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9/01/2026

Observing Planetary Nebula: A Seasonal Approach in 3 Tiers


 Messier 57 The Ring Nebula Planetary Nebula in Lyra; August 30th, 2016: 2:15am MDT; Antoniadi II, mild; 17.5" Truss Dob f/4.4, Star Catcher; 22mm Nagler T4, 10mm & 7mm Pentax XW; FarPoint UHC 1 1/4 Filter.  

It's been awhile but it is the Ring Nebula.  The outer edge has varying levels of brightness and the inner region is even surface brightness with some hint of varyness at higher magnifications.  Central Star visible with averted and direct vision. 

So besides Supernova Remnants, one of my favorite Deep Sky Objects to observe are Planetary Nebula. I love them because of what the represent, a main squence star that is from 0.4 to 8 solar masses that has lived its life and is now in the end stage.  I also find them challenging to see how much detail I can pull out whether I am imaging them or observing and sketching them, or both!  Finally I am constantly amazed at how our Universe recycles materials and uses that material to create even more stars, planets, solar systems and continues on. 

So I've done several things that I am going to share in this post and the next post. First, I made a Planetary Nebula Observing Prorgram by season and have included images, sketches and descriptions of most of the objects.  That's in this video. I'll share the Google Doc and PDF's below and the program. The list is also in XLS formation for Excel. 

In the next video, well, you have to watch that one to see what that is! 

As always, I REALLY encourage you  to head over to Eadsy Astronomy to see the program, get a copy of it and to admire the many wonderful observations, images and sketches done of this wonderful objects! Please hit subscribe and like here, and thank you if you do or have already done so. It really helps a niche site like mine.  

Also, please join Eadsy Astronomy. You can join as free member, my content is always free or you can, if you find value in what I do, become a contributing member at the $3 or $5 a month value. It just goes to offset the cost of some of the apps and materials I use to bring the content to you. I'll keep doing it and I won't get rich, it just offsets some of my time and my costs and is deeply appreciated! 




As always, I REALLY encourage you on this one to head over to Eadsy Astronomy. There you can get the program, see the sketches and images of the objects, and read observations done by many who have observed or imaged these! Here is the LINK

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