NGC 2442 and NGC 2443
NGC 2442 and NGC 2443 are two parts of a single intermediate spiral galaxy, commonly known as the Meathook Galaxy or the Cobra and Mouse. It is about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Volans. It was discovered by Sir John Herschel on December 23, 1834 during his survey of southern skies with a 18.25 inch diameter reflecting telescope from an observatory he set up in Cape Town, [South Africa]. Associated with this galaxy is HIPASS J0731-69, a cloud of gas devoid of any stars. It is likely that the cloud was torn loose from NGC 2442 by a companion.
When John Louis Emil Dreyer compiled the New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars he used William Herschel's earlier observations that described two objects in a "double nebula", giving the northern most the designation NGC 2443 and the southernmost most the designation NGC 2442. Herschel's later observations noted that the two objects were actually a single large nebula.
Supernovae
Two, or perhaps three, supernovae have been observed in NGC 2442:- SN 1999ga was discovered by the Perth Astronomical Research Group on 19 November 1999.
- SN 2015F was discovered by on 9 March 2015. It reached magnitude 12.9, making it the brightest supernova of 2015.
- Gaia16cfr, also known as AT 2016jbu, was a supernova imposter that occurred in NGC 2442 on 1 December 2016. It reached a Gaia apparent magnitude of 19.3 and absolute magnitude of about −12. However, a paper published in August 2022 suggested that this was a genuine, but strange, supernova.