About IC 2872
IC 2872 is a common nebula. It sits in the constellation Cen.
A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.
Common nebula 19 EP
IC 2872
RA 172.0335° · Dec -62.9889° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Nebula +8
- Diffuse nebula +6
- Big on the sky +5
Total score 19
3 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Diffuse nebula · +6
- Big on the sky · +5
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 Centaurus.
- Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around March — 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
- Cen
- dso type
- Neb
- name
- IC 2872
- size arcmin
- 15.14
How to see it
Look for IC 2872 in the constellation Cen.
Like any astronomical target, IC 2872 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 2872 is a common nebula
IC 2872 scores 19 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Nebula, Diffuse nebula 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.