Object Of The Week October 8, 2017: NGC 1333

[wvreeven]

NGC 1333, Ced 16, LBN 741, vdB 17

Reflection Nebula, Star forming Region

Constellation: Perseus
RA: 03 28 55.2
DE: +31 22 12

Mag: 10.9 (B)

Size: 9.0'

NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula in Perseus. It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years at the edge of the huge Perseus OB2 molecular cloud. It is one of the nearest star forming regions and very rich in young stellar objects (YSOs). Most of these are hidden by the dust in the star forming region, but some of these are visible as Herbig-Haro objects. Herbig-Haro objects are collisionally excited nebulae produced by outflows ejected by YSOs. They are produced mainly during the first few hundred thousand years of life of a YSO and are usually highly obscured by the cloud core environment from which they formed.

Here is a recent picture by Belgian amateur astronomer Bart Delsaert:

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For those interested in hunting down Herbig-Haro objects in the nebula, please use this map

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My notes of this nebula with my 20" on September 14, 2012, read

At first glance I see an oval nebula around a relatively bright star. Closer inspection reveals nebulosity around a close by star. Between these two nebulae I see two stars and some other condensations of nebulosity. I also see the areas containing HH 12, HH 6 and HH 7-11. Very impressive!

The relatively bright star in my notes is HIP 16243 aka BD +30 00549. Furthermore, the nebula around the close by star has designation Bernes 56, the region around HH 12 is also known as Bernes 55 and the region of HH 7-11 bears the designation Bernes 59.


As always,

"Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and great viewing!"

[Uwe Glahn]

Nice field Wouter and worth a revisit with larger aperture.

My experience based on observation with 16". My notes are as follows:
16", 170x, NELM 7m0+; approx 10' diameter field around the RN NGC 1333, the whole field looks nebulous, lots of stars with halo around, bright nebula NGC 1333 3.5' SW of a also nebulous 11mag star; brightest HH object HH 7-11 starting from the 15mag star GSC 2342122 to the SE, difficult to hold with averted vision but clearly visible as a 3:1 NW-SE elongated nebula; HH 12 is popping in and out of view and can not hold steadily

[kisspeter]

I observed NGC 1333 with my small 4" in 2011. I couldn't see too much but the field was still interesting.

4" f/4, 48x, 58' field, "Ny" stands for West.
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[Howard B]

I was able to get an observation of NGC 1333 this past Saturday night with my 28 inch scope. It was barely seen using 253x but then the SQM was 20.36 at the time and transparency was rather poor, and the seeing was pretty lousy too. My old Deep Sky filter slightly boosted contrast, but I didn't see anything with the filter I couldn't see without it.

I'm encouraged that much more can be seen with better observing conditions so this will be on my list all autumn and winter.

Howard

[wvreeven]

Howard, maybe a next scetching project like your amazing Orion Nebula project in S&T December 2017?

[Howard B]

All I need are some really good dark skies - I'm ready to give it my best shot!

And thank you for your gracious comment about my Orion Nebula project article in the December issue of S&T. With uncharacteristic lack of modesty, I've started a new thread about it mostly because I want to post my color sketch - it's almost completely washed out in the magazine.

[Uwe Glahn]

I revisit the region last nights with my 27" and was afraid how little detail of the HH objects were visible even under nearly perfect skies (transparency and seeing)
So I could only barely detect HH12 without filter as a very faint glow. HH 7-11 could only suspected. No filter helps.

[Howard B]

I had an nearly optimum look at NGC 1333 on Tuesday night. It was near the meridian, the SQM reading was about 21.7 and I was at a medium altitude sight in central Oregon. A great night - but to my surprise I barely saw any more nebulosity than I did at home with a 20.3 SQM sky! Right now I'm thinking that even under absolutely perfect conditions I might see more, but I won't be surprised if I don't.