M2-42

Minkowski 2-42, abbreviated M2-42, is a planetary nebula that was discovered by Rudolph Minkowski in 1947.^[2] It is located about 30,800 light-years away from Earth in the Galactic bulge.^[1] It is known to be a bipolar planetary nebula containing two jets of material emerging from both sides of its central star.^[3] It has been found that its bipolar outflows have the typical features of Fast Low-Ionization Emission Region (FLIER). ^[3]

M2-42

Emission nebula
Planetary nebula
Observation data: J2000 epoch
Right ascension	18h 22m 32.08s[1]
Declination	−24° 09′ 27.7″[1]
Distance	30,800 (9444 pc)[1] ly
Apparent magnitude (V)	13.9[1]
Apparent dimensions (V)	4″[1]
Notable features	Bipolar outflow, Bipolar nebula
Designations	PN M 2-42 PNG 008.2-04.8 PK 008-04 2 Hen 2-393 ESO 522-21 PN Sa 2-331 WRAY 16-409
See also: Lists of nebulae

The central star of M2-42 is classified as weak emission-line star,^[4] but its nitrogen and helium features^[5] may be linked to nitrogen sequences of Wolf-Rayet central stars of planetary nebula ([WN]).^[3] The chemical composition of this planetary nebula was found to be around the solar metallicity.^[6]

Image of M2-42 taken by the VLT Survey Telescope. The green part of the image was taken with a H-alpha filter.

See also

• List of largest nebulae
• Lists of nebulae