NGC 3242

NGC 3242
A Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of NGC 3242. Credit: HST/NASA/ESA.
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Right ascension	10h 24m 46.1s[1]
Declination	-18° 38′ 32.6″[1]
Distance	1400 ly[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	8.60
Apparent dimensions (V)	25″
Constellation	Hydra
Physical characteristics
Other designations	Ghost of Jupiter, Jupiter's Ghost, Eye Nebula, Caldwell 59
See also: Planetary nebula, Lists of nebulae

NGC 3242 (also known as the Ghost of Jupiter or Caldwell 59) is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Hydra.

William Herschel discovered the nebula on February 7, 1785, and cataloged it as H IV.27. John Herschel observed it from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, in the 1830s, and numbered it as h 3248, and included it in the 1864 General Catalogue as GC 2102; this became NGC 3242 in J. L. E. Dreyer's New General Catalogue of 1888.

This planetary nebula is most frequently called the Ghost of Jupiter, or Jupiter's Ghost, but it is also sometimes referred to as the Eye Nebula. It can easily be observed with amateur telescopes, and appears bluish-green to most observers. Larger telescopes can distinguish the outer halo as well.^[3]

Gallery

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  Imaged with a 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope

• 

  A different Hubble image

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  Ultraviolet image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer

See also

• List of NGC objects
• Planetary nebulae

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "SIMBAD Astronomical Database". Results for NGC 3242. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=NGC+3242. Retrieved 2007-04-20. 
2. ^ "NGC 3242: The 'Ghost of Jupiter' Planetary Nebula". NASA Astro Pic of the Day. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970331.html. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
3. ^ "The Ghost of Jupiter". http://www.skyhound.com/sh/archive/mar/NGC_3242.html. Retrieved 2010-02-25. 

External links

• The Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre – Hubble picture and information on NGC 3242]
• NGC 3242 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images