The Eskimo Nebula

Hello everyone,

Here is an sketch of the great planetary NGC 2392, the Eskimo Nebula in Gemini, from a cold but quite good night last winter. The following are my notes from tat night.

Easy to find starhopping from Delta Geminorum, the Eskimo Nebula is visible as a pale blue, fuzzy disk at low powers, in a rich star field. I get the best view at 222x. The 10.5 magnitude central star is easy to see and the basic structure of the nebula is also visible, with two concentric zones of different brightness. There is an inner, bright disk that envelops the central star, and a second, concentric halo of approximately double diameter. This second halo is fainter and smooth. But after some time observing, there’s something more: in some moments, I think I can see a bright arc in the Eastern limb of the inner disk. It appears and disappears, but always in the same place so I assume it’s a real detail.

Sketch: 2HB graphite pencil on white paper, scanned and processed with Photoshop CS3
Object Name: NGC 2392, the Eskimo Nebula
Object Type: Planetary nebula
Location: Asturias, Spain
Date: February 20th, 2012 23:30 UT
Instrument: 120mm f/8.3 refractor + Planetary 9mm + barlow 2x (222x)
NELM: 5.5, moderate light pollution

Clear and dark skies!
Diego González