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Uncommon nebula 30 EP

IC 1831

RA 40.9850° · Dec 62.4116° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
30 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bigger on the sky than the full Moon +12
  • Nebula +8
  • Diffuse nebula +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
Total score 30

4 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Nebula · +8
  • Diffuse nebula · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Bigger on the sky than the full Moon · +12

Trivia

What it actually is

  • What it actually is. A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.

Find it in the sky

  • Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Cassiopeia.
  • 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 October — that's when to go looking.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Nebular colours are chemistry made visible — red for hydrogen, teal for oxygen, blue where starlight is merely scattered.

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
Cas
dso type
Neb
name
IC 1831
size arcmin
120.23

About IC 1831

IC 1831 is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Cas.

A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.

How to see it

Look for IC 1831 in the constellation Cas.

Like any astronomical target, IC 1831 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 1831 is an uncommon nebula

IC 1831 scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Nebula, Diffuse nebula, Never sets (northern circumpolar) and Bigger on the sky than the full Moon — 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.