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Thread: Object of the Week November 17, 2013 - The two Tadpoles of IC 410 in Auriga

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    Member reiner's Avatar
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    Object of the Week November 17, 2013 - The two Tadpoles of IC 410 in Auriga

    Simeis 129 and 130, part of IC 410

    Auriga

    RA 05 23 08
    Dec +33 28 40

    Type: Dense Globules in Emission Nebula

    Despite being not listed in either the Messier catalog or the NGC, IC 410 is a very conspicuous and bright emission nebula in Auriga. With UHC or OIII filter, it is distinctly visible from my suburban backyard using my small 4.5" reflector as a faint smudge. With larger telescopes, it is an interesting object with a horseshoe shape plus internal dark and bright structure and a central cluster of new stars.

    The Tadpoles in IC 410 are so-called globules, which may be the birthplace of new stars. These globules are eroded by the radiation of the central star cluster similar to the Pillars in M16. The side of the globules that faces the cluster is excited and is visible as a bright rim.



    Despite there are many beautiful pictures of these tadpoles, as for instance by Richard Crisp here as narrow band image, I did not find any observing reports of them when I tried to observe them for the first time about 6 years ago. In February 2008, I finally succeeded in observing them at the first try. In the meantime, they even made it into Sue French's Deep Sky Wonder column in Sky and Telescope (01/2010, p65), where I found out that they even bear designations of their own, Simeis 129 and 130.



    The brighter of the two globules, bearing the name Simeis 130 and being the left one in the close-up left, is relatively easy and well within reach of a 12". It reacts well to filters and in particular to the UHC filter, appearing as a small extended brighter patch with a superimposed group of three very faint stars.

    The second tadpole (upper right, Simeis 129) is more difficult, partly also due to the star superimposed on the bright rim of the globule, but well within reach of my 22" using filtering.


    My first observation in 2008 was with my 22" under pretty murky skies, maybe mag 5.5 at the city border of Freiburg, Germany. Nevertheless, the brighter one of the globules could be observed easily with UHC using averted vision. The OIII and H beta filters were not as helpful as UHC. Since then, I have revisited IC 410 and the Tadpoles numerous times, but not for the past two years. It's therefore on my list as well for the next clear nights.
    Last edited by reiner; November 18th, 2013 at 05:57 AM.
    Reiner

    22" and 14" Dobs on EQ platforms and Deep Sky Observing
    www.reinervogel.net

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