Object of the Week - June 3, 2018 - Abell 65, a Planetary Nebula in Sagittarius

[Paul Alsing]

Object of the Week - June 3, 2018 - Abell 65, a Planetary Nebula in Sagittarius
Object of the Week - June 3, 2018 - Abell 65/PN A66 65 /Sh2-52/ ESO 526-3/ PN ARO 36/ PK 017-21 1/ MCG-04-46-001 - Sagittarius

R.A.: 19h46m34.2s Dec.: -23°08'13" (2000)
Apparent size of 2.4 arcmin
Magnitude: 15.20

Abell 65 is a fairly dim planetary nebula, about 4900 light-years distant in Sagittarius. Spectral studies indicate that it has binary central stars that orbit each other in about a day. SkyTools shows that it appears to be concentric with a galaxy, PGC 63654/ MCG-4-46-1. Simbad, however, says that they are the same object. Can I assume that in the past there has been some confusion as to just what type of object this is?

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I last observed Abell 65 from California’s Golden State Star Party (GSSP) in early summer, 2011, through my Obsession25” f/5 on a really nice night. It was seen immediately, without filtration, as a dim 2:1 oval with a SE-NW orientation, and it looked a lot like a dim featureless galaxy. Adding my trusty NPB filter made it much better, and the SE portion seemed to be a little brighter, to my eye. There is a mag 13 star at each end of the nebula, providing a very nice visual. I tried a variety of eyepieces and at higher powers I’m pretty sure I glimpsed the central star with averted vision. At low power you can see that it sits among several 9-11 mag stars, in a very pretty field.

As always, give it a go and let us know.

[Howard B]

Hi Paul,

As it turns out, my only observation of Abell 65 is from the GSSP in 2010!

"Alright - an easy to see Abell planetary! Barely seen without filters, it jumps out with both the UHC and the OIII filters, with the OIII showing a brighter image of the planetary. I could barely see the central star with the OIII but it's rather obvious without the filter. 155x, 21.51 SQM." (28-inch f/4)

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This is one of the brighter Abell planetaries, so it's a good one to observe when you've had a hard time seeing much fainter objects.

[Bertrand Laville]

Hi All,

I observed this PN in 2007 at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, with the 18 '' dobson of Alain Maury ( http://www.spaceobs.com/en ), in a very good sky*: SQM 21,91, NELM ~ 7,25v.

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Th PN is large, luminous, with a well defined shape*: the central part is a short rectangle, with a half circle on each side, elongation estimated a/b ~ 1,3 – 1,4.
The halo is rather bright, L4 on a scale of 1 to 10, homogenous, weakening on the circumference.
The central star is seen with adverted vision, weak, estimated m15 – 16v. I didn't see the outer ring as in Astrodon image.

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Half a dozen of stars in the vicinity, two of which exactly on the boarder SE of the halo.

Clear skies
Bertrand
http://www.deepsky-drawings.com/dsdlang/en/

[Uwe Glahn]

A very good starting point in the world of the Abell PN, very good choose Paul. And thanks to Bertrand, I didn't know about the halo.

My observations are as follows:

8", 47x-80x, [OIII], fst 6m5+
nice star field without filter; both adjacent 13mag stars visible with 80x; CZ not visible; with [OIII] and 47x a faint 1:2 SE-NW glow can be hold with averted vision without problems; glow is also visible with 80x; diffuse edges; nice and for 8" easy Abell PN

16", 129x, [OIII], fst 7m2
brighter PN, oval shaped

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27", 172x, [OIII], fst 6m0+
easy visible even without filter with low power; with 172x CS visible with averted vision; good filter reaction; with [OIII] bright and direct vision object; 1:2 SE-NW nebula with brighter section to the SE

[Jimi Lowrey]

I also did not know about the ring.

The brightest part of the ring shows up well on the PanSTARRS G image I inverted. The bright part is above the +. I am anxious to try for it.

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