IC 443: Supernova Remnant (Gemini) RA: 06h 17.9m / DEC: +22° 46'.0 Instrument: 18-inch Obsession |
This sprawling tangle of interstellar debris resides in southern Gemini just across the border from Orion. Naked eye Propus (Eta Geminorum) blazes just 40' to the west-southwest. My sketch renders a 109X view in the Obsession. UHC and OIII filters enhance the view. IC 443 is an ancient supernova remnant. The brightest segment is nearly centered in the drawing. It appears as a well-defined 6' by 3' "flipper" running east-southeast to west-northwest and just north of 10.6 magnitude HD 254474. At the southeast limit of this feature, the nebula takes a hard right--in my Newtonian--and heads northeast for about 8'. This branch fades into the night sky near a four-star asterism punctuated by 10.5 magnitude HD 254600. A dark cloud, roughly 4' across, separates the central flipper from a nebulous patch to the southwest. This patch is connected to a streamer that winds south and east for a distance of nearly 24'. A very subtle 8' diameter patch is glimpsed just inside the northern field boundary. The field is strewn with stars; nearly 70 by my count. While in the area, be sure the check out M35 and NGC 2174. |
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