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Object of the week March 22, 2020- IC 2144 What is it?
IC 2144
Taurus
RA 05 50 12
Dec + 23 52 00
Mag 12.8
Type ??
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So what kind of object is IC 2144? Galaxy,PN,Emission Nebula,Or Other? This is what I found out. The noted visual observer EE Barnard found IC 2144 but I have been able to find out little about the discovery. I am not sure if he found it visually or on a image. This is what I have learned about this unusual object. It was first thought to be a galaxy with a foreground star on it. In 2008 George Herbig Of the Herbig -Haro catalog did an observation of it with the Keck I telescope. He found that the foreground star MWC 778 was a YSO (young stellar object) Imbedded in a reflection nebula. It is though that the young star might be illuminating the nebula. This is just speculation.
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Last night I observed this unusual object under fair conditions. I notated at 375X with my finder eyepiece that with direct vision I could see a small star that had a nebulas look. I was surprised at how small it was. There is a triangle of stars that point toward IC 2144 that make it easy to ID the field. The best view was with 610X. With this power I could see a bright bulge on the West Side of the star. On the East side I could detect with AV a faint nebula. I could hold this faint nebula about 90% of the time. Although this object is small and not much detail it was a exciting observation for me as I know of few observations of this object. I did try the NPB and a O III filter to see by chance if I got a response but as I figured with a reflection nebula I did not get a response.
So if you want the see as the late George Herbig called a very unusual object that not many people have seen.
“Give IT A Go”
