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.^[3] 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 (his "20-foot telescope") from an observatory he set up in Cape Town, South Africa.^[4] Associated with this galaxy is HIPASS J0731-69, a cloud of gas devoid of any stars.^[5] It is likely that the cloud was torn loose from NGC 2442 by a companion.^[5]

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.^[4][6]

Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 2442: SN 1999ga (type II, mag. 18),^[7] and SN 2015F (type Ia, mag. 16.8).^[8]

Gaia16cfr 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.^[9]