← Back to dex
Uncommon nebula 33 EP

IC 447

RA 97.7513° · Dec 9.8974° · openngc

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
33 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Star-forming region +14
  • Nebula +8
  • Bright deep-sky object +6
  • Big on the sky +5
Total score 33

1 more point to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Nebula · +8
  • Bright deep-sky object · +6
  • Star-forming region · +14
  • Big on the sky · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • What it actually is. An H II region: a cloud of hydrogen being ionised by the ultraviolet flood from hot young stars inside it. Every one is a star factory caught mid-production.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Monoceros.
  • 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. That signature crimson is hydrogen-alpha at 656 nanometres — electrons falling back onto protons, one photon at a time.

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
Mon
dso type
HII
mag
7.7
name
IC 447
size arcmin
25

Nearby objects

About IC 447

IC 447 is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Mon and shines at apparent magnitude 7.7.

An H II region: a cloud of hydrogen being ionised by the ultraviolet flood from hot young stars inside it. Every one is a star factory caught mid-production.

How to see it

Look for IC 447 in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 7.7, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, IC 447 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 447 is an uncommon nebula

IC 447 scores 33 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Nebula, Bright deep-sky object, Star-forming region and Big on the sky — 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.