McNeil's Nebula

Amateur astronomer Jay McNeil discovered McNeil's Nebula on January 23, 2004, while imaging the region around M78 from Kentucky. He used a 3-inch refracting telescope and a CCD camera, making the object a famous example of an amateur discovery. [NASA APOD](https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040219.html)

McNeil's Nebula is a variable reflection nebula in the L1630 cloud of Orion, close to the well-known reflection nebula M78. The glow surrounds the young stellar object V1647 Orionis, which sits near the apex of the cone-shaped nebulosity. [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/universe/in-mcneils-nebula-a-young-star-flaunts-its-x-ray-spots/)

V1647 Orionis underwent an outburst, and the extra light scattered from surrounding dust, making the reflection nebula appear. NASA links the changes to accretion, meaning gas falling from a circumstellar disk onto the young star. [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/universe/in-mcneils-nebula-a-young-star-flaunts-its-x-ray-spots/)

It is not a naked-eye object and can fade as V1647 Orionis dims, so visual observing is much harder than imaging. The discovery itself used a 3-inch telescope with a CCD, showing that a small instrument can record it under suitable dark-sky and exposure conditions. [NASA APOD](https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040219.html)