The Great Orion Nebula M42 Season Coming

[j.gardavsky]

Hello all,

this is not a report, but just a reminder for the visual observers.
The Great Orion Nebula is an object deserving a few observing sessions to dig out the fine details.

M42-topografia.pdf

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The topographia shows the details visible through a telescope, some of them require increasing the magnifications in steps up to about 300x.
The details are named in a mix of dead Latinum and living Italian (sort of), and when you like la cuccina italiana, then you will enjoy the topographia.

Last time one year ago, the Great Orion Nebula has been looking pale bluish to me, no more greenish like in my young times.

Enjoy the views and clear skies,
JG

[John Baars]

Thanks for the map of this impressive nebula and its nomenclatur!
To reassure you: I have never seen any color in M42. Not even in my younger years. Everything has been and still is always gray.

[j.gardavsky]

Thank you John!

Some people say that through the achromatic refractors, every shadow is colored in blue due to the CA.

So I will certainly repeat hunting the topographia, like we every X-Mas repeat singing the old songs, we get printed on paper as we keep forgetting the lyrics.

Best,
JG

[Bigzmey]

Thanks for the map JG! I already had a few picks this season with binos and couple of refractors, but never realized that every little piece of it has a name.

[OzEclipse]

JG
Thanks for the chart. I have made a print and put it in a plastic sleeve for use at the scope.

Joe

[Unitron48]

Thanks, JG! Orion is the one constellation that never stops giving!!

Dave

[Rainmaker]

Thanks JG, nice chart !!
We had a group of 35 people for outreach last night, using my 18" F3.5 scope about 12 people reported seeing a blue/green colour on the nebula.
Six people also reported a brownish/reddish tinge. E & F stars were resolved and seen by a few who knew where to look.

I have seen A through to G in this scope from a very dark site at Coolah, NSW. G at 14.5 was just blinking in an out of vision, if I didn't know where to look I probably would have missed it.

[j.gardavsky]

Thank you Matt!

I can imagine how amazing the view must have been through a big Dob, and under your southern skies.

Clear skies,
JG

[Smitty]

Thank you and hello again JG. This is your old comrade "Cherokee" letting you know it's good to see you again and to thank you for your M42 post.

Die besten wunsche!
Smitty.

[SKEtrip]

Thank you JG!

[kt4hx]

Nice document JG, thank you. Orion is definitely here for the looking now. As you well know, I tend to focus primarily on galaxies, and at this point I have logged 10 in Orion. So I have plenty of more work to do there yet. But because I will be heading out for a business trip in a couple of weeks for over two months time, and deep into a red zone location with no opportunity to escape, Orion will likely evade me for several months this time around. Just how the timing works out sometimes.

[j.gardavsky]

Thank you and hello again JG. This is your old comrade "Cherokee" letting you know it's good to see you again and to thank you for your M42 post.

Die besten wunsche!
Smitty.

Hello Smitty,

great to see another old friend here,
JG

[mikemarotta]

In a dark sky, it is a naked-eye object. Even low magnification (20x) brings it to any viewer, even in a city. (I live in a city of a million and I am one mile from a major shopping center.)
Thanks for the update.

[Kanadalainen]

Hi JG,

Thanks for this excellent resource. Its going to add to my views of M42.... brilliant!

Ian