Starship Asterisk*

The APOD of February 15, 2007, displays the planetary nebula known as the Bow-Tie Nebula, and gives its catalog number as NGC 2440. But a Google search also comes up with several sites that give the catalog number as NGC 40. Which is correct? Can they both be right?

DanKarlan wrote:The APOD of February 15, 2007, displays the planetary nebula known as the Bow-Tie Nebula, and gives its catalog number as NGC 2440. But a Google search also comes up with several sites that give the catalog number as NGC 40. Which is correct? Can they both be right?

NGC 2440 in the constellation Puppis is not the Bow Tie Nebula. So far, I haven't discovered a name for it.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070215.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060507.html

NGC 40, also known as the Bow-Tie Nebula, is in the constellation Cepheus. There is no APOD for it.

I realize that the APOD of NGC 2440 does not come right out and say that it's the Bow-Tie Nebula. But this site does just that:

http://www.nasa.gov/lb/multimedia/image ... e_761.html

I tend to be distrustful of the government, but NASA has not been known to outright lie or fabricate on such trivial matters.

This site also associates the name Bow Tie Nebula with the designation NGC 2440:

http://www.skyimagelab.com/bowtie.html

And so does this site:

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag ... 70214.html

DanKarlan wrote:I realize that the APOD of NGC 2440 does not come right out and say that it's the Bow-Tie Nebula. But this site does just that:

http://www.nasa.gov/lb/multimedia/image ... e_761.html

I tend to be distrustful of the government, but NASA has not been known to outright lie or fabricate on such trivial matters.

This site also associates the name Bow Tie Nebula with the designation NGC 2440:

http://www.skyimagelab.com/bowtie.html

And so does this site:

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag ... 70214.html

The HST image does present NGC 2440 as having a "bow tie shape" (and therefore a bow tie nebula). It is not the same as NGC 40 (supposedly "The Bow Tie Nebula"). I also found another, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang_Nebula.

I realize that saying it has a bow tie shape is not the same as calling it the Bow Tie (or Bow-Tie) Nebula.

But I've also seen pictures of NGC 40, and I struggle to identify anything resembling a bowtie in those fuzzy pictures. But NGC 2440 clearly has that shape.

Whoever decides on these names should give another look at both NGC 40 and NGC 2440.

NGC 40 (GC 20) was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1788 and NGC 2440 (GC 1567) in 1790. Who knows what they looked like then with the equipment available. Don't know who named NGC 40, or when. But earlier photos of NGC 2440 don't look like a bow tie.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060507.html

DanKarlan wrote:I realize that saying it has a bow tie shape is not the same as calling it the Bow Tie (or Bow-Tie) Nebula.

But I've also seen pictures of NGC 40, and I struggle to identify anything resembling a bowtie in those fuzzy pictures. But NGC 2440 clearly has that shape.

Whoever decides on these names should give another look at both NGC 40 and NGC 2440.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_tie

<<The bow tie originated among Croatian mercenaries during the Prussian wars of the 17th century: the Croats used a scarf around the neck to hold together the opening of their shirts. This was soon adopted (under the name cravat, derived from the French for "Croat") by the upper classes in France, then a leader in fashion, and flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. The French novelist Honoré de Balzac even wrote a book on the subject. It is uncertain whether the cravat then evolved into the bow tie and necktie, or whether the cravat gave rise to the bow tie, which in turn led to the necktie.>>
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`What a beautiful belt you've got on!' Alice suddenly remarked. `At
least,' she corrected herself on second thoughts, `a beautiful cravat,
I should have said -- no, a belt, I mean -- I beg your pardon!' she
added in dismay, for Humpty Dumpty looked thoroughly offended, and
she began to wish she hadn't chosen that subject. `If only I knew,'
she thought to herself, `which was neck and which was waist!'

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010903.html

Evidently Humpty Dumpty was very angry, though he said nothing for
a minute or two. When he did speak again, it was in a deep growl.

`It is a -- most -- provoking -- thing,' he said at last,
`when a person doesn't know a cravat from a belt!'

`I know it's very ignorant of me,' Alice said, in
so humble a tone that Humpty Dumpty relented.

`It's a cravat, child, and a beautiful one, as you say.
It's a present from the White King and Queen. There now!'

`Is it really?' said Alice, quite pleased to find
that she had chosen a good subject after all.

`They gave it me,' Humpty Dumpty continued thoughtfully as
he crossed one knee over the other and clasped his hands
round it, `they gave it me -- for an un-birthday present.'
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<<Chevrolet first used its "bowtie" logo in 1913. This logo is said to have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel.>>