Heading down south we will visit Fornax to seek out a bright
Northern Celestial Hemisphere
Kemble 1 (Camelopardalis,
You get a twofer with
The
This nebula is located in the northeastern portion of Perseus, just over 1° NNW of mag 4.3 Lambda Persei. While it’s angular size is typically listed as large as around 9’x6’, its visual extent will likely be smaller. Imagers of course can often draw out more of its dimmer outer portions. The complex is illuminated by the mag 11.2 star BD +50 00886. Visually, it responds very nicely to either a narrow-band nebula filter or an O-III filter. As with most nebulae of this type, using a filter will definitely benefit the observer by boosting its contrast against the background sky.
I’ve seen various nicknames attributed to this nebula, including the Fossil Footprint, Little Pacman and the Wild Boar Nebula. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1790 and in his shorthand notation he flagged it as “vB” (very Bright). Though its visual magnitude is not listed anywhere that I’ve checked, it is considered one of the brighter members of the emission nebula category. It is a particularly a fine target for imagers to see how much detail they can tease out of its structure. So check it out and see how much of its glow you can pick up across the 10,000 light year distance between it and us here on our home planet.
Remaining in Perseus, but this time moving to the southwestern portion near the border with Andromeda, we now pursue this barred lenticular galaxy. In terms of galaxies, this one is fairly bright, with a higher surface brightness. Appearing as a thin oval glow, it appears pretty evenly illuminated across its disk. Discovered in 1786 by William Herschel, he described it as being "extremely bright, much extended, a very bright nucleus.” Fairly large in angular size for a galaxy, it lies about 30 million light years distant, and is the namesake of the
This galaxy is also catalogued as Arp 135 and sorted into the section for "Galaxies with Nearby Fragments." The fragment being referred to is actually another galaxy at its eastern tip. Sometimes listed as
Southern Celestial Hemisphere
Harrington 2 (Fornax,
This bright grouping lies in the western section of the famous Fornax Galaxy Cluster (Abell S0373). It is named for noted observer and author, Phil Harrington, and is dominated by three unrelated stars that share the same stellar designation, Chi Fornacis. These are Chi1 at mag 6.4, Chi1 at mag 5.7 (brightest star of the group) and Chi3 at mag 6.5. These three stars along with mag 7.2 HD 21852 at the eastern edge of the
While heading into the Fornax Galaxy Cluster, take a moment to view this pretty little grouping. A little bonus object within its field is the mag 12.3 lenticular galaxy
This object is famously known as the radio galaxy Fornax A, and due to its “disturbed” nature it also appears in Dr. Halton Arp’s Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 154. Located almost 1.5° SSW of Chi1 Fornacis, it is the brightest galaxy within the Fornax Cluster. This object was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826 during his sky surveys at Parramatta, New South Wales.
Visually, it presents a somewhat large and bright rounded disk. The observer should note a compact and brighter core region within its envelope as well. Be sure to keep an eye out for magnitude 11.0 barred spiral
Staying in Fornax, we now shift our attention nearly 10° north of the heart of the Fornax Cluster toward the border with Eridanus. This planetary nebula has a long and winding discovery trail. It was first seen in 1859 by Lewis Swift who did not report it until 1885. It was independently discovered in 1861 by Wilhelm Temple (who likewise failed to report the object until years later), in 1868 by August Winnecke and finally in 1879 by Eugen Block. Because both Swift and Temple delayed notification of their discovered, Winnecke was originally credited, but this was eventually amended.
Located just over 5.5° northeast of mag 3.8 Alpha Fornacis, this large oval disk is nicknamed the “Robin’s Egg Nebula” for its noticeably shape and pale bluish tint. Typical of planetary nebulae, it responds well to both a narrow-band nebula filter and particularly to an O-III line filter. Fairly bright for a
We now turn SSW about 4° from
This beautiful object contains a prominent bar, as well as an outer ring, which is prominent in deep images and appears quite ethereal. Visually in amateur scopes one should be able to pick out the prominent central bar region as a broad and elongated brightness within a very dim and diffuse outer halo. Look for the mag 12.5 foreground star less than 2’ north of the center of the galactic disk, which Dunlop noted in his discovery notes. Lying at only about 33 MLY distant, it is relatively close to us (in astronomical terms), and was cited as an example of a “transitional galaxy” the Galaxy Evolution Explorer team at NASA in 2007.
There you have it my friends. As always your contributions observing reports, sketches and/or images of any of these objects is encouraged and very welcome. You don’t have to be an expert visual observer, sketcher or imager to post your results. We enjoy everyone sharing of their experiences, as we can all learn from our shared interest and activity in the hobby. So good luck and get on out there under the night sky.
