Object of the Week, March 13, 2022: Abell 5 in Perseus

[FaintFuzzies]

Object of the Week, March 13, 2022: Abell 5 in Perseus

Ancient Planetary Nebula
RA: 02h 52m 12s
Dec: +50 36’
Size: 134 x 121”
Mag: >16p

For this week’s OOTW, I’ll present a “challenging” object of the week. I say “challenging” this time as this one of the two Abell Planetaries that I have never observed in any aperture. I’ve tried at least 5 times with my 22” reflector under NELM as dark as 7.0 using various magnifications from 75 to just under 300, and with and without the O-III and UHC filters.

The primary visible color of this object is reddish, which could be one of the reasons why it is very difficult to see. See Kevin’s image here. He noted that the O-III is extremely faint, which adds to the difficulty to see it visually with the O-III filter. Maybe a broadband filter may help. Here is another image by Jerry.

There are two known observations that I’m aware of. One by fellow OOTW contributor, Uwe Glahn and other by Eric Honeycutt. I’m sure that a few of you saw it and we would like to hear about it. Eric saw it probably a couple decades ago, no date was given on his notes. He used a 22” Starmaster and he observes from Georgia. I’m not sure what his conditions were, but his notes are “A faint ring with 118x and an O-III. Takes a bit to find it but pretty easy once spotted. Ring structure is evident. Stars are visible within nebby. Difficult.”

It may be falling after sunset, but should be high enough for you to take a shot at it, so let us know!

Abell5DSS.jpg
DSS image

[Raul Leon]

Tough object! I've tried many times with different filters, but to no avail. At 15 inches I think I need more aperture for this one.

[Don Pensack]

My notes show the object's total magnitude is 16! And surface brightness even lower.
It'll be interesting to see how many can spot it. I have 3 NFs (not found) with my 12.5", even when this was very high in the sky.

[Uwe Glahn]

Because you mentioned me, I add my notes from my Abell-PN project here. All in all a very tough object.

16", 100x, [OIII], NELM 7m0
extremely difficult PN; after 30 minutes of observing I noticed a faint hint of light NE of the 14,1mag central star; somewhat elongated; unsure observation

27", 113x-172x, UHC, [OIII], NELM 6m5+
very difficult; with 113x and UHC a very faint disc is popping in and out of view around a central 14mag star; can not hold the glow steadily; with higher magnification (172x, 4mm EP) and [OIII] filter the round disc disappears and a faint laminar and somewhat elongated glow gets into the view directly SE of the star; not steadily visible and similar to the 16-inch observation an observation at the edge of visibility