NGC 2022

Historical observations

William Herschel (c.1784)

Synonyms: H IV-034

Discovered in 1785 by William Herschel with an 18.7-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He called it "cB, S, nearly round, like a star with large diameter. With 240 power like an ill-defined planetary nebula"

Birr Castle/Lord Rosse

Observations with the 72-inch f/8.8 speculum telescope at Birr Castle noted "resolvable: I strongly suspect it is annular."

Lassell, W. (1854)

Lassell, W. (1854) Observations of the nebula of Orion, made at Valletta, with the twenty-foot equatorial. Memoirs R.A.S., 23, 53-62.

Lassell, W. (1866)

Bibcode: [1866MmRAS..36....1L]

Sketched and described.

Burnham, S.W. (1894)

Burnham, S. W. () "Measures of planetary nebulae with the 36-inch equatorial of the Lick Observatory", Pub. Lick Obs., vol 2, p159-167. "There is no star in the middle of this nebula, but there is a vcery faint one on the s.p. edge, and that is the one measured. The nearest outside star is n.f. and about one diameter of the nebula distant. With reference to the nebulous disc, Lassell says: 'Some bright patches or nodules seem to exist in it, but nothing more can be made out.'"

Published comments

Doig, P. (1925)

Doig, P. (1925) Notes on the nebulae and clusters in Webb's 'Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes' (Sixth edition, Vol.ii). Part III. M.N.R.A.S., 35(9), 316.

Doig, P. (1925)

Journal BAA, 35, Sep, p316.

Planetary, sharp stell.N. and ellipt. ring.

Sulentic & Tifft (1973)

The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that this is a 13.0 mag planetary nebula.

Terzian, Y. (1980)

Terzian Y (1980) Q.J. R.astr.Soc vol 21, p82-92 [09.16.1] notes that this planetary shows multiple shell structure.

Modern observations

Walter Scott Houston

Houston calls it "a not-too-difficult planetary." He notes that Smyth calls it "small and pale but very distinct" as seen in a 6-inch refractor. Houston notes that he has glimpsed NGC 2022 unsteadily with a 4-inch refractor, where it svery sharp edge gave it an unmistakable nonstellar appearance."

Houston writes: "A bit less than 30 arcseconds across, its total light equals that of a 12th mag star. Todd Hansen found it without difficulty with his 6-inch f/9 Newtonian and described it as a 'faint but distinctive ring'. I have also viewed it with my 4-inch Clark refractor."

Ancient City Astron.Club (1980)

Listed by the Herschel Club, described as "mag estimated at 11.5, 28x27 arcsec, fuzzy, oval and small, use averted, slight blue-green tint. 8-inch, 96x."

Steve Coe

Steve Coe (Glendale, Arizona, USA) observing with a 17.5-inch f/4.5, writes in The Webb Society Nebulae and Clusters Section Report No. 10, July 1992: "Pretty small and not very bright, but noticed at x50. At x200 it is a greenish dot with no internal detail visible."

Steve Coe, using a 13" f/5.6, notes: "Pretty bright, pretty large, round, somewhat brighter in the middle, a nice disk at higher powers. It was spotted at 100X, the central star was never seen, just a brightening in the middle. I called the color grey in the 13", using my old 17.5" Dobsonian at 200X I observed that this planetary was greenish."

Yann Pothier (IAAC)

Observer: Yann POTHIER (France) Your skill: advanced (many years) Object: NGC 2022 (PK 196-10.1; PN G196.6-10.9; ARO 61) Category: planetary nebula Constellation: ORI Object data: Vmag=12.4; Bmag=11.6; 28x28"; type IV+II; central star of Vmag=14.9 (Bmag=13.0); discovered by Herschel in 1785; ELCAT: [OIII, 496+501nm] = 9 x [Hbeta, 486nm]. RA/DE: 05h42.10m, +09°05.2' (2000.0) Date and UT of observation: 01 November 1991, 03h00UT Location & latitude: La Clapiere Obs. (France, latN44 40 00, longE06 27 36) Site classification: rural, alt.1650m (5500ft) Limiting magnitude (visual in UMi): 5.6 Transparency (1 to 5 - best to worst): 2 Seeing (1 to 5 - best to worst): 4 Moon up (phase?): no Instrument: Meade SCT 8" (203mm), F/10 Magnification: 87-290x Filters used: prism

