Object of the Week - October 11, 2016; Jones 1, Jn 1, PN G104.2-29.6, PK 104-29.1, ARO 195; Pegasus

[Paul Alsing]

Object of the Week - October 11th, 2016; Jones 1, Jn 1, PN G104.2-29.6, PK 104-29.1, ARO 195; Pegasus
R.A. 23 35 53.3 DEC +30 28 06 (2000)
Size: 5.5' Mag: V 15.10

Jones 1 is a low surface brightness planetary nebula, discovered in 1941 by Rebecca Jones of Harvard. It is a large and ghostly nebula, about 2300 light years from Earth, that can be quite challenging for telescopes smaller than about 16". Located just north of a point about halfway between the stars Alpheratz and Scheat, 2 members of the Great Square of Pegasus, Jones 1 is a large 5.5' diameter ring with 2 brighter sections approximately opposite from one another. As you might suspect, the view is greatly enhanced with the use of a nebular filter, and the OIII and the NPB both work well.

2242 http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Nebulae/PK104/PK104.htm

I observed this guy recently, on August 31st, from the very nice skies of Grandview campground, altitude 8500', in California's Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest http://tinyurl.com/z2mv4uw, and viewed it through Al Smith's wonderful 24" SpicaEyes telescope, which was made by Tom Osypowski. The eyepiece Al employed provided a view in which Jones 1 almost completely filled the field of view, and the OIII filter enabled about 3/4 of the ring to be visible, it looked like the letter "C", and those 2 brighter areas along the edges really popped nicely. The 16th mag central star was easy enough, winking in and out, along with several other stars within the nebula. It was a really nice view!

While I was doing a little internet research on this object, you know, to make sure I got all the technical details correct, I was surprised to learn that there is a nearby quasar! How cool is that? I could not find any report where any claimed to have observed it, but Simbad tells that is has a V-mag of 19.70, so I would suspect that a successful observer might need perfect skies, a lot of aperture and a lot of experience. Hmmm, I know at least one guy who has all of those... :>)

2243

As always, give it a go and let us know

[Howard B]

Good one Paul, Jones 1 is one of my favorite planetaries. My most recent observation is from 2013 with my 28 inch:

"Seen at 131x, 155x and 253x without filters and direct vision. Averted vision made it look brighter but NPB and OIII filters gave the most pleasing view. The NPB showed slightly less nebulosity and more stars though. The sketch was drawn at 253x and 155x with NPB and OIII filters, and stars were plotted without the filters. 21.69 SQM."

2244 2245

I plotted the stars without a filter because they were a lot easier to place accurately in relation to the nebula even though it was more difficult to see. My notes and sketch with the 20 inch are pretty much the same as with the 28, although I did see more of the planetary's shape with the 28 inch.

Also, I should clarify my observing notes - I didn't use the NPB and OIII together as my wording seems to suggest. I have done this a few times though, particularity on the Crab Nebula, but doing so only seems to work as well as the narrowest band pass filter.

[KidOrion]

My observation of this one, back in 2014, from a green zone. Equipment used: 12.5" Discovery Dob, 14mm ES 82* (112x, 0.7* TFOV), Lumicon OIII.

7/27-28/14

GIANT CITY STATE PARK VISITOR CENTER PARKING LOT

MOON: 1 day, absent
SEEING: 7 (5 at horizon)—improved to 8 around midnight
TRANSPARENCY: 8 (horizons 6) MW very brilliant and detailed; bulge into Ophiuchus obvious; M13 visible w/averted, N.A. Nebula visible
NELM: 6.3
WEATHER CONDITIONS: excellent; temps in 70s-60s, very low humidity (no dew), much lightning (heat lightning or distant to S?); wind gusting for two hrs prior to midnight
many sporadic meteors—some Delta Aquariids?

With JR and FI

2:54
Jones 1 (Peg)—enormous—at least 5’ on major axis, not quite round—nebula is definitely a pair of broken arcs—extending long-wise 5 x 4’—rocking field helps— arcs on N-S sides—looks like stoma on plant leaf—w/averted, annularity is stronger—10th mag star to N side

Been meaning to get back to this one, now that I have darker skies, better note-taking skills, and better eyepieces. It's also quite near two other interesting targets: UGCA 441 (Barbon's Galaxy, mysteriously named) and UGC 12665/12667, the former of which is also VV314 and Arp 46.

[Mark McCarthy]

Hi Paul, thanks for the OOTW. As a relatively new observer I was excited when I found it earlier this year.

Hi Kid, I actually have an observation of both Jones 1 and Barbon's Galaxy. From 1/1/16, Lake Sonoma, CA. 20-inch reflector, SQML 21.2 & not very good transparency:

"Jones 1, PN in Pegasus. Very faint, larger than I thought it would be. At 205x and seen only with the OIII, it looked like a C lock washer – “C” shaped with thicker / brighter tips, connected by a thinner band. I had a tough time noticing it [at first] and only felt it was there by moving the scope around and seeing the dimness move with the stars.

UGCA 441, “Barbon’s Galaxy” (Markarian 328, 23h37m39.5s +30d07m46s), in Pegasus. I noticed this on the chart [Interstellarum] near Jones 1 and gave it a try. I had to check my finder placement several times because when I looked in the eyepiece nothing was there. With averted vision, a small glow slowly emerged into view; it was like looking down at something white rising to the surface of a deep dark lake. It had a brighter core and almost stellar nucleus, with a hint of halo, too faint to hold an elongation or tell a position angle. NED shows this as 15.5 magnitude. I find Roberto Barbon is an Italian astronomer; but not why the galaxy is named for him."

