M46 = NGC2437 ( 7h 41.8m -14°49´, 6.1 mag. )

and NGC2438 Planetary Nebula in Puppis

This rich open cluster in Puppis was discovered by Messier on February 19, 1771. M46 is located about 5,300 ly away and measures 30 ly across. It contains approx. 200 stars and a bright (10 mag., 60") planetary nebula NGC2438 is superimposed NE of center (it is most probably located in front of the cluster - see below). M46 is visible in binoculars about 1° SWW of 4 Puppis (see finder chart below).

The above image represents 20 minute exposure on Ektachrome P1600 taken with Celestron Ultima 8 f6.3 SCT on January 26, 1999 from Sooke, BC. NGC2438 is visible above the centre.

North is up.

The close-up CCD image below shows NGC2438. It was taken on March 5, 1999 from Sooke, BC. Cookbook 245 LDC CCD camera was used on Ultima 8 f6.3 telescope autoguided with Cookbook 211 LDC CCD camera on piggybacked 500mm f8 telephoto lens. It is composed of white exposures (5 x 240 sec.) as well as cyan, magenta and yellow-filtered integrations (3 x 240 sec. each) processed with AIP4WIN. Resulting color image was further adjusted in Lab color space using Corel PhotoPaint 8.

North is to the right.

Map created in Guide 7.0 - 7°45' x 12°. North is up.

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© Jan Wisniewski