[LVAS] FW: Helix Nebula

[roger ivester]

All,
 
Some information concrning the September observers challenge...

 

NGC-7293; PN; Aquarius; also known as the "Helix Nebula" 

 
Challenge: Overall shape, stars within the nebula including the 13M central star, and the central void. 
 
Walter Scott Houston, Deep-Sky Wonders, Selections and Commentary by Stephen O'Meara. 
 
WSH: Magnitude of about 6, but its large apparent diameter...nearly half that of the Moon...spreads the light out and makes it a difficult object visually. I recently saw the Helix with a 4-inch Clark refractor, and was certain that it was glimpsed in a 2-inch finder. Burnham notes that in his Celestial Handbooks that it can be spied in binoculars. Small telescopes in relatiely poor skies seldom revealed color. Ted Komorowski told of a gray disc easily visible in his 8-inch f/7.5 at 56x.
 
Note: This scope is housed at the Williams Observatory on campus at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Over the years this scope has come to be known as the Komorowski Comet scope. Ted was a member of the Charlotte Amateurs during the 60's and later.  Roger Ivester
 
WSH: The nebula's central hole was sighted by only a few observers, who included Michael Pleinis, Aberdeen, South Dekota (4-and 6-inch telescopes), and Mark Grunwald, Mishawaka, Indiana, among others.