NGC 2022 with UHC-Filter

Hi
My last sketch with 16" in the year 2013!

NGC 2022
is a very interesting object. A PN in the constellation of Orion!
The PN is 7000Lj away from us and can already be seen as a round, slightly oval object without a filter. South-East hint of nodular whitening can be seen. With a UHC filter, the ring shape is seen more clearly. The South-Eastern node is brighter to see!
Attachment 1019
without Filter with 522x (Sketch from 2012)
Attachment 1017Attachment 1018
with UHC-Filter; 520x


Happy new year 2014 and many clear nights for you all...

Hajü
www.astromerk.de

Hi Hajue,

very nice drawings, and an interesting comparison of views without and with filter. I am glad you had a chance to observe yesterday. I haven't had a good observing night since October.

Greetings
Johannes

Nice. I have only seen this PN with my 4". This is a very detailed view. And thanks for the new year wishes; clear nights are exactly what is sorely needed here. I will admit that last week I did not take the opportunity to drive for 3 hours and check out the road and field conditions at the dark site on a -20C night the day after a snowstorm that filled the ditches of our city highways with SUVs. The sky conditions were forecast to be merely OK, you understand. So nothing this dark of the moon, nothing in December, 2 hours in November, and pretty bad forecast through the end of Feb.

Hi Hajü,

I have a similar observation of 2022 where the UHC filter brings out a bright spot on the ring. Here are my notes from an observation with my 28 inch Newtonian:

"Bright and well defined, 2022 stands out well at 105x and takes magnification well. Slightly oval with an obvious darker center. The best overall view is without a filter at 408x. However, a faint stellar point is detected within one side of the ring when using the UHC filter! No sign of a central star though. 21.16 SQM."

Attachment 1036 Attachment 1037

Since this observation was made I traded in my UHC for an NPB filter, and it will be interesting to see if the same stellar point will be revealed by the NPB.

Hi HaJü,

first of all, I would like to wish you a very happy and healthy new year as well!

Very nice sketch of 2022. As far as I know, there are not a lot of PNs in the Orion reachable with scopes of our size...
2022 is for sure an interesting and beautiful object. I never tryed it using an UHC filter up to now; it's now on my todo list.

Attached a sketch I took using my 12" dobson without any filter. The spot in the ring was visible.

Attachment 1044

Thanks you all for your feedbacks,observations and sketches, of this object!!

CS Hajü
www.astromerk.de

Hi Hajü,

very clean observation and sketch.

You are absolutely right with the [OIII] knot and saw it at the right position. Monochromatic images of the University of Tübingen shows the knot in the SW, especially in the [OIII] line.

My observation with my old 16" shows pretty the same effect also with UHC.

16", 450x, UHC, NELM 6m3
http://www.deepsky-visuell.de/Zeichnungen/NGC2022.jpg

uwe

Hajü,

After months of poor weather I could observe NGC 2022 last week. I was not at my darkest site, but conditions were fair and the seeing was quite good. I was surprised how small this PN is. The seeing allowed magnifications of up to 700x and 1000x. I could see the ring with the bright spot on one side. At high powers I saw a similar spot, only much fainter on the opposite side of the ring. Also I think that the central star showed up for brief periods of time but repeatedly in indirect vision at 700x. The faint halo outside of the ring was not visible.

Greetings
Johannes

I have quite a number of observations of NGC 2022, but here are my last three (including one from last weekend) with different apertures...

48" (2/21/12): at 488x, this bright, double-shell planetary contains a bright oval ring oriented SSW-NNE, ~23"x18". The annulus is fairly thin with a relatively large, darker central hole, though the contrast is fairly low. At the exact center is a faint central star (close to 16th mag?). The ring has an irregular surface brightness; slightly brighter at the ends of the major axis, particularly the SW end (knot or star?), and slightly fainter along the minor axis. Surrounding the ring is a fainter and rounder outer shell, ~32" diameter. The outer shell was surprisingly prominent and exhibited a pinkish hue.

24" (1/25/14): at 500x appeared as a fairly bright knotty annulus, slightly elongated SW-NE with fascinating structure. The rim was clearly brighter along an ~200° arc running from the southwest counterclockwise to the northeast. Very small brighter knots were definite at the SW and NE ends and perhaps a slight brightening at the NW edge. In general, though, the rim appeared mottled and sparkling though clearly dimmer along the southeast side, giving a "C" appearance. At 750x, the darker center was also irregular in surface brightness and occasionally, an extremely faint central star sparkled.

18" (2/24/06): at 220x appeared moderately bright, fairly small, round, ~25" diameter, very slightly elongated, irregularly lit and brighter along the western half of the rim giving a "C" appearance. A faint sparkle is occasionally visible on the WSW edge of the rim and images show this may be a faint superimposed star or knot in the planetary. 320x provides an excellent view with the planetary weakly annular and the rim a bit dimmer on the SE side. At 435x, the shape is slightly elongated SW to NE, ~27"x22" with a mottled interior and a brighter rim, particularly along the western half. The appearance is quite patchy at 565x and the sparkle on the SW end is still evident. The central star was not seen at any power. Ced 59 (surrounding FU Orionis) lies 48' due east.

Steve

It's very interesting that you saw a mottled structure of the ring in your 24“. At moments I had the very same impression. Only I was not sure if these were moments of very good seeing or just flickers of my retina.

Greetings
Johannes