(IAAC) Obj: Abell 18 - Inst: 18" f/4.5 dobsonian

[anonymous at sedna.atmob.org]

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Observation Poster: John Tatarchuk <tatarjj at auburn.edu>

Observer: John Tatarchuk
Your skills: Advanced (many years)
Date/time of observation: 11/24/06
Location of site: Conecuh National Forest, South Alabama (Lat , Elev )
Site classification: Rural
Sky darkness: 6.7+ (Gegenschein visible) <Limiting magnitude>
Seeing: N/A <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Moon presence: None - moon not in sky
Instrument: 18" f/4.5 dobsonian
Magnification: 110X, 230X
Filter(s): OIII
Object(s): Abell 18
Category: Planetary nebula.
Class: 
Constellation: Monoceros
Data: mag 17.5p  size 71"x66"
Position: RA 6:56.2  DEC -02:53
Description:
I'd searched for this object several times previously.  Under the dark skies of
Conecuh National Forest, I was at last successful in eeking out its faint glow.
Almost immediately after matching the field of view with the Aladin Previewer 
finder chart, I was able to pick out an incredibly weak glow at 110X (19mm 
Panoptic) with OIII filtration right at the correct position.  I was unable to 
hold the nebula in adverted vision for more than a moment or two, but I was
able to reacquire rather easily.  Increasing the magnification to 230X (9mm
Nagler) seemed to slightly diminish the visibility of the object.  Perhaps a
slight elongation was detected to the nebula, but for the most part the nebula
seemed to have no clearly defined form.
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