Because it is in such good position for this New Moon, I will post about a favorite of mine. Sh 2-301 is an emission nebula in the Canis Major Milky way.
Here is an observation with a 13 inch f/5.6 newtonian:
Sharpless 2-301 Pretty bright, pretty large, irregular shape at 100X on a night I rated 8/10 for seeing and transparency in the mountains of central Arizona. My first observation of this object was from a somewhat light polluted site and I called it faint, it is much better from a dark site. All these observations are with the UHC filter, it helps a lot on this object. This nebula has a three branch structure with many stars involved. There are a few detached sections of nebulosity that are out of the 30 minute field. This is an unmarked box on the Tirion Sky Atlas.
This observation is with a 6 inch f/8 refractor:
Sh2-301 Antennas site, about 100 miles from Phoenix 6" f/8 refractor S=7, T=8 14mm EP very faint, pretty large, round, 5 stars involved. Adding UHC filter gives pretty bright, large, very irregular figure with 4 stars involved. The "3 branch" outline is displayed with averted vision and the filter. The number of stars seen with averted vision is 11 stars involved, but the last 6 or so are very faint.
This drawing was with a 17.5 inch at 100X with a UHC filter.
Sharpless 2-301 in Canis Major
Reply With Quote