Object of t he Week, January 25, 2015, NGC 2264, the Cone Nebula

[Howard B]

NGC 2264, the Cone Nebula

Emission Nebula
Monoceros
RA 06h 41m 06s
DEC +09° 53′
Size: ~10 arc minutes

1514

I’ve been trying to get a good observation of the Cone Nebula for way too many years but have come up empty so far. I’ve had some lovely views of the associated Christmas Tree Cluster, and part of the Fox Fur nebulosity, but no visual luck with the Cone. I’ve tried all my nebula filters: Deep Sky, OIII, UHC and h-beta. No luck at all.

I most recently tried for the Cone with my 8 inch f3.3 travel scope from Hawaii at 9000 feet, with the thought that perhaps a small, wide field scope might show it in context better than my larger scope. Nothing doing, even though the sky was quite excellent and views of other objects were exceptional.

The one time I’ve seen the Cone was also from Hawaii at 9000 feet several years ago, through a 24 inch Starmaster scope with the Collins I3 image intensifier eyepiece. Some of the locals had their scopes set up at the Mauna Kea Visitor Center for their monthly star party. But I don’t count this as a visual observation.

Steve Gottlieb, Mel Bartels and I were there for a Meter Class telescope conference and we enjoyed a lovely night at the MKVC with some exceptional astronomers – really, two of them were professionals who worked at the observatories on top of Mauna Kea and happened to enjoy building their own scopes and observing with them.

The Cone stood out well through the I3 eyepiece although it was still rather subtle. We didn’t view the Cone through a regular eyepiece so we didn’t have a chance to compare the un-intensified view, but it was great to finally see the darn thing regardless.

How about you, have you seen the Cone Nebula?

"GIVE IT A GO AND LET US KNOW"

[Howard B]

Somebody must have a good observation of the Cone - come on, let us know!

[Uwe Glahn]

Hi Howard,

sad that nobody writes about his experience of this really interesting object. Thanks for your input. I pick up this object in my Deep Sky Challenge project (http://www.deepsky-visuell.de/Projekte/DS_Herausforderungen.htm)which unfortunately is only in German. Here are my two translated cents:

16", Hß
no chance after several years of searching under good transparency

27", 172x, Hß, NELM 7m+
finally visible; a faint, relative thin dark structure starts 2' SE from the 7mag HD 47887; visible 8' long to the SE; E edge visible a little bit easier; when catching the dark structure once it is also visible with direct vision; despite the positive result a very tough object which need perfect transparency and large aperture

30", 123x, Hß, NELM 6m5+
good but not perfect transparency; surprisingly both flanks visible; NE edge visible a little bit easier; "white" nebula at the N end a little bit laminar; dark structure visible with 7' length; only a little bit conical

[obrazell]

Hi Howard
I managed it once with the 22"UC and a 21mm Ethos + H-beta filter. on an excellent night. It took a lot of work with one of Dragans hoods but I saw the faint nebulosity and the dark band. This was on a night with the SQM about 21.4 which is very good form the UK and 2264 on the meridian.

Owen

[reiner]

Hi Howard,

I have observed the cone three or four times with 20" and 22" reflectors, always under (for my location at 1200 m) exceptional conditions (6m5+), using my Lumicon H-beta filter. During my first observation, I could only see the eastern edge, which is a bit more prominent. During at least two other observations, I also could see the western edge, which is not as well defined and appears to have less emission.

None of these observations was easy and the cone never "jumped" at you. It always required considerable time to see anything at all and the view was far from being impressive.

[Howard B]

Thanks for your observations everyone, they will be helpful the next time I get a shot at the Cone.

[wvreeven]

I had a look at the Cone nebula last Saturday, February 21, from SQM 21.4+ skies using my 20" telescope with H-Beta filter. I have seen the tip of the Cone just south of HD 47887 and nebulosity to the southwest and southeast. However, I didn't see the edges of the nebula. It just seemed to fade away.


Clear skies,

Wouter

[Uwe Glahn]

Howard,

I remember your thread and I revisit the Cone with 18" (113x, Hß) last week under the perhaps best skies in Europe - at the top of Roque de los Muchachos/La Palma. Transparency was divine (M 81 easy with naked eye, which head nebula conspicuous with a 8x30 binocular). Without knowledge of the exact position I promptly saw the Cone as 5' long dark region. Direct vision. I was a little bit shocked because of the simplicity of the view. In the past I always thought it was a question of aperture but now I thought it is the pure transparency.