Open Cluster NGC 2482 & PN Minkowski 3-4

NGC 2482
NGC 2482: Section of DECam Plane Survey (DECaPS) DR2. Here could be your picture. [147]

Open Cluster NGC 2482

This open cluster was discovered by William Herschel on 20 November 1784. He listed it as VII 10 and noted: «A very large cluster of scattered stars, considerably rich and compressed, more than 15' diameter.» [463] His son John observed it on 7 January 1831, listed it as h 474 in his Slough catalogue and noted: «A cluster pretty rich; very coarsely scattered, 10...15' diameter; perhaps 50 stars.» [466] Observing from the Cape of Good Hope on 31 January 1837 he listed it as h 3106 and noted: «A very rich milky way cluster, or mass of stars 10, 111 and 12 magnitudes; diameter 20'. The neighbourhood is rich, but much less so than this cluster.» [11]

Revised+Historic NGC/IC Version 22/9, © 2022 Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke [277]
DesignationNGC 2482
TypeOCL (III1m)
Right Ascension (J2000.0)07h 55m 12.0s
Declination (J2000.0)-24° 15' 30"
Diameter10 arcmin
Visual magnitude7.3 mag
Metric Distance1.343 kpc
Dreyer DescriptionCl, L, cRi, vlC
Identification, RemarksWH VII 10; h 474=3106; GC 1598; OCL 653; ESO 494-SC3
Minkowski 3-4 & PGC 78984
Minkowski 3-4 & PGC 78984: Section of DECam Plane Survey (DECaPS) DR2. Here could be your picture. [147]

Planetary Nebula Minkowski 3-4

The planetary nebula was discovered in 1948 by the German-American astronomer Rudolph Minkowski. He detected objects with little or no continuous H-α spectrum on objective-prism survey plates obtained by W. C. Miller using the 10-inch telescope at Mount Wilson. Further examination of its appearance on direct photographs, taken at the Newtonian focus of the 60-inch or 100-inch telescope on Mount Wilson, revealed its nature as a planetary nebula. Minkowski also contributed to the creation of the National Geographic Society - Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). [700]

«Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae» Acker et al., 1992 [141]
DesignationsPN G241.0+02.3: M 3- 4, PK 241+02.1, ARO 81, ESO 494-02, Sa 2- 19, VV' 75, Wray 19- 3
Right Ascension (J2000.0)07h 55m 11s
Declination (J2000.0)-23° 37' 46"
Dimensions 13.8" (optical)
Radial Velocity+74.0 ± 25.0 km/s
C-Star MagnitudeB: 16.68, V: 15.72
DiscovererMINKOWSKI 1948

Galaxy PGC 78984

This galaxy is located just four minutes of arc south of the planetary nebula Minkowski 3-4. SkySafari 6 lists its visual magnitude to be 14.82.

Data from Simbad [145]
NamePGC 78984
Object TypeAG?
Right Ascension (J2000.0)07h 55m 11s
Declination (J2000.0)-23° 41' 33"
Radialgeschwindigkeit6380 km/s
Redshift z0.02151
Angular size0.8' × 0.736'
MagnitudesJ 10.522; H 9.661; K 9.339
Identifiers2MASX J07551072-2341325; CGMW 2-1569; LEDA 78984; NVSS J075510-234132; PMN J0755-2341; TGSSADR J075510.5-234131; ZOAG G241.14+02.32

Finder Chart

The open cluster NGC 2482 and planetary nebula Minkowski 3-4 (37' north of NGC 2482) are located in the constellation Puppis. On 18 January they are in opposition with the Sun and is therefore highest in the sky at local midnight.

Puppis: Open Cluster NGC 2482 & PN Minkowski 3-4
Finder Chart Open Cluster NGC 2482 & PN Minkowski 3-4
07:07
10:34 | 18.9°
14:02
Charts created using SkySafari 6 Pro and STScI Digitized Sky Survey. Limiting magnitudes: Constellation chart ~6.5 mag, DSS2 close-ups ~20 mag. Times are shown for timezone UTC, Latitude 46.7996°, Longitude 8.23225°, Horizon height 5°, Date 2025-08-03. [149, 160]

Objects Within a Radius of 15°

References

  • [11] Results of astronomical observations made during the years 1834, 5, 6, 7, 8, at the Cape of Good Hope ... : being the completion of a telescopic survey of the whole surface of the visible heavens, commenced in 1825; Herschel, John F. W.; London: published by Smith, Elder and Co., 1847; DOI:10.3931/e-rara-22242
  • [141] Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae; A. Acker, F. Ochsenbein, B. Stenholm, R. Tylenda, J. Marcout, C. Schohn; European Southern Observatory; ISBN 3-923524-41-2 (1992); Bibcode:1992secg.book.....A; cdsarc.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/V/84
  • [145] SIMBAD astronomical database; simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad
  • [147] Aladin Sky Atlas, Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS); aladin.unistra.fr
  • [149] SkySafari 6 Pro, Simulation Curriculum; skysafariastronomy.com
  • [160] The STScI Digitized Sky Survey; archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form
  • [277] Historische Deep-Sky Kataloge; Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke; klima-luft.de/steinicke; 2021-02-17
  • [463] Catalogue of one thousand new nebulae and clusters of stars; William Herschel; Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1 January 1786; DOI:10.1098/rstl.1786.0027
  • [466] Observations of nebulæ and clusters of stars, made at Slough, with a twenty-feet reflector, between the years 1825 and 1833; John Frederick William Herschel; Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1 January 1833, Pages: 359-505; DOI:10.1098/rstl.1833.0021
  • [700] New Emission Nebulae (III); R. Minkowski; Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 60, Number 357, 1948; DOI:10.1086/126101