Galactic Nebula IC 2120

Object Description
The French astronomer Camille Guillaume Bigourdan discovered a small, faint nebula on 8th December 1890. John L. E. Dreyer included it 1910 in his «Second Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars» under the designation IC 2120. [196, 315]

IC 2120 caused a bit of confusion: The «Strasbourg-ESO Catalog of Galactic Planetary Nebulae» published in 1992 lists IC 2120 as a possible planetary nebula under the designation PK 169-0.1. [141] In the 2001 edition of the same IC is listed as a misclassified PN with the note «compact H-II region». [146] Simbad also offers this version. [145] The «NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database» (NED) explains IC 2120 as a sighting of comet 113P/Spitaler, which was mistakenly mistaken for a nebula. [194] Sky Safari 6 thinks of IC 2120 that it is a non-existent deep sky object. [149] Even Wikipedia disagrees: The German edition brings the version of erroneous comets and references NED, while the French edition lists IC 2120 as a compact H-II region and is based on Simbad. [363, 364]
As you can see in the pictures, the small, round shape of IC 2120 with the star in the middle really looks like a planetary nebula, but it is a compact H-II region. Simbad gives 1388 parsecs (about 4500 light years) as the distance. [145] Other sources give 0.9 kpc to 1.86 kpc. [365]
Designation | IC 2120 |
Type | NF |
Right Ascension (J2000.0) | 05h 19m 10.3s |
Declination (J2000.0) | +38° 11' 06" |
Dreyer Description | eF |
Identification, Remarks | Comet Spitaler 1890! |
Finder Chart
The galactic nebula IC 2120 is located in the constellation Auriga, which is best visible from September to April.

Visual Observation
Description pending ...