Generous Gemini

[John]

 

Using my 12 inch dobsonian, Gemini is proving generous tonight with the well known planetary nebula, the Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392 / Caldwell 39), the less well known dual planetary nebula NGC 2371 / 2372 and the comet C/2019 L3 Atlas forming a nice triangle, positions indicated by the blue, red and yellow arrows respectively on the chart below.

Comet Atlas seems to have brightened a little since I last observed it - it is currently reported at magnitude 8.5 (contrary to the pessimistic figure given in the chart below). I can just about see the comet as a tiny fuzzy patch with 11x70 binoculars.

The Eskimo Nebula is looking stunning at 338x

The dual planetary nebula NGC 2371 / 2 is well worth a look with an 8 inch or larger aperture at around 200x - 250x. It shows two distinct lobes of nebulosity almost touching.

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by John

[RobertI]

45 minutes ago, John said:

The Eskimo Nebula is looking stunning at 338x

I bet it did!
 

Nice report, some things to motivate me there. Thanks. 

[Jiggy 67]

17 hours ago, John said:

the less well known dual planetary nebula NGC 2371 / 2372

Is that one PN with two catalogue numbers or two PN’s close together? SkySafari doesn’t have an NGC2372 in its database which is a bit odd. It does describe NGC 2371 as a double lobed PN

[Jiggy 67]

Sorry Wikipedia answered the question……..NGC 2371-2 is a dual lobed planetary nebula located in the constellationGemini. Visually, it appears like it could be two separate objects; therefore, two entries were given to the planetary nebula by John Louis Emil Dreyer in the New General Catalogue, so it may be referred to as NGC 2371, NGC 2372, 

👍

[John]

Yep, that's the one

The "hour" glass form of the central lobes of the nebula were clearly seen with my 12 inch but the fainter outer lobes were not showing last night. I didn't find either a UHC or an O-III filter helped with this one.

This drawing by SGL member Qualia shows it well:

 

 

[Jiggy 67]

Thanks @John you can see why it would be mistaken for two objects. I have had a go at this in the past but my notes show that I could only see it as a point of light “disc like” so no lobes…..it’s on the list to try again 

[wookie1965]

Great report thxs for posting.