Description: found at 87x, small nebulous patch confirmed with prism; a mag10 star lies 12' to the W; medium brightness, homogeneous, bluish, ill-defined edges; visible at 45x as a nearly stellar object, still slightly fuzzy; at 145x, quite round; at 290x, still homogeneous without detail.

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Observer: Yann POTHIER (France) Your skill: advanced (many years) Object: NGC 2022 (PK 196-10.1; PN G196.6-10.9; ARO 61) Category: planetary nebula Constellation: ORI Object data: Vmag=12.4; Bmag=11.6; 28x28"; type IV+II; central star of Vmag=14.9 (Bmag=13.0); discovered by Herschel in 1785; ELCAT: [OIII, 496+501nm] = 9 x [Hbeta, 486nm]. RA/DE: 05h42.10m, +09°05.2' (2000.0) Date and UT of observation: 26 December 1994, 01h00TU Location & latitude: La Clapiere Obs. (France, latN44 40 00, longE06 27 36) Site classification: rural, alt.1650m (5500ft) Limiting magnitude (visual in UMi): 5.6 with direct vision Transparency (1 to 5 - best to worst): 1 Seeing (1 to 5 - best to worst): 3 Moon up (phase?): no Instrument: Coulter 445mm/17.5" F/4.5 Magnification: 145-624x Filters used: OIII, UHC, prism

Description: at 145x, small to medium sized PN, oval shaped with quite sharp edges, quite bright; estimated to be 46"x37" (on drawing) along a NE-SW axis; OIII gives a good contrast gain and UHC a minor one; well seen, even without filter [illustrating the relatively poor OIII/Hbeta ratio of ELCAT data]; visible as a small fuzzy star at 45x without filter; suspected darker center at 312x without filter, confirmed with UHC or OIII (easier); no central star from 145x to 624x (even with prism); a mag11 star is 12' to the W and a mag14 star is 40" to the NE.

Greene, Eric (IAAC)

NGC # 2022 Type Planetary Nebula Class 4(2)

Const Ori Mag 13.0 Source 7 Size 28" X 27" Tirion 11 Uranometria 1,181

RA 5h 42.0m Dec 9d 5'

NGC Description PLN,PB,VS,VLE

RNGC Description

{1}

12 November, 1977 C-8 from Switzerland, Fl.

Trans - excellent, seeing - very good to excellent, dark sky

Small, fairly faint planetary. Featureless disk at 100x. Easy at 100x.

No details at 160x or 222x.

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27 December, 1989 C-8 from Lilburn, Ga.

Trans - very good, seeing - fair, heavy light pollution

Fairly bright planetary at 100x. Almost stellar at 62x. Good at 200x. Circular, fairly small, but surface brightness enough to allow higher power. Slightly oval shaped at 200x. At low power appears as glow around star, but this impression disappears at 100x when planetary appears uniformly bright with slight, dim ring seems visible. UHC filter and 200x give the best view.

