Seeing was excellent, but with a 74% illuminated moon.  I set my 10-inch reflector in the backyard, using my house to shield the direct light from the moon.  Having no idea what to expect under these conditions, I started out with 57x, and without a filter.  It was easy to see the 9th magnitude central star, with some faint surrounding nebulosity.  I then went to 208x and a UHC filter, and the nebula really came alive!  The only two stars visible in the field, are two ~8th mag. stars…one to the north and the other south.  The nebula has greater concentration to the north, which can seen in my sketch.  The edges are irregular and uneven, and the nebula has a very subtle N-S elongation.   

NGC 1514 in Taurus is sometimes called the “Crystal Ball Nebula,”  But I have coined the name “Herschel’s Revelation” as being far more significant.  This is the object that convinced Sir William that nebulae were real and not, as was the belief then, just masses of unresolved stars.  His profound insight came at seeing the clear separation of the surrounding nebula from the obvious central star.  Yet another of Herschel’s many amazing observations based solely on the visual appearance of an object in his telescopes.  

Jim Mullaney