About NGC 896
NGC 896 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.
Uncommon nebula 23 EP
NGC 896
RA 36.3659° · Dec 62.0194° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Nebula +8
- Diffuse nebula +6
- Big on the sky +5
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
Total score 23
11 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Diffuse nebula · +6
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
- 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 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 New General Catalogue. Its NGC number comes from J. L. E. Dreyer's 1888 catalogue, itself built on decades of sky sweeps by William Herschel and his sister Caroline.
Properties
- constellation
- Cas
- dso type
- Neb
- name
- NGC 896
- size arcmin
- 10
How to see it
Look for NGC 896 in the constellation Cas.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 896 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 NGC 896 is an uncommon nebula
NGC 896 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Nebula, Diffuse nebula, Never sets (northern circumpolar) 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.