the airport was less than a kilometre from my backyard. Using an 8-inch SCT at the time, my notes read: “A bright planetary, closely preceding a mag. 8 star, listed in Burnham’s (Celestial Handbook) as much elongated. At 270x (Televue 7.4mm Plossl) it appeared perhaps slightly out-of-round, but a position angle is difficult to determine. Virtually stellar at 77x, suspected at 161x. Though small, appeared quite grainy.” The accompanying drawing to the written entry shows an intensely bright and condensed disk, but no hint of a dark band.

BTW, with all the Chicago references concerning this object, I can't help but think back to the old SNL skit with John Belushi as a short order cook in a greasy spoon providing customers with a "tees burger, tees burger", no matter what they ordered. Perhaps a rechristening of the nickname for this object would be in order.

Glad to see the sketch with your 27-inch at 837x, Uwe, as this object easily takes high power (assuming the seeing holds it, of course). Here are my notes with my 18-inch using 565x and 807x.

At 565x the "Cheeseburger Nebula' is easily resolved into two small, elongated knots oriented ~E-W and with both lobes slightly extended ~N-S. Both knots are lively or mottled and slightly tapered in shape. They both contain stellar or quasi-stellar points near their centers with the western nucleus slightly easier. The eastern lobe is barely larger and brighter. The lobes are nearly tangent but just separated by a darker lane and both lobes are encased on a common halo. At 807x, the two lobes are clearly separated by a dark lane (the Cheeseburger's "patty"!) oriented SSW to NNE. The central star was not seen. A mag 10.5 star is off the NE side, less than 30" from the center. Located 13' NNW of mag 4.6 73 Cyg.

It seems my latest observation of NGC 7026 is from 2003 with my old 20 f5 Obsession:

"Although the seeing isn't quite as good as last year when it went solid perfect for a brief time, this is pretty darn close! The seeing went fuzzy on me last year just as I got to 7026, so this is the view I didn't get then - patience pays off once again. The faint streamers and fan coming off the ends of the bi-polar lobes are an interesting contrast (not sure what I was referring to here...). Subtle brightenings in the lobes hint at even finer detail... 1000x"

Attachment 1291 Attachment 1292

This was from Steens Mountain at 7400 feet altitude before I had an SQM, but based on experience from this site, the SQM was probably somewhere between 21.8 and 22. I'd say it's time to have a look with my 28 inch scope this summer.

Hi folks!

This really is quite a good choice as object of the week. These days prominent and high in the sky, while the sky doesn´t get dark enough in our region. And not that wellknown. Under good conditions it gives a nice view even in 12" at 320x: In my mind the view 6000 feet above sealevel and with good seeing was not that far away from Howards nice sketch. I got the chance to have a glance throug 28" and 42" at this object. It has easily shown a nice green color. Even at medium power ( 600x with the 42"). It was a pity that high clouds came around as soon as i found it in that "monster" ;-)

Nice weekend and Clear Skies!

Norman

Hi

Attachment 1293

This my observation/Sketch with 16"
Fst 6m5+
Seeing: Best Seeing
Here the complete Report
http://www.astromerk.de/logbuch/2012...-ngc-6369.html

CS Hajü
www.astromerk.de

Sorry to be posting so late, but better late than never. ;) Here's my sketch. The little cheeseburger actually made me giggle because it looks so much like the real thing. It's tiny though - definitely not a Big Mac... more like a mini White Castle. Attachment 1297

Hi Carol, its never too late to post replies on OOTWs! We encourage members to post to older OOTWs.

Great sketch!! Looks fantastic!

Well I finally got a good look at this one! I have tried off and on over the last 2 years and it seems that my Kentucky weather always makes this tough to use any magnification with. The 24th was a night of turbulent air with less than ideal transparency but as I looked at NGC 7026 the sky cooperated with me for a short time. I was able to push it to 635x and was rewarded with my first "real" view of this fine object. My view looked much like Howard's fine sketch. I noticed a definite brightening in the middle of both lobes and an inky black lane between them. I did not see any central star. I could see the fainter material surrounding the 2 main lobes. I was prepared to spend some time with this object to see what all I could bring out but the seeing went away, just as it came, and everything boiled into a distorted mess. This object is on my short list to observe again for sure!

Will

Working out observations of September, I can pitch in with a recent observation. 12" SCT under less than optimal transparency but with quite good seeing, SQM 21.00. Observation using different magnifications and Lumicon OIII & UHC filters.
The two lobed nature of the nebula revealed itself by showing two notable bright knots, as described below. I rated the object 6/10.

17mm TeleVue Nagler Type 4, 179x / 27': A north to south elongated glow with a central part that appears to consist of two separate parts, two notable bright knots aligned ESE to WNW. The nebula subtly has a slightly bluish hue.
Directly ENE is a yellow-orange mag. 9 star, 1/4 FoV to the WSW is the double star BU158 (a white mag. 7.5 star with a mag. 10.5 at a PA of approximately 310, AB split).

OIII: Using this filter the two brighter knots clearly light up.
UHC: A similar but weaker effect than OIII.

11mm TeleVue Nagler Type 6, 277x / 18': The north to south elongated glow of the nebula is very faint when using this magnification. The two brighter parts remain notable, the WNW slightly larger than the ESE and slightly elongated NNE to SSW. To the NNW (two and a half times the distance towards the mag. 9 star to the ENE) are a mag. 14 (SSW) and a mag. 14.5 (NNE) star aligned SSW to NNE (not a double star in WDS).

OIII: Using this magnification the two knots clearly brighter, to their south faint nebulosity is visible that slightly extends towards the south, very small and very faint. No faint nebulosity such as is visible towards the south is visible towards the north.
UHC: Using this filter the faint nebulosity is visible very faintly on the south side, the OIII filter has a better effect.

7mm TeleVue Nagler Type 6, 436x / 11': The WNW knot is slightly brighter and larger than the ESE knot is.

OIII: Nebulosity is visible very faintly on the south side, using AV extremely faint nebulosity is visible on the north side, much fainter than on the south side.
UHC: The OIII filter has a better effect, very faint nebulosity is visible only on the south side.