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Observations made in the constellation Vulpecula:

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 18-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Milford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Oct 21 00:00:00 2017 UT   Obs. no.: 2034

This evening my brother Anthony & I attended a local star party in Milford, Ct. The biggest scope at the star party was an 18" dob. In it we viewed M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. It showed nicely & we were even able to see its shape. We also viewed M31, M52, M81, M45 & M57. We also observed Uranus with its blue green color. What a great night of astronomy!

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Sun Aug 12 06:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1694

Finally, a decent amount of detail is visible of the "apple core". Using a much larger scope broke the barrier between a hazy smudge and alot of disapointment, to alot of detail and utter excitiement. Best viewed at 48x with a nebula filter, the dumbell's shape was easy to see. Also a hint of green was visible throughout the nebula.

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.astroclubul.org/emilneata)
Instrument: 60-mm refractor   Location: Craiova, Romania
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jan 25 00:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1171

Round, evenly spread light. In the north and south, with averted vision, some dark intrusions are visible.

NGC6940 (Open Cluster, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.astroclubul.org/emilneata)
Instrument: 60-mm refractor   Location: Craiova, Romania
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jan 25 00:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1164

NGC 6940 - A large cluster, composed of approximately 100 bright stars.

NGC6823 (Open Cluster, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.geocities.com/deep_sky_astronomy)
Instrument: 114-mm Dobsonian reflector   Location: Craiova, Romania
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Nov 10 03:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1110

NGC 6823 is another cluster in Vulpecula, small and dense. It is completely resolved, I counted 10 stars.

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Oct 12 02:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1073

After reading alot of articles about the Dumbell Nebula, I figured I would target it tonight. Anyone with an EQ Reflector may know the difficulties of trying to view an object near the zenith point. I had very high hopes after reading articles about how much brighter it is than the Ring Nebula (M57), and how much larger it is. One article I read had claimed this planetary to be "the best of all the planetaries". The only good thing I have found about this particular nebula is that it can be spotted easily in binos (as small as 50mm I have read). Using the stars in Lyra and the last star in the point of the cross of Cygnus, I found it immediately in my 70mm binos. It actually looked better in the binos than my 6" scope at the lowest power. "Disappointment" is probably the only word I can use for this. Perhaps I need a MUCH larger aperature telescope but it was faint and without much structure. Pale green and barely visible as an "apple core" I had to use averted vision just to make out the shape. No detail was within despite similar viewing throughout this week and last week of other objects that were fainter and yeilded much more detail. I think I will steer clear of this object until I get a lager telescope (like the 200" Polomar Reflector).

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: David Moorhouse (e-mail: climber@world-net.co.nz, web: http://www.binoscope.co.nz)
Instrument: 16-inch binoculars   Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Light pollution: none   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Jun 13 12:30:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1016

This observation was taken through a 16" binocular under truely dark skies.Moving on to the dumbbell nebula, it was quite fortuitous that this object was low to the horizon and I needed to be seated before looking through the eyepiece, as if I was standing on a ladder I would surely have fallen off backwards with amazement. In the past I have only seen the dumbbell nebula as a blurry apple core shaped object that was a dim and relatively indistinct object. Changing from 12 inch to 16 inches of aperture has made a huge difference to what is visible in this nebula. Now not only the core but the fainter outside edge is of the nebula where easily visible, with binocular version one of the huge benefits that you get is not only the increase in contrast but more importantly greatly enhanced shaped recognition. We were able to see texture in the surface of the core, several notches and irregularities were easily visible on one edge of the nebula. Today after going back and looking at a photograph of the dumbbell nebula afforded little improvement on what I was able to see with my own eyes.

Comet (Comet, est. mag 7.5, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Nov 26 00:15:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 917

Tonight, my friends Joe Cseh, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I took a ride to a local soccer field with our 10X50 binoculars to try to observe Comet 2P/ Encke. Waves of high thin clouds made viewing the comet difficult but not impossible. Comet Encke looked like a small round fuzz ball about four or five times the size of a star. The Cirrus clouds prevented us from seeing any details such as a tail. We tried to estimate the magnitude when the clouds were at their thinnest.