At the time, I posted the above as part of an observing report to my local Bay Area astronomy forum, and Steve G. kindly replied to say: "Barbon's galaxy is a blue compact dwarf and definitely an obscure object! Roberto Barbon first studied this object in a 1969 paper "Spectroscopic and photographic observations of compact Galaxies" (http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/full/1969MmSAI..40..211B)."

I did not try for Arp 46, so worth another visit.

[Steve Gottlieb]

Instead of mentioning a recent observation (I try to revisit this planetary every year), I'll post my first one from August 1985.

13" f/4.5 (62x and OIII filter); Faint, very large, clearly annular. Contains brighter arcs along the north and south portion of the rim and dimmer along the eastern edge.

[Uwe Glahn]

Very nice choose Paul.

My personal challenge with 16" was always to detect the wavy structure in the upper shell.

16", 129x, [OIII], NELM 7m0+
2249

[KidOrion]

Mark--

Thanks for the info. I'm always intrigued by obscure objects with proper names when they come up, so Barbon's Galaxy caught my eye on the Uranometria chart. I'll have to give the whole Jones 1/Arp 46/UGCA 441 trio a go when we get a clear moonless night here.

[KidOrion]

Well, I managed to catch Jones 1, Arp 46 (or at least part of it :rolleyes: ), and UGCA 441 (Barbon's Galaxy) this past Monday under decent conditions with an 18" f/5. For whatever reason, I didn't take further notes on Jones 1, but I did on the galaxies:

9/26-9/27/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 26 days (10%), rose at 6:06 AM
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.3 (1 AM)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 50s, little to moderate dew; no wind


10:30
UGC 12265/12267 (Arp 46) (Peg): only saw UGC 12267 here, as I thought the two were in mid-collision and didn't think to look for 12265 as a wholly-separate object. (One for next time.) This pair is southwest of Jones 1, and lie south-following the long non-hypotenuse edge of a right triangle of three 11th-magnitude stars; the galaxies lie 3.5' south-following the star at the end of the "short" side of the triangle. 12267 is about 1.0' in diameter, and appears to have a dark indentation (maybe a gap in the spiral arms) to the south edge of the galaxy, running preceding-following. 12267 is faint and fuzzy (although not as faint as its UGC designation might suggest), without much central brightening and not much in the way of a visible nucleus. Averted vision makes the galaxy slightly brighter but doesn't reveal other detail. There appear to be two very faint stars oriented preceding-following just along the southern edge of the galaxy's halo. 12th magnitude stars lie 1.5' following and 2.0' south-south-following the galaxy.

This observation points out one of the drawbacks in my observing planning—I don't like to know too much about the objects I'm observing before I actually see them, so as not to color my impressions of said objects when taking notes or looking for details. However, on this occasion (and others), this led me to not be aware that the two galaxies I was looking for here were two discrete objects, rather than two coalescing into one (as I had assumed). So rather than observing both galaxies, I only saw the brighter of the two, and need to reobserve the pair to catch UGC 12265.

10:47
UGCA 441 (Barbon's Galaxy) (Peg): This galaxy is not a showpiece by any stretch, or even as bright as nearby UGC 12267. I had been intrigued by it since seeing it labeled in Uranometria 2000.0 and wondering who the heck Barbon was; he's an Italian astronomer who has written several papers on blue compact galaxies, and I assume (dangerously) that UGCA441 is one of the blue compact galaxies [Steve Gottlieb confirms this in the thread.]. The galaxy was visible in direct vision, although not at all obvious; averted vision helped draw it out from the background. The galaxy is roundish, about 0.5' across, with some slight central brightening (more obvious in the 10mm Delos [250x, 20' TFOV]), although it was faint enough that details were fleeting and hard to gauge. In the 14mm, the galaxy appeared to have either a tiny stellar nucleus or a threshold star on the north-preceding edge (so faint that it was hard to determine which); in the 10mm, this was still a tenuous sighting, although another threshold star lies due following the galaxy by 0.75'. The galaxy is north-following a 13th-magnitude star by 3'; that star is 3' north-following an 11th-magnitude star that has a 14th-magnitude companion 0.75' to the south.

[Bertrand Laville]

Hi All,

I red carefully all the reports of the OOTW Jones 1, and I didn't see any colors noticed.
I should be interested to know if somebody saw some green or red (or blue?), because my own report, old of several years, doesn't precise anything, and I have no memory about.
Here is my drawing and report.
http://www.deepsky-drawings.com/pk-104-29-1/dsdlang/fr

Thanks
Bertrand
http://www.deepsky-drawings.com


3271

[ScottH]

9/30/22 Jones 1. Visible at 56x in 150mm without a filter. Now suspect it might be visible at 59x in 130mm without filter! Will update after trying...

Scott

[ScottH]

9/30/22 Jones 1. Visible at 56x in 150mm without a filter. Now suspect it might be visible at 59x in 130mm without filter! Will update after trying...

Scott

Well, incredible as it might sound, I was able to do exactly as I said in late November. I saw Jones 1 while high overhead at 59x in my 130mm reflector...without a nebula filter. It's truly incredible what you can see when you put your best effort into it and believe that you can do it. Your mentality is really a huge factor I've learned in the last ten years. Just a few years ago I would've never thought that it was possible to see Jones 1 with so little. But I've been doing so much observing with the Z130 after getting it less than two years ago that I've really come to respect how much is visible to small telescope owners...if they are unafraid to take chances.

Scott H.