Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Auriga (Aur)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2242  ·  PK170+15.1
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NGC 2242, Gary Imm
NGC 2242, Gary Imm

NGC 2242

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 2242, Gary Imm
NGC 2242, Gary Imm

NGC 2242

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Description

This object is a small planetary nebula located 9600 light years away in the constellation of Auriga at a declination of +45 degrees.  It is a magnitude 15.2 PN which spans 0.5 arc-minutes in our apparent view.  This corresponds to a diameter of 1.5 light years.

This object was thought to be a galaxy until a 1987 paper showed it to be a planetary nebula.  The progenitor star is clearly visible as the characteristic small cyan star at the center of the PN.  The elliptical PN is dominated by OIII signal, although the outer irregular rim includes a fair amount of HII. 

Although the stars in the image are RGB, the PN was processed using a HOO narrowband palette.

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