This small object, also known as Minkowski 1-10, is a planetary nebula located 4800 light years away in the constellation of Monoceros at a declination of -1 degrees. The nebula spans 2 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to an actual width of about 2 light years.
I have seen this object nicknamed the Butterfly Nebula and the Hourglass Nebula, although that is confusing since there are other nebulae with these nicknames as well.
Our excellent view perspective of this nebula (20 degrees from side-on) allows us to clearly see the bi-polar shape. It looks somewhat similar to
M76, although both lobes of this PN have burst out more. I like the gas arc fronts which are visible near the 12th magnitude central star. This central star varies from 11 to 13 magnitude as clouds of dust in the central region move across our line of sight.
A comparison with the Hubble image is shown in Revision D.
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