A truly unique and amazing object. This observation was from Costa
Rica last year –
13.1" (2/20/04 - Costa Rica): at 200x, the Homunculus Nebula was
remarkable in excellent seeing on the last evening of observing. Both
Eta and the nebula were a uniquely vivid color - an amazing fluorescent
orange-tangerine. Extending to the SE of Eta is the brighter lobe,
perhaps 6" in diameter with a sharp outline that was flattened along
the southern edge in a mushroom shape. There appeared to be a partial
darker lane in the interior. Extending to the NW was a smaller (4"-5")
and much fainter lobe that faded with increased magnification. A tiny
spike of nebulosity jutted out along to the NE between the two lobes.
This bi-polar reflection nebula resulted from the most recent outburst
of supermassive Eta in 1841. A couple of very close and faint
companions lie just NE of Eta.
The lobes were also clearly visible in Gary Seronik's 8-inch travel
dob, so a large aperture is certainly not necessary – just good seeing.
Steve
On Apr 16, 2005, at 11:16 PM, Albert wrote:
> While discussing observations of Eta Carina Nebula with Bob and David,
> Bob asked if I had looked at the homunculus. David added that he had
> seen both lobes. I had scanned the Eta Carina Nebula at low and high
> power, but hadn't looked closely at bright stars (what would be the
> point?). The next night, I revisited the nebula and the star, Eta, at
> 214X in the 13". The brighter lobe, facing toward us, was as plain as
> day. It was a bright ellipse, approximately 9" long, jutting out from
> Eta, easily visible with direct vision. It appeared to have a reddish
> hue. The fainter lobe, facing away, was visible with direct vision
> once I knew it was there. I also thought I detected structure in the
> lobes. At 300X, structure was unmistakable in the brighter lobe. After
> studying the area for several minutes, I called Bob and David over. We
> all made the same observations. After we returned home, I compared my
> notes to the Hubble image. Sure enough, our observations corresponded
> well. For example, in the Hubble image, the brighter lobe shows three
> darker regions: one spot just left and down from the central star, and
> another darker spot further out, and a larger dark zone along the
> lower edge. In the eyepiece, the two inner dark regions were visible
> as irregular dark patches. The zone along the lower edge showed up as
> a bite taken out of the smooth curve of the ellipse. The contrast of
> the dark patches was similar to details seen on Mars on good nights.
Received on Sun Apr 17 16:42:54 2005