Object of the Week January 12, 2025 - IC 2003

[wvreeven]

IC 2003, HD 279193, PK 161-14 1, PN G161.2-14.8


Planetary Nebula

Perseus

RA: 03 56 22.0
DEC: +33 52 31

Mag: 11.87

Diam: 7 x 6"

Once again apologies for the short article.


This planetary nebula was first sighted on 18 January 1907 by the British Astronomer Thomas Espin. He was looking for new double stars using his private 17.25 inch Calver reflector from his observatory at Tow Law, Co. Durham, UK. With later observations he measured this "conspicuous object equal to a 10 magnitude star" as an elongated disk with 6.9 x 6.35 arcseconds in diameter and the major axis roughly at position 10.5°. Sometimes it looked like two nebulae. A small star was noted south preceding. His observations suggested a planetary nebula. Professor Burnham observed the nebula with the 40 inch telescope on Yerkes Observatory on 20 February. John L. E. Dreyer added the nebula as IC 2003 in his Second Index Catalogue that was published in 1910.
Source: https://deepskycorner.ch/obj/ic2003.en.php

This bright but tiny planetary nebula should be visible in telescopes as small as 10 cm. It responds well to UHC and even better to OIII. It was one of the planetary nebulae that I observed with my 12" telescope from my light polluted terrace west of Madrid during the past half year. See the new Adventures in Deep Space [ADS] mailinglist for a full list of compact (and as Steve pointed out one not so compact) planetary nebulae that I observed.

I have two observing logs for this planetary nebula, both with my 12" telescope. Both indicate that the nebula appears as a fuzzy star at low magnifications. Between 160x and 300x it can be discerned as a disk. From 300x up the nebula appears ring like.


As always,

"Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and great viewing!"

[Raul Leon]

Hi, here’s my observation from 7/26/2011: IC 2003 planetary nebula in Perseus; mag: 11.5 ; size: 7” x 6” ; small but fairly bright disc; I used my 14.5 StarStructure with a 7mm Nagler.IMG_3185.jpeg

[lamperti]

With a 20" at 272 + UHC: "Another nice disc. like the previous one (IC-351). Easy to see; no central star; even glow.
With an 18" at 286 + O-III: "Bright, disc-shape, similar to Uranus."

[Uwe Glahn]

I add an observation and sketch with 27-inch.

Under high magnification and good seeing, an unequal ring was visible, without showing the faint CS.

sketch: 27", 837x, NELM 6m5+, Seeing II
IC2003.jpg

[morsie]

I noted this on 10-14-2020 with a 22" Obsession UC (207x): Bright and round. Without a filter shows a blue color. Responds somewhat to the UHC filter and stronger with an OIII. At 337x w/OIII averted shows ether a light dark area with perhaps a hint of annularity. A 14th mag star is 20" WSW.

[Steve Gottlieb]

I believe IC 2003 is the last visual discovery by date (of any deep sky object) that made it into the second IC before publication in 1908. And the only planetaries later visual PN discoveries are J 900 in 1912 and J 320 in 1916 by Robert Jonckheere, and Haro 3-75 in 1909 by French observer Stephane Javelle.

Here's another observation of IC 2003 with my 18" to add to the collection...

18" (2/4/08): easily swept up unfiltered at 115x as a vey small, blue-grey disc forming a close "double" with a mag 13.5 star just 18" SW. At 220x the star was well separated and the planetary appeared a bit irregular with an occasional sparkle. Increasing the power to 325x, the appearance was definitely asymmetric with a fainter NW quadrant and an intermittent stellar-like spot (superimposed star, brightening in the ring, or central star?) to the SE of center. At 450x, the dimmer quadrant on the NW side seemed to bulge out slightly. The brighter SE region or rim expanded into an arc from the NE to the SW. An occasional stellar sparkle was clearly glimpsed, though I couldn't pinpoint the location.