Comet (Comet, est. mag ~7th, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 14.5-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Fri Nov 21 00:30:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 916

From a dark site in central Pennsylvania's Tuscarora State Forest on Thursday night (~00:30 UT 2003/11/21) I swept up the periodic comet 2P/Encke rather easily with my 101mm Tele Vue refractor working at 15x (35mm Tele Vue Panoptic). The comet was roughly between M27 and Collinder 399 at the time. I also used powers of 32 (17mm Tele Vue Nagler type 4) and 60x (9mm Tele Vue Nagler type 6). Through my friend Tony Donnangelo's 14.5" Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob at magnifications ranging from 46 (40mm Meade SWA) to 203x (9mm Nagler type 6) 2P/Encke appeared as a very large and diffuse fan-shaped glow. The best view was at 107x (17mm Nagler type 4). Comet Encke was also clearly visible through my Celestron 20x80's. We both suspected seeing it through Tony's Celestron Ultima 7x50's.We also observed C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) and C/2001 HT50 (LINEAR-NEAT) with Tony's Starmaster. Comet LINEAR T7 was fairly bright with a condensed coma and perhaps a hint of a tail. Comet LINEAR-NEAT HT50 was very dim and quite small and looked much the same as it had a month ago.

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Nov 6 01:00:00 2002 UT   Obs. no.: 714

I spent some time observing M27 with medium to high magnification tonight. I had no specific goals in mind, but never really tried high magnification on the Dumbell before long enough to make any observations of note. At 157x with the OIII filter I was noting detail in the neblosity when I noticed a star popped and out of view in the lower lobe with averted vision. With that, I removed the filter to see how many more I might pop into view. Of course, I lost detail and brightness in the neblosity but the central star popped into view as well as 1 star in the upper lobe. At 314x I was able to detect 4-5 stars in the lower lobe along with the central star and 1 star in the uppper lobe. All required averted vision.

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Oct 23 01:00:00 2002 UT   Obs. no.: 704

With a bright moon in the sky, I felt like doing some comparisons with the OIII filter. The nebula was easily noted as faint grey spot showing no detail without the filter. With the filter the dumbell shape became obvoius, but the moonlight shining in the tube was awfully distracting, but a noticable improvement was noted. I can't wait till the November 4th new moon!!!!!!!!Paul

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 17.5-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Aug 12 02:00:00 2002 UT   Obs. no.: 667

While at the northwest hills of Connecticut to view the Perseid shower, we set up our 17.5" dob. to do some deep sky observing of M27, the dumbell nebula. At very high power, its shape didn't resemble a dumbell at all. Instead, it was sort of oval shaped. It also had thin dark possible dust lanes in it.There were many faint stars that seemed to be embedded in it. We also observered the Saturn nebula which looked Quite blue in color.

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Mark Stutzman (e-mail: mark@cca.ci.coatesville.pa.us)
Instrument: 4 1/2-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Gilbertsville, PA, usa
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Jun 20 02:30:00 1998 UT   Obs. no.: 347

I was able to view the dumbell nebula this evening. even though it was just a small fuzzy in my scope I was glad to have found it. also this evening M57 was very observable to me even at higher power

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Joe Muse (e-mail: jmuse@bigfoot.com, web: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/3185)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Roswell, NM, USA
Light pollution: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Oct 29 14:00:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 243

Great

NGC6802 (Open Cluster, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 12.5-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: poor   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Jul 8 06:20:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 207

Despite the less than ideal conditions on Tuesday morning (very hazy and light polluted skies) I was able to observe NGC 6802, one of my favorite dim star clusters. This small (3.5') Herschel 400 open cluster lies about 1 degree northeast of the Coathanger (Collinder 399). Using a 16mm Brandon Erfle (129x) and a 12.5" Cave Newtonian I was barely able to see NGC 6802 as an eleventh magnitude powder-like spray of stars. While in the area I also took a look at NGC 6800 and Stock 1, two nearby open clusters. NGC 6800 is a moderate sized group of over 30 stars and Stock 1 is a large cluster with many bright members.

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Jul 5 08:05:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 202

I'd neglected to look at the Dumbbell when I was looking at planetaries in nearby Cygnus the other night, so I thought it would make a good climax for my evening of globular hunting in Scorpius and Ophiuchus. M27 was a big, bright, rectangular fuzzy patch at 49x. Possible greenish tint? The twin lobes of the "dumbbell" shape were detectable with averted vision. Tried 122x and 244x; best view was at 122x. The southern lobe was somewhat smaller and brighter than the northern lobe.

Beta Cyg (Albireo) (Multiple Star, in Vulpecula)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Jul 2 06:15:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 176

After reading so much about Albireo being the most beautiful double in the sky, I was perhaps expecting too much. In any event, I found the initial view at 49x somewhat disappointing. A wide double, the color contrast between the orange primary and whitish secondary readily apparent, but not what I'd call spectacular. At 122x, though, the color contrast was more prominent, and at 244x it was very obvious, the brilliant gold of the primary contrasting dramatically with the ashy blue secondary. (Uh, what's up with the database? How can Beta Cyg be in Vulpecula? Put another bug on the list for fixing...)

