About IC 2966
IC 2966 is a common nebula. It sits in the constellation Mus.
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.
Common nebula 18 EP
IC 2966
RA 177.5565° · Dec -64.8729° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 2 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Reflection nebula +10
- Nebula +8
Total score 18
4 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Nebula · +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 Musca.
- 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. 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.
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
- Mus
- dso type
- RfN
- name
- IC 2966
- size arcmin
- 3
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for IC 2966 in the constellation Mus.
Like any astronomical target, IC 2966 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 2966 is a common nebula
IC 2966 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 2 science badges — Nebula 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.