[AZ-Observing] Re: Sh2-240 or Simeis 147 in Taurus

I'll put this observation with mine of Sh2-311. It won't be long and we'll
have the Best 110 Sharpless Bright Nebulae! I don't know how many there are
or how many would actually be visible in amateur scopes, but they seem to be
intriguing objects to seek out.

I think the key to getting the most from a given scope is the use of a hood,
an eyepatch or a dew cap extension on the scope (or all three), assuming
clean optics and good collimation. For a hood, I always envision wearing a
long black cape which could be flipped up over the head when at the
eyepiece. Some just grab a towel, which presently works for me. A cloth
could be fastened to the telescope also and even double as a quick dust
cover if somebody comes late or peels out of the site early. Probably be the
next Astro accessory for sale.

Jack

> 
> Howdy all;
> 
> I had a great weekend during new moon and spent some time at
> Sentinel, Arizona, a dark site about 100 miles from Phoenix.
> Here is an observation of Sh2-240 or Simeis 147.
> 
> 6" f/6 Maksutov-Newtonian Sentinel S=6 T=8
> 35mm Panoptic + UHC filter  very faint, extremely large, filamentary,
> over two fields of view with my widest field telescope ever!
> This object is composed of very faint striations of nebulosity
> across a wide area of the sky.  However, this is a rich
> Winter Milky Way field of view. So, it is difficult to determine
> what is nebulosity and what are chains of very faint stars in
> the field.  
> 
> On Uranometria 136 this is the section that is south and east 
> of ET Tau.  The split "elephant trunk" section is easier, but still 
> very faint, extremely large, a thin filament that is just thicker 
> than the  other sections of this low surface brightness object.  
> 
> The Hood helps quite a bit.  It is still tough to see, but 
> easier with 
> the dark cloth covering my head.  It seems that the Hood does
> two things:  blocks off extraneous light and forces my attention
> to the eyepiece as the only source of light in my field of vision.
> 
> I was happy to be able to detect this very faint object in the
> little six inch Mak-Newt.
> 
> Clear Skies to us all;
> Steve Coe
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