Has anyone of you ever observed the planetary nebula Minkowski 1-2 (PNG 133.1-08.6 or PK 133-08.1) in Perseus, which was close to comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy a few days ago?
There is some contradictory information about this object on the internet. According to the PNG and PK catalogs, it is 14.9 mag with 18 arc seconds diameter and has a 13.4 mag central star. According to the book "The Physics and Dynamics of Planetary Nebulae" by Grigor Gurdzadyan (page 330, can be accessed via Google Books) its diameter is only 0.5 arc seconds and it is the densest known planetary nebula.
I tried to observe this nebula with my 12-inch Dobsonian at 275x magnification. Without O-III filter I saw a stellar object at the right location. With O-III filter the stellar object was fainter, but after a while I suspected some nebulosity around it. I didn't see such nebulosity around other field stars of similar brightness. Now I wonder, whether I saw the central star (dimmed by the filter) and then the nebula itself, or I was fooled by some stray light.
Right now, I would regard this observation as doubtful, until someone can convince me that this was indeed the nebula. :-)
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