Herschel 400 Objects

NGC 246: Planetary Nebula (Cetus) RA: 00h 47.1m / DEC: -11° 52'.3
Instrument: 10-inch Starfinder

The star hop to NGC 246 takes you 3.5 degrees south and 3 degrees east of NGC 157. The statistics for NGC 246 are deceiving. Megastar5 lists it with an 8.0 photographic magnitude. However, the visual magnitude is much fainter at 10.9. As a result, this planetary nebula has a moderately low surface brightness at the eyepiece. The view in my 10-inch at 82X presents a 3'.75 diameter nebula. NGC 246 bears a similarity to M97, the Owl Nebula, with its hollowed out areas. The 11.9 magnitude central star is visible in the 10-inch. Observing at low power, you may notice NGC 255 about 27' to the northeast.


NGC 225 NGC 247

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Revised: December 18, 2003 [WDF]