Gramer, Lew (IAAC)

Observer: Lew Gramer; Your skills: Intermediate (some years); Date/time of observation: 9/10 Feb 1999 05:00 UT; Location of site: MIT Haystack Obs., Westford, MA, USA (Lat 43N, Elev 30m); Site classification: Exurban; Sky darkness: 6.6 Limiting magnitude; Seeing: 4 1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best); Moon presence: None - moon not in sky; Instrument: 17.5" f/4.5 dob reflector; Magnification: 57x, 225x; Filter(s): None, UHC; Object(s): NGC 2022; Object category: Planetary Nebula.; Object class: 4+2; Constellation: Ori; Object data: mag 12.4 15.20m* size 28"x27"; Position: 054206.18+090510.3;

Description: Next up on our tour of duty with the 17.5" Club scope tonight, we went off searching for the unexpected Orion planetary NGC 2022. We star-hopped from the lovely star triangle (lambda Ori) at the head of Orion, down along the E "collar bone" of the Hunter. After first encountering emission/reflection nebula Cederblad 59 accidentally (see previous log this night), we managed to sweep back to a pair of mag 8 stars, which point conveniently SE to the planetary. With low power n2022 was distinguishable from surrounding stars, but hardly striking. No color or detail could be seen. But at higher power with the UHC filter, the annular nature of 2022 became immediately apparent. In addition, a definite brightening could be observed near the middle using averted vision. At the time, after first deciding it was the mag 15 central star, I noted it on more careful observation to be clearly non-stellar, and in any case too bright to be the star. I guessed it to be either nebulosity surrounding the central star, or maybe an incipient inner ring. Now though, after viewing some of the available data and images, I have to conclude that this central brightening was in fact either that central star bloated by poor seeing, or else some bright knot of NGC2022's internal filamentary structure, which confuses the eye at this power. Other features were also logged at the time around the bright ring of nebulosity: the most striking was a seemingly irregular brightening or knot SSW of the center of the object. Another such knot, slightly less distinct, was noted an equal distance to the N. Between these two brightenings, I almost got the impression that I was seeing bipolar lobes, although their shapes and spacing were definitely more irregular than the symmetry one expects in true bipolarity. Finally a mere suggestion of an outer halo was noted to increase the overall diameter of the object by maybe 10", with what occasionally seemed to be an irregular longer lobe on the NW. --

Object data thanks to dObjects: http://www.eaglequest.com/~bondono/dObjects

Tom Lorenzin

Tom Lorenzin, in the electronic version of "1000+ The Amateur Astronomers' Field Guide to Deep Sky Observing", notes: "12M; 20" diameter; diffuse edges; 14M center star (not visible in C-8)."

Ware, Donald J

"This is a small, but relatively bright planetary nebula about 20" in diameter. It is slightly brighter at the center, and fades gradually to the edges."

Contemporary observations

Richard Ford

2011 January 8th, Saturday

Location:Perdeberg.

Instrument:12-inch Dobsonian Reflector Telescope.

Eyepieces:9mm Eyepiece.

7mm Eyepiece.

Sky Conditions:The fainter parts of the Milky Way are barely

visible.

Transparency of the Sky:Haziness only visible on the horizon.

Seeing:Atmosphere stable with little interference.

Limiting Magnitude:4.9.

1.NGC 2022

1.1.Object Type:Planetary Nebula.

1.2.First Impression:This object looks like an out of focus star.Although it is a planetary nebula.

1.3.Location:Orion.

1.4.Time:10:00pm.

1.5.Chart Number:No.29(Extract taken out of "Herschel 400 Observing Guide").

1.6.Size:9mm Eyepiece:Field Of View:15'/12=1.2'.

7mm Eyepiece:Field Of View:15'/11=1.3'.

1.2'+ 1.3'=2.5'.

2.5'/2=1.2'.

Size in Arc Minutes:1.2'.

1.7.Brightness:Magnitude 11.9.

1.8.Brightness Profile:The outskirts of this planetary nebula

are faint all over.

1.9.Challenge Rating:Fairly Easy.

1.10.Description

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This Planetary nebula is small and well defined.By using

both my 9mm and 7mm eyepiece I have seen this planetary

nebula's greenish white disk.

Tom Bryant

2010 3 17 21:26:50

Observing site: Little Bennett Regional Park

Telescope: C-11

[5h 42m 6s, 9° 5m 0s] An slightly oblong (as oblate as Jupiter) grey patch in the sky. About 30" across.