In 1787, astronomer William Herschel discovered the Eskimo Nebula . From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood.

The nebula displays gas clouds so complex they are not fully understood. The Eskimo Nebula is a planetary nebula and the gas seen above composed the outer layers of a Sun-like star only 10,000 years ago. The inner filaments are being ejected by strong wind of particles from the central star. The outer disk contains unusual light-year long orange filaments. The Eskimo Nebula lies about 5000 light-years away and is visible with a small telescope in the constellation of Gemini.