Planetary Nebula Observing List: 110 Planetary Nebulae

Observe 60 for Silver, attempt all 110 for Gold

• Silver level: observe at least 60 of the 110. Negative observations do not count.
• Gold level: attempt all 110. A negative observation counts if you tried on two nights or more, sketched the star field and describe how you confirmed the position.
• Imaging: image 90 for the Gold imaging award. Four proto-planetary nebulae are suggested as extras but not required.
• Go-to telescopes and remote telescopes you control are allowed; finding every object by star-hopping earns a note on the certificate.
• Log whether you saw the central star, whether a filter was needed, how the nebula responds to magnification, and direct or averted vision, with the usual site, sky and telescope details.
• Northern observers who cannot see an object can substitute one of 26 alternates, approved in advance. A southern list replaces the objects north of M27.

The full Planetary Nebula list, in the League's order, with a page for each object

Sort any column, or type a name or constellation. The type buttons above the map also filter this table. Best is the month the object is highest at 9 pm. Also on lists the other observing lists the object belongs to, so one observation can count toward more than one program where the League allows it.

45 of the 110 are best in summer: plan the list by month

Each bar counts the objects highest in the sky at 9 pm in that month. An object is also well placed in the month before, late in the evening, and the month after, early in the evening.

38 of the 110 are on another list you may already be working

• Herschel 400: 23 of the 110
• Caldwell: 11 of the 110
• Urban: 9 of the 110
• Herschel II: 7 of the 110
• Southern Sky Telescopic: 5 of the 110
• Messier: 4 of the 110
• Binocular Messier: 4 of the 110

An OIII filter and high magnification are the tools for this list

The Back Bay Amateur Astronomers of southeastern Virginia built the list as a club project, so it holds only planetary nebulae that rise above their horizon; the most southerly is near -40°. 20 are brighter than magnitude 10 and suit a small telescope; 23 are fainter than 12.5, including the large, dim Abell shells such as Abell 21, the Medusa Nebula.

Most planetary nebulae are small and bright for their size, so magnification helps rather than hurts. An OIII filter darkens the sky and makes the faint shells stand out; blinking the filter in and out of the view picks out the tiny ones from the stars around them.

More Astronomical League observing programs on Go Astronomy

• Herschel II: 400 more of William Herschel's objects, after the Herschel 400
• Binocular Messier: any 50 Messier objects with binoculars
• Urban: 100 objects for light-polluted city skies
• Bright Nebula: emission, reflection and supernova-remnant nebulae of both hemispheres
• Globular Cluster: any 50 of 190 globular clusters, with their concentration class
• Open Cluster: 100 or 125 open clusters, sketched and classified
• Deep Sky Binocular: 60 non-Messier objects for binoculars, the step after the Binocular Messier
• Southern Skies Binocular: any 50 of 73 southern objects with binoculars
• Southern Sky Telescopic: 50 of 100 southern objects, most south of -48°
• Messier objects: the Messier Observing Program, the League's first, since 1967
• Caldwell objects: the Caldwell Observing Program
• Herschel 400: the step before Herschel II