About Toby Jug Nebula
Toby Jug Nebula is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Car.
A reflection nebula. It produces no light at all; it is dust catching the glare of a nearby star and scattering it back at us.
Uncommon nebula 26 EP
Toby Jug Nebula
RA 119.2123° · Dec -59.1258° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Reflection nebula +10
- Nebula +8
- Has a proper name +8
Total score 26
8 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Reflection nebula · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A reflection nebula. It produces no light at all; it is dust catching the glare of a nearby star and scattering it back at us.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Carina.
- Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
- 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. It looks blue for exactly the reason Earth's sky is blue: fine dust scatters short blue wavelengths far more efficiently than long red ones.
What's in a name
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
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
- Car
- dso type
- RfN
- name
- Toby Jug Nebula
- named
- yes
- size arcmin
- 5
How to see it
Look for Toby Jug Nebula in the constellation Car.
Like any astronomical target, Toby Jug Nebula 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 Toby Jug Nebula is an uncommon nebula
Toby Jug Nebula 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, Has a proper name and Reflection 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.