NGC 2371, planetary nebula

Planetary Nebula NGC 2371 and NGC 2372 in Gemini

Planetary Neb NGC 2371
CCD image taken with a STL-1301E CCD camera thru Kopernik’s 20 inch F/8 telescope. The exposure was 80 minutes.

Description in The Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000:

Irregular disk with very irregular brightness distribution involved in a larger and fainter halo of nebulosity, anomalous in form. Two brighter knots involved. Central star magnitude = 14.80.

NGC 2371 - NGC 2372 was discovered in the 18th Century by William Herschel, and first identified as a planetary nebula by Pease in 1917. It has an obvious bipolar appearance. Note the pair of very faint "polar caps" to the upper right and lower left which represent polar outflows, probably due to stellar winds constrained by an equatorial torus. A picture of this nebula taken by the Japanese SUBARU telescope can be found here.

Planetary Nebulae: To learn more about them, click here.

NGC 2371 (& NGC 2372) (Other ID: PK 189+19.1)
Magnitude: 13.0
Constellation: Gemini
RA: 07h 25m 36.0s
Dec: +29° 29' 00" Epoch 2000
Size (sec) 55"
Classification: planetary nebula

George Normandin, KAS

May 12th, 2010