Comet (Comet , est. mag 1.5, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 7x50-mm binoculars   Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Feb 21 13:25:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 78

With some haze near the E horizon, Hale-Bopp appeared no brighter than my last observation three days ago, at 1.5. Ion tail was traceable in 7x50s for about 6 degrees; the shorter dust tail for about 1.5 degrees. The nucleus seemed elongated in a W direction; believe I may have been seeing a prominent jet that extended in that direction and then curved N. About .5 degree of tail was visible to the naked eye, though it wasn't exactly obvious. I'm pretty sure I felt a slight earthquake while observing at 0525 PST; in an earlier era (or if I inclined more toward the views of the mystical types currently posting on sci.astro), I'd doubtless claim a causal connection between the comet and the quake. :-)

Comet (Comet est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: Mark S. Worstall (e-mail: ccoiadl @bright.net)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Nankin, Ohio, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: poor   Seeing: poor
Time: Wed Feb 19 11:22:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 74

Subject: Comet Hale-BoppDate: 1997 19 Feb.Time: 11:22 UTCLocation:40.45N 82.31W (Nankin, Ohio USA)Limiting Magnitude: 3 to .5 (lousy! high clouds. defused star light.)Instrument: 6" Newtonian f/8 (Celestron Star Hopper)The comet is coming along nicely. I had observed it a few days ago, the time before that wasseveral weeks ago. As with a few days ago, 16 Feb. there seemed to be more "jetting" to theSouth and the tale was more pronounced on that side. Today I am only able to see about .5deg. of tale. Because of the limited seeing conditions getting a good magnitude reading isdifficult so none was attempted. Personal note, I can't wait till we have some decent seeing conditions again, this cloud stuffis getting old, REAL QUICK!Mark S. Worstallccoiadl@bright.net

Comet (Comet , est. mag 1.5, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 7x50-mm binoculars   Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: poor
Time: Tue Feb 18 13:15:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 73

First clear morning in several days. Observed Hale-Bopp with 7x50s; noted that the ion tail was longer (estimated at 6 degrees with averted vision), and thought I detected a bit of an extension on the W side of the nucleus. I could also definitely see a bit of a U-shape in the tail with binoculars; there was a darker gap between the two "wings" of the tail. With the naked eye I could definitely see the dust tail, and also thought I fleetingly detected the longer ion tail. With my glasses off I estimated the comet's overall brightness as lying 3/4 of the way between Gamma Cygni (2.2) and Deneb (1.3), for an estimated brightness of 1.5.

Comet (Comet , est. mag 1.6, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: Eric Jamison (e-mail: eej@pws.med.osd.mil)
Instrument: 7.1-inch refractor   Location: Pepperell, MA, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Feb 16 10:15:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 72

Through 9x63mm binoculars the tail length of Comet Hale-Bopp appeared to be approximately 7 degrees long. With the 7.1" scope the parabolic hood and pseudonucleus appearred aquamarine in color, with two prominent jets noted, one of which had a notch in it.

Comet (Comet , est. mag 1.3, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: Chuck Musante (e-mail: musante@ecs.umass.edu)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Feb 16 09:30:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 71

I observed Hale_Bopp from my yard. Naked eye limiting magnitude was approximately 5.2. The comet's nucleus continues to show activity, with a large fountain of material emanating from the south/southwest side. A distinctive curl in this fountain was noticed about one third of the way from the pseudonucleus to the "end" of the fountain. I also observed what appeared to be two knots of material in the fountain. The pseudonucleus appeared to have a greenish tint to it. Tail length appeared to be about 6 degrees.

Comet (Comet , est. mag 1.7, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 7x50-mm binoculars   Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Feb 14 13:25:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 70

Hale-Bopp continues to get bigger and brighter in the morning sky. I observed it earlier than I previously had (at 0415 and again at 0525 local time), so I got to see it in a really dark sky. Used 7x50s. Besides the bright pseudonucleus (which seemed somewhat elongated in an ENE-WSW direction), I could see the fan-shaped tail extending a degree (easily) and about 2 degrees (with averted vision, and especially notably on the W side). I also could see the faint, narrow tail extending 5 degrees to the NW. With the truly naked eye (that is to say, without my glasses), at 0415 I estimated the brightness at about 1/3 of the way between Deneb (1.3) and Gamma Cygni (2.2), which gives an estimated mag. of 1.9. At 0515, though, with Hale-Bopp having risen a bit, its brightness was more like halfway between those two stars, for an estimated mag. of 1.7.

Other (Other , est. mag 1.5, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: Chuck Musante (e-mail: musante@ecs.umass.edu)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars   Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Feb 13 10:00:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 69

Observed Comet Hale-Bopp through the best skies yet this year (from my location). The tail was approximately 6 degrees long, with the shadow of the nucleus clearly visible. This comet just keeps getting better looking every day.

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