I was observing last night, the moon was 1st quarter waxing to gibbous. My ex-wife was observing with me, and wanted to see the Pleiades. I found them for her (hard thing to do with a Nextar 8), she oohed and aahed for a while, then relinquished the telescope. Just for something to do, I put my Celestron LPR on the 40mm EP, and lo and behold! I do believe I found some luminosity around and between the stars visible, (don't ask which ones, ther only 4 bright ones visible). Or else, I breathed on the LPR. Someone, please, did I see the nebulosity? Can I see the nebulosity with the Nextar 8, and Celestron 94126? Clear Dark Skies.

I am sorry to burst your bubble, but it is highly unlikely if not impossible that you would have seen the nebulosity with a 1/4 moon out. The nebulosity is visible in scopes as small as 4inches, but on many nights even a 20 won't show it. It is not the size of the telescope, but the transparency and darkeness of the skies. A moon less, transparent night is an aboslute must. And you need to be in a very dark location. Next time you see this glow around the stars try this test. Head over to the haydes, if they have that same glow, then you are not seeing the nebulosity. On the other hand, if the haydes look clear and the pleides has a glow, then you are seeing the nebulosity.

Hey 8eqnewt, thanx for the heads-up. I'll try in approx 1 week, when the moon rises after I lay my head to sleep. Clear Dark Skies!

But wouldn't the filter block out the moon?

The nebula surrounding the pleiades is a reflection nebula. Reflection nebulas reflect light of all wavelengths, rather than emitting just specific wavelengths like an emission nebula. Becuase of this, nebula filters really don't help this object. The only way to see it, is to get a very dark transparent night, and observe out in the country under very dark skies.

Sorry, you did not see it. Nebulusity can best be seen fanning south off the star Merope in the "bowl" of the dipper asterism that the brightest stars of M45 form. Nebulosity can sometimes also be seen as a circular patch surrounding the star Maia (but I have never seen it). If you see circular patches surrounding all of the bright stars, you are not seeing true nebulosity. Instead, you are seeing simple light scatter. Every bright star in the sky is surrounded by this.
For many years I had trouble spotting nebulosity in M45. Finnally, last year I succeeding in spotting the nebulosity that fans off of Merope. Now it has become rather easy for me to spot. It looks like a very faint patch of light several arcminutes across with Merope on the northern edge.
Here is an image:

As you can see, a the brightest star at the bottom, Merope, has a substantial reflection nebula running off to the south of it. This is the Merope nebula I have been speaking of.
The brightest star at the top of the bowl is Maia. As you can see, the nebulosity surrounding Maia is much less substantial than the Merope nebula. If you can't see the Merope Nebula, you will not be able to see the Maia nebula. Perhaps some of the other reflection nebulae in the Pleiades could be spotted under ultra-dark desert skies.
One final note: These are REFLECTION nebulae! Do not use nebula filters on these. Reflection nebulae shine with all wavelengths, just like the sun, stars, galaxies, and LIGHT POLLUTION. Thus, inserting a LPR filter is the same thing as inserting an Anti-reflection nebula filter. You gotta go for these suckers in unfiltered light. That in turn means you must be at a dark site.

I can believe you saw nebulosity in the Pleiades especially with a filter. I find it so bright and with a 40mm EP lower brightness objects sometimes show up better. And actually there are two nebulosities to the Pleiades and the study of their motion shows that both "clouds" have drifted into the star cluster and are not remnant left over from the formation of the Pleiades star cluster. Three DSO all in one field So cool.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bill Weir

I can believe you saw nebulosity in the Pleiades especially with a filter. I find it so bright and with a 40mm EP lower brightness objects sometimes show up better. And actually there are two nebulosities to the Pleiades and the study of their motion shows that both "clouds" have drifted into the star cluster and are not remnant left over from the formation of the Pleiades star cluster. Three DSO all in one field So cool.

You are correct about the studies that show that the nebulae in the Pleiades are not in any way related to the formation of the stars themselves. However, as I said before, reflection nebulae like these are not benifited by the use of nebula filters, since reflection nebulae shine with all wavelengths.

Once again the key is darker than dark skies. Great post Maddcow. You beat me to it.

The Merope Nebula is very difficult to spot visually. I've only seen it a few times - from very dark sites with excellent transparency. A large aperture is not required, however. A 101mm NP-101 Tele Vue apochromat displayed it very nicely at the 2002 Black Forest Star Party.

As Madd Cow said using a filter will be counterproductive.

Dave Mitsky

QUOTE: Originally posted by DaveMitsky

The Merope Nebula is very difficult to spot visually. I've only seen it a few times - from very dark sites with excellent transparency. A large aperture is not required, however. A 101mm NP-101 Tele Vue apochromat displayed it very nicely at the 2002 Black Forest Star Party.

As Madd Cow said using a filter will be counterproductive.

Dave Mitsky

Very difficult you say?? I have found it quite easy... much brighter than some of those eye-popping Abell planetaries... It was especially easy last Friday, but I still have yet to post of that observing session, just too much dang work.

Not even in my dark sky neighborhood can i see the nebulosity in the cluster!