Nebulae and How to Observe Them

Northern
Summer Nebulae
120
Vulpecula Nebulae
M 27 PLNNB VUL 19 59.6 +22 43
This image of NGC 4628
and the rest of the Table of
Scorpius was taken using
a Televue 76 refractor,
by Adam Block/NOAO/
AURA/NSF.
The Dumbbell Nebula is the brightest planetary in the Messier list and one of the
brightest nebulae in all the sky.
With the 4 inch and a 27mm Panoptic it is easily seen as a small, pretty bright
box-shaped nebula. This object has much higher surface brightness than the Ring
Nebula. Using an 8.8mm eyepiece the “apple core” or Dumbbell shape is immediately
seen; the small aperture only shows two stars involved. Averted vision shows
some of the faint outer nebulosity beyond the bright Dumbbell shape.
Moving up in aperture to the Nexstar 11 and a 14mm eyepiece shows seven stars
involved, with the last two extremely faint. The outer layers of nebulosity are pretty
easy on a good night; averted vision makes them unmistakable. The nebula is
bright, pretty large, elongated 1.5X1 with a high surface brightness core and fainter
glow around it. This nebula has a faint green color. Adding the UHC or the OIII
filter shows the outer nebula with much greater contrast. The filter actually makes
the Dumbbell Nebula almost round by filling in the central sections.
Many years ago at the Riverside (California) Telescope Makers’ Conference, the
folks from Questar drove across the US and set up a Questar 12, a beautifully made
12 inch f/15 Maksutov. Like many a big Maksutov, it took quite a while to cool down.