About IC 430
IC 430 is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Ori and shines at apparent magnitude 14.4.
A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.
Uncommon nebula 28 EP
IC 430
RA 84.6499° · Dec -7.0831° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Nebula +8
- Diffuse nebula +6
- In Orion's hunting ground +6
- Big on the sky +5
- Faint fuzzy (mag > 13) +3
Total score 28
6 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Diffuse nebula · +6
- In Orion's hunting ground · +6
- Big on the sky · +5
- Faint fuzzy (mag > 13) · +3
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 14.4 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Orion.
- Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around December — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Nebular colours are chemistry made visible — red for hydrogen, teal for oxygen, blue where starlight is merely scattered.
How we came to know it
- The Index Catalogue. The IC was the 1895 and 1908 supplement to the NGC — the first catalogue in history to be filled largely with objects found on photographic plates rather than by eye.
Properties
- constellation
- Ori
- dso type
- Neb
- mag
- 14.4
- name
- IC 430
- size arcmin
- 10.96
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for IC 430 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 14.4, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, IC 430 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why IC 430 is an uncommon nebula
IC 430 scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Nebula, Diffuse nebula, In Orion's hunting ground, Big on the sky and Faint fuzzy (mag > 13) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.