Hello all,
This last week I attended the Queensland Astrofest, held
outside the village of Linville, some two hours west of Brisbane. We were blessed with cloudless skies, and
with fantastic transparency. The quality
of the transparency meant that objects that objects much easier to see and with
better clarity. And for objects that are
close to the northern horizon, this is very significant for us located under
our southern skies.
I was armed to the teeth with telescopes this time
around. The heat I packed included a
17.5” f/4, a 12” f/5, and 8” f/4 – all push-pull dobs. I considered my 4” refractor, but really, how
many scopes does a man need… LOL!
During the first night, I was pointed to the direction of
the Veil nebula, which I had never seen, and in all honesty, had never
considered as a plausible target from my southern location. The first set of directions for the Veil
Nebula proved to be a stunningly fortunate mistake. In scanning for the Veil Nebula, I chanced
upon the North America Nebula! I was
using my brand new 8” f/4 Kulali dob, which when coupled with an Explore
Scientific 30mm 82° eyepiece, yields a sensational 3° True Field of View! The entire
North America nebula just managed to fit inside the field of view! As tempted as I was to sketch it, and knowing
that I would take around 2 hours to complete a sketch of it, I thought better
of it as it would be disappearing behind some trees in around an hour’s time.
A better set of instructions was uttered to me to find the
Veil, and then there was no mistak.
It was so bright and so detailed for an object very close to
the northern horizon! And it is so
BIG! The entire Veil circle just fit
inside the True Field of View of this little scope. The first sketch below depicts the view of
the entire Veil as seen through this eyepiece/scope combination.
Again, the advantage of having a manual push-pull dob came
into its own. The amount of detail just
kept getting richer and richer as the constant push-pull action keeps
refreshing my vision and so allowing my eye to see fainter and fainter detail. The remaining ‘gunsmoke-like’ of the
cataclysmic supernova explosion is such an exquisite image. Being so close to my northern horizon, the
Veil must reveal so much more detail when it is viewed from a more favourable
northern location.
It must also be kept in mind that the Veil Nebula sits smack bang in the middle of the band of the Milky Way galaxy. The entire nebula is set upon a background carpet of the glow of the Milky Way. A really exciting and exquisite view.
Object: Veil Nebula,
supernova remnant
Telescope: 8” f/4
Kulali push-pull dob
Gear: Explore
Scientific 30mm 82°, 3° TFOV, and NPB filter
Location: Linville,
Queensland, Australia
Date: 14th
August, 2015
Media: Soft pastel,
charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: approx.
1.5hrs
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