NGC 2440 is a curiously-shaped planetary nebula in Puppis. It is not round or smooth. It is barely symmetrical. It has bright core that looks like an hourglass, running north-west to south-east, then an almost rectangular shell, then bright points or nodes outside the shell, and wispy wings heading north-east and south-west, i.e. opposed 90° to the core. This looks like one of these cool bipolar PNs. It is one of the RASC Finest NGCs.
Not far from the multi-star system HU 709.
Luminance only, 15 seconds subexposures, 20 stacked shots. FITS Liberator, Paint.NET. North is up; east is left.
Can't wait to get more data!
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HU (W. J. Hussey) 709, aka HD 62240, is an eight star system. The bright elements, forming the little right-angled triangle, are the A, B, C, D, and E stars. A and B are a tight pair, merged in the photo, at the south-east; C and D are a very tight pair at the north-east, and E is the west companion. CD is due north of AB. F is west of E, dimmer than E. G is west-south-west of AB and dimmer still. H is the very dim star south of AB.
The AB blob in the image does like, I think, slightly extended, compared to the CD and E patterns. That suggests there is a star in there. But they are too close to split with this imaging system. SkyTools 3 Professional says A and B are 1.8 arc-seconds apart.
C and D, by the way, would be tough for me visually, at 0.4".
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Shifted south-east slightly.
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Wikipedia link: NGC 2440.
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