NGC 2392

Planetary Nebula in the Constellation Gemini

The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), also known as the Clownface Nebula or Caldwell 39, is a bipolar double-shell  planetary nebula.  It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. The formation resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood. It is surrounded by gas that comprised the outer layers of a Sun-like star.  NGC 2392 lies at a distance from Earth of 2,870 light years and is 0.7 light-year in diameter.  The nebula has a visual brightness of 9.1 mag, while it is only 9.9 mag photographically. The central star, cataloged as HD 59088, is of visual magnitude 10.5 and spectral type O7f, and thus seen quite easily by visual observers with moderate-aperture telescopes.

Image Information  Courtesy of Wikipedia, Kitt Peak NOAO,  and SEDS

Image Details:

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  • Instrument:  Planewave Instruments CDK 12.5 at native focal length of f/8 (2544mm)
  • Mount:  AP1200GTOCP3
  • Image Scale:  0.60 arc-seconds per pixel after processing
    Camera: SBIG ST-2000XM with AO8 Adaptive Optics and CFW10 Color Filter Wheel using Custom Scientific LRGB filters 
    Filters & Exposure Times:
    • L:  12 x 5 minutes binned 1 x 1
    • R:  12 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
      G:    6 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
      B:  10 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
    • Hydrogen-alpha:  4 x 20minutes binned 1 x 1
    • Multiple Luminance Layering in Photoshop (technique as described by Rob Gendler)
      75% H-alpha blending to the Red Channel and 25% H-alpha blending to the Blue Channel (technique as described by Rob Gendler)
    • Total equivalent unbinned exposure time of 7 hours
    Software: Maxim DL/CCD, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS2, RC Astro Gradient X-Terminator
    Location:  C.A.A.S. East Observatory, Little Rock, AR., El. 650ft
    Date: February 25th, 2012

Wade Van Arsdale
Little Rock, AR., USA
June 12th, 2012