About IC 972
IC 972 is a trash nebula. It sits in the constellation Vir and shines at apparent magnitude 13.9.
Clouds of gas and dust light-years across, where new stars are forged.
Trash nebula 8 EP
IC 972
RA 211.1080° · Dec -17.2282° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 1 badgeTrash 15 pts → Common
- Nebula +8
Total score 8
7 more points to reach Common.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
Trivia
Cosmic context
- Stellar nursery. Clouds of gas and dust light-years across, where new stars are forged.
Properties
- constellation
- Vir
- dso type
- PN
- mag
- 13.9
- name
- IC 972
How to see it
Look for IC 972 in the constellation Vir. At apparent magnitude 13.9, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, IC 972 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 972 is a trash nebula
IC 972 scores 8 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 1 science badge — Nebula — 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.