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Uncommon nebula 22 EP

IC 466

RA 107.1617° · Dec -4.3180° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 2 badges
22 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Star-forming region +14
  • Nebula +8
Total score 22

12 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Nebula · +8
  • Star-forming region · +14

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 12.1 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, 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 January — 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
12.06
name
IC 466
size arcmin
1

Nearby objects

About IC 466

IC 466 is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Mon and shines at apparent magnitude 12.06.

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 466 in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 12.06, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, IC 466 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 466 is an uncommon nebula

IC 466 scores 22 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 2 science badges — Nebula and Star-forming region — 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.