NGC 2029 (also known as ESO 56-EN156 or the Dragon's Head Nebula) is an

emission nebula An emission nebula is a nebula formed of ionized gases that emit light of various wavelengths. The most common source of ionization is high-energy ultraviolet photons emitted from a nearby hot star. Among the several different types of emissio ...

in the

Dorado Dorado () is a constellation in the southern sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' in Spanish, altho ...

constellation and is part of the

Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nubecula Major, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the ...

. It is part of a complex of nebulae and stars, including

NGC 2032 NGC 2032 (also known as ESO 56-EN160 and the Seagull Nebula) is an emission nebula in the Dorado constellation and near the supershell LMC-4 and it consists of NGC 2029, NGC 2035 and NGC 2040. It was first discovered by James Dunlop on 27 Septemb ...

NGC 2035 NGC 2035 (also known as ESO 56-EN161 and the Dragon's Head Nebula) is an emission nebula and a H II region in the Dorado constellation and part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was discovered by James Dunlop on August 3, 1826. Its apparent si ...

and

NGC 2040 NGC 2040 is an open star cluster located 160,000 light years away in the constellation of Dorado. It is a young group of stars in one of the largest star formation regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nub ...

. It was discovered by

James Dunlop James Dunlop FRSE (31 October 1793 – 22 September 1848) was a Scottish astronomer, noted for his work in Australia. He was employed by Sir Thomas Brisbane to work as astronomer's assistant at his private observatory, once located at Paramat ...

on the 27 September 1826. Its apparent magnitude is 12.29, and its size is 2.25 arc minutes. The coordinates for NGC 2029 and NGC 2030 were reversed between Herschel's original

Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars The ''Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (CN) is an astronomical catalogue of nebulae first published in 1786 by William Herschel, with the assistance of his sister Caroline Herschel. It was later expanded into the ''General Catalogue o ...

and the

New General Catalogue The ''New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (abbreviated NGC) is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxies, star clusters and ...

. NGC 2030, originally GC 2029, is an isolated nebula with an embedded star cluster, about 1.5 degrees north of NGC 2029.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 2029 Emission nebulae ESO objects 2029 Large Magellanic Cloud Astronomical objects discovered in 1826 Dorado (constellation) Discoveries by James Dunlop