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Uncommon nebula 26 EP

IC 1470

RA 346.2925° · Dec 60.2441° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Star-forming region +14
  • Nebula +8
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Nebula · +8
  • Star-forming region · +14
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4

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 11.5 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Cepheus.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around September — 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
Cep
dso type
HII
mag
11.5
name
IC 1470
size arcmin
1.8

Nearby objects

About IC 1470

IC 1470 is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Cep and shines at apparent magnitude 11.5.

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 1470 in the constellation Cep. At apparent magnitude 11.5, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, IC 1470 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 1470 is an uncommon nebula

IC 1470 scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Nebula, Star-forming region and Never sets (northern circumpolar) — 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.