Oddity in M41

Two nights ago I went out to my dark site and was treated to a night of very good transparancy. I spent most of the night viewing Galaxies. Late into the night I viewed M41 when it was high in the sky. I was shocked to see what appeared to be a dim planetary nebula within the cluster. I thought "Wow!", have I never seen this because I've never looked at M41 from a dark sight? I figured I'd look it up and read about it later. Well, after a bit of research, there doesn't appear to be a planetary in M41. Unfortunatly I didn't record the position or spend the time to really examine it since I was on a galaxy quest.
Can anyone help me on this? Please don't laugh. I'm not a very experienced astonomer.

David

Hi David,

There's no planetary nebula in M41, at least one that is easily observerable. I posted a pic of M41 on the DSLR photography forum a couple of days ago, you can see there's none in the cluster. Perhaps you might have stumbled on M46, which is very close by M41 and bright. Now that has a planetary nebula in it that you can easily pick up especially with a 4" scope and bigger.

Ivan

Yup, that was M46 alright!

Indeed, M46 is the only one with a Planetary Nebula built-in...

Thanks all . I'm sure it was M46. That's what happens when you rely on goto, and don't bother looking up. I learned a lesson.
David