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NGC 1501

NGC 1501, PK 144+06 1, PN G144.5+06.5, PN VV' 22, PN VV 16, PN G144.1+06.1, IV 53, GC 801

RA: 04h 06m 59.19s
Dec: +60° 55′ 14.3″

Con: Camelopardalis
Ch: MSA:43, U2:39, SA:1

Ref: SIMBAD

(reference key)

Type: planetary nebula

Mag: B=15.17, V=14.39

Size: ?
PA: ?

Historical observations

William Herschel (c.1784)

Synonyms:H IV-053

Discovered in 1787 by William Herschel with an 18.7-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He called it "a pB planetary nebula, near 1' diameter, round, of uniform light and pretty well defined, with 360 magnified in proportion; but still the borders pretty abruptly defined, and a little elliptical."

Webb, T.W. (1893)

In the 5th edition of Webb's Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes it is described as "planetary, small and dim. E. of Rosse sees it a bright ring, with star 14th mag in central darkness."

Burnham, S.W. (1894)

Burnham, S. W. (1894) "Measures of planetary nebulae with the 36-inch equatorial of the Lick Observatory", Pub. Lick Obs., vol 2, p159-167. "This is one of the Herschel planetary nebulae. The central star is brighter than the nearest available comparison star. There are two observations of these stars with the Rosse reflector, the second of which is probably by Copeland."

Published comments

Doig, P. (1925)

Doig, P. (1925) Notes on the nebulae and clusters in Webb's 'Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes' (Sixth edition, Vol.ii). Part I. M.N.R.A.S., 35(5), 159.

Sulentic & Tifft (1973)

The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that this is a 13.5 mag planetary nebula.

Photo index

Photo Index by Jim Lucyk: Sky&Tel. 6/86 p632, Sky&Tel. 10/69 p228, Astronomy mag. 1/87 p102, Deep Sky Monthly 8/80 p9, Burnhams V1 p336, Burnhams V2 p1174.

Marling, J.B. (1986)

Marling, J.B. (1986) In pursuit of planetaries. Sky&Telescope, Jun, 631.

Modern observations

Gross, Todd (IAAC)

Observer: Todd Gross Your skill: Intermediate Date and UT of observation: 11/5/97 0800 GMT Location & latitude: 22 miles west of Boston, Ma. 42.3N Site classification: Suburban Limiting magnitude (visual): 5.2 (estimated) 5.2 (est) in vicinity of object Seeing (1 to 10 - worst-best): 8 Moon up (phase?): No Weather: Clear Instrument: 16" Newtonian-dob w. 96/99% coatings f/4.59 Magnifications: 124x, 236x Filters used: UHC at times Object: NGC 1501 Constellation: Object data: Open Cluster Personal "rating" (at this aperture): B+

"This is a marvelous planetary at this aperture, in fact, it looks even more enjoyable than M57 through about 5" aperture. This nebula seems a bit larger than M57, the "ring" nebula, and unlike M57, NGC1501 is perfectly circular, not oval in shape. It is also a thicker "smoke ring", with it's walls extending closer to the center, but like M57 has some nebulosity in the central region, which becomes more apparent with a UHC filter. In fact, in retrospect, I'd say to better view this as a "ring" one might want to view it w/o the nebula filter first. Without even trying..while darting around at 236x (without a filter), the central star popped right into view. I'd say the central star was around 14.5 magnitude...... I could almost hold it without averted vision... so I played "blinking" central star by moving my eye back and forth from the center to the edge of the planetary and back again several times......kind of like the "blinking planetary" nebula, but in reverse! The ring is in a more empty star field, at least at high power, than M57...but it is an interesting object just the same, and perfectly suited for this aperture, and binoviewer use. I doubt the ringlike structure would show up in apertures under 12"."

Ancient City Astron.Club (1980)

Listed by the Herschel Club, described as "magnitude given as 13.3, estimated it to be around 9, round, very distinct planetary, situated close to a field star, blue-green in colour. 8-inch, 96x."

Tom Lorenzin

Tom Lorenzin, in the electronic version of "1000+ The Amateur Astronomers' Field Guide to Deep Sky Observing", notes: "12M; <1' diameter; bluish disc with 13.5M center star (good luck!); OPN CL N1502 is 1.5 degrees due N."

Steve Gottlieb

04 07.0 +60 55

17.5 (9/14/85): bright, moderately large, almost round, 1' diameter, high surface brightness. An easy mag 14.2 central star is visible. Appears darker near the central star with a brighter rim.

13 (1/28/84): slightly annular, very faint mag 14 central star.

8: fairly faint, moderately large, bluish, slightly elongated, sharp-edged.

Brian Skiff

25cm - even round dot, quite br. 1' diam. featureless @ 90x. no cen *.

30cm - beautiful, hisfcbr, well-def. central * sparkles, seems `small.' 290x shows annularity clearly, w/hole only a little dkr than the ring. the whole neb has an evenly mottled appearance. elong NE-SW. edges not sharp @ 290x. seeing not great.

Paul Alsing

82-inch at McDonald - Observing Report

[amastro] posting, Sat Nov 25, 2006

82" telescope, McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas, USA

f/13.7, 35mm Televue Panoptic (5' fov, 812x)

A small but bright PNe with a bright CS. Not much variability in the crisp-edged disc but it does have an overall mottled appearance.

Contemporary observations

Tom Bryant

2010 3 16 22:3:26

Observing site: Little Tycho Observatory

Telescope: C-8

[4h 7m 0s, 60° 55m 0s] A unifom circular spot. No central star seen.

Favourite lists

Lacaille's catalogue

The Messier objects

Dunlop's catalogue

The Bennett objects

The Caldwell list

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