NGC 1990 was discovered by
William Herschel
Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline ...
in 1786 with an 18.7 inch telescope. However, there is doubt that this object exists in reality as several visual searches and modern astrophotography have failed to identify the exact location and extent of the reflection nebula. Modern photographs of the area with cameras show ultraviolet leak that gives the false impression of a large blue nebula around ε Ori (
Alnilam
Alnilam is the central star of Orion's Belt in the equatorial constellation of Orion. It has the Bayer designation ε Orionis, which is Latinised to Epsilon Orionis and abbreviated Epsilon Ori or ε Ori. This is a massive, blue supe ...
). More careful photography does not reveal a nebula in the area.
References
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External links
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NGC 1990
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
Orion (constellation)
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