Just saw a photo of the Veil Nebula that blew my mind

I was scrolling through the Astronomy Photo of the Day site last night and there's this shot of the Veil Nebula taken with a 12-inch telescope. The detail on those shock fronts is insane, like you can see individual strands of gas. Has anyone here tried imaging that target with a smaller setup like an 8-inch?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavina7326d ago

Wait, you're telling me an 8-inch can actually resolve those tiny wispy shockwaves?

oscar_ellis26d ago

Get yourself a 6 inch Dobsonian and see if you can spot a wisp. I've used 8 inchers that picked up shockwaves on Omega Centauri clear as day. The trick is good dark skies and a quality eyepiece, not just aperture size. Some of those cheaper 8 inch scopes have optics that turn wispy shocks into blurry smudges anyway.