Hind’s nebula (NGC 1555) was the first to behave in an extraordinary fashion. A recent image of Hind’s Variable nebula NGC 1555 in Taurus by Richard Sargent. 2020 December 16th using a Celestron 14 and Atik460EX 21 x 60seconds Bin2The associated YSO was discovered by John Russell Hind in 1852 and would later be designated T Tauri. Hind also observed a faint nebula remarkably close to the variable, and much to his surprise, the nebula faded from view over the next few years. It was spotted occasionally but only at the end of the 19th century was the nebula recovered, and then early in the 20th century it became available again for modest telescopes. It has been quite steady for a decade or so but could misbehave at any juncture. A detailed account of the Hind’s Variable nebula story can be found in Wolfgang Steinicke’s excellent book “Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Clusters” (Cambridge 2010).
