[AZ-Observing] Pickering's Wedge

From: BillFerris@xxxxxxx
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 10:48:42 EDT

I got some photon time with my 10-inch Newtonian, last Friday. Most of the 
objects I observed were old friends but there was one guy I hadn't sketched 
before. That was Pickering's Wedge, the triangular nebulosity between the two 
major components of the Veil Nebula.
NGC 6960 is the long lick of flame kissing 52 Cygni, a 4.2 magnitude star in 
eastern Cygnus. About 2.5 degrees to the east, the lacy arcing form of NGC 
6992 is found. These are the major visible components of the Veil Nebula, an 
ancient supernova remnant. But there are more remnant nebulous patches to be 
seen 
in this area.

Among these is Pickering's Wedge, also known as Pickering's Triangle or 
Fleming's Triangular Wisp. (Thanks to Tom Polakis for helping me with the 
identification.) According to Brian Skiff, this object was discovered by 
Williamina 
Fleming, one of E. C. Pickering's assistants at Harvard College, while she was 
studying a photographic plate of the region.

Since it wasn't observed--or at least not cataloged--by anyone prior to 
Dreyer's publication of the NGC/IC, this object has no designation in those 
catalogs. Still, it's a fine subject for moderate aperture under dark 
transparent sky.

Here's the URL: http://members.aol.com/billferris/pwedge.html

Regards,

Bill in Flagstaff


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[AZ-Observing] Pickering's Wedge

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