FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] North America Nebula

[BillFerris@xxxxxxx]

I'd put off this object long enough. It wasn't that I hadn't observed the 
North America Nebula (aka NGC 7000). It's an easy naked eye object from 
northern Arizona. But I'm winding down my "Sketch the Herschel 400" project 
and this expansive emission nebula was among the stragglers, those objects 
I'd put off for one reason or another over the years.

The North America Nebula is intimidating as a sketch subject. Framed against 
the backdrop of the Milky Way's galactic disk, NGC 7000 is dusted all over by 
stars. It's a rangy thing, with irregular shorelines like its namesake. 
Oversized and unconstrained by the 1.5-degree true field of my 10-inch 
Newtonian--the widest I can get with this scope--my observation tool of 
choice would be 10x50 Swift Audubon's, binoculars producing a 7-degree true 
field. How on Earth could I hope to commit this celestial gem to paper?

Well, the Arizona summer monsoon abated last Wednesday and I was just 
desperate enough for photon time to give this observation a shot. The funny 
thing is, making the sketch wasn't nearly as challenging as I'd imagined it 
to be. The hardest tasks were distinguishing the North America Nebula from 
all that nebulosity and getting the 10x50s comfortably positioned. Cygnus was 
well up in the northeast when I began the drawing, shortly before midnight. 
With the binoculars mounted just so on the tripod, they were perfectly 
positioned for the observation with the tripod tilted towards me and far 
enough away to allow access to my sketch template with the tripod standing 
straight.

Thirty-minutes later, the drawing was complete. I've added the sketch with my 
notes to my "Cosmic Voyage" web site. Here's the URL, if you'd like to take a 
gander: http://members.aol.com/billferris/n7000.html

Regards,

Bill Ferris
Flagstaff


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