NGC 3242

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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]
Constellation Hydra
Physical characteristics
See also: Planetary nebula, Lists of nebulae

NGC 3242 is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Hydra.

A different Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of NGC 3242.  Credit: HST/NASA/ESA.
A different Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of NGC 3242. Credit: HST/NASA/ESA.


William Herschel discovered this planetary 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, or the CBS Eye.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ a b SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Results for NGC 3242. Retrieved on 2007-04-20.