About IC 1340
IC 1340 is a rare nebula. It sits in the constellation Cyg.
A supernova remnant: the shredded corpse of an exploded star, still tearing outwards through interstellar space at thousands of kilometres a second.
Rare nebula 39 EP
IC 1340
RA 314.0344° · Dec 31.0479° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Supernova remnant +26
- Nebula +8
- Big on the sky +5
Total score 39
11 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Supernova remnant · +26
- Big on the sky · +5
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A supernova remnant: the shredded corpse of an exploded star, still tearing outwards through interstellar space at thousands of kilometres a second.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. Explosions like this forged most of the calcium in your bones and the iron in your blood, then flung it out to be recycled.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Cygnus.
- Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around August — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Its tangled filaments glow in the colours of shock-heated gas, and it radiates in X-rays and radio as well as light.
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
- Cyg
- dso type
- SNR
- name
- IC 1340
- size arcmin
- 25.12
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for IC 1340 in the constellation Cyg.
Like any astronomical target, IC 1340 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 1340 is a rare nebula
IC 1340 scores 39 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Nebula, Supernova remnant 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.