History

The planetary nebula Abell 42 was discovered in 1955 by the American astronomer George Ogden Abell on the photo plates of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). In 1955 he published a first list of 13 globular clusters and the positions of 73 planetary nebulae. The PN was then listed as number 30 (A55 30). In 1966 Abell published a completed list including the size and description of the 86 planetary nebulae discovered on the POSS photo plates. The PN was then listed as nebula 42 (A66 42). He described it with «B» as «a homogeneous ring» ^{[331, 332]}

The designation PK 16+13.1 originates from the two Czechoslovak astronomers Luboš Perek and Luboš Kohoutek, who in 1967 compiled a catalog of all the planetary nebulae of the Milky Way known at the time. ^[146]

Physical Properties

Magnitudes through different filters: B 20.2; V 20.2. Distances are not given. Measured parallaxes show large statistical errors: 0.9610±0.5648 mas (Gaia DR2, 2018) and 0.289±0.3852 mas (Gaia DR3, 2020). ^[145]