M 43 (NGC 1982) Bright Nebula in Orion

Located at: RA 05 hours 35 minutes 29 seconds, Dec -05 degrees 16 minutes 30 seconds

Size: 7.0' x 4.0'; Magnitude: 9.0'; Class: Emission

North is up

West to the right

Telescope:

 8" f5 Newtonian reflector
Camera:

 ST-8XME, self-guided, binned 1x1, temp -20c, camera control MaxIm DL 4.56
Image:

Lumicon Deep Sky filter, 140 minutes (14 x 10 minute subs), 03/12/2008; seeing 3.2-4.6 FWHM per CCDStack
Processing:

CCDStack 1.3.2, Photoshop 7.0
Location:

 Rolling Roof Observatory, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 (+34d 13m 29s -118h 52m 20s)
Notes: M 43 is the small 'detached' nebulosity in the center of this image. The core of M 42 is so bright that the *nebulosity* caused the camera to bloom in these 10 minute subs. I was not trying to record M 42, so just left the core (Trapezium area) burned out.

From the NGC / IC Project:

Contemporary Visual Observation(s) for NGC 1982
NGC 1982 = M43 = Ced 55g = Orion Nebula
05 35 31.3 -05 16 02
V = 9.0;  Size 20x15

13.1": large detached piece of M42, mottled outer region, very bright center.  
Has a large rotated "comma" shape with a dark indentation on the E side.  A mag 
8 star is embedded.

8": fairly large, irregular, protrudes to the NE, includes a bright star.

- by Steve Gottlieb
Historical Research Notes / Correction for NGC 1982
NGC 1982 = M 43.  For this, and many other emission or reflection nebulae with
clearly identified embedded stars, we have adopted the position of the star as
that for the entire nebula.  This follows the precident set by the visual 
discovers who noticed that the nebulae are usually (though not always) 
brightest in the vicinity of the stars.

There is a curiosity in the NGC listing for M 43.  WH's first ``Very Faint'' 
nebula is in the vicinity, so GC and NGC suggest that it might be equivalent.
This probably bothered Dreyer a bit, as he added a note to WH's observation 
when he edited the Complete Papers:  ``III 1 is an appendage to the north of 
M43.''  WH's own observation seems to support this, and it is well-known, too,
that he tried to not include any of Messier's nebulae or clusters in his own 
lists (though several did creep in, including M8, M20, and M82).
 - Dr. Harold G. Corwin, Jr.