About Maia Nebula
Maia Nebula is a rare nebula. It sits in the constellation Tau.
An H II region: a cloud of hydrogen being ionised by the ultraviolet flood from hot young stars inside it. Every one is a star factory caught mid-production.
Rare nebula 45 EP
Maia Nebula
RA 56.4566° · Dec 24.3679° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Star-forming region +14
- Bigger on the sky than the full Moon +12
- Nebula +8
- Has a proper name +8
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 45
5 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Star-forming region · +14
- On the zodiac · +3
- Bigger on the sky than the full Moon · +12
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. An H II region: a cloud of hydrogen being ionised by the ultraviolet flood from hot young stars inside it. Every one is a star factory caught mid-production.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Taurus.
- Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around November — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. That signature crimson is hydrogen-alpha at 656 nanometres — electrons falling back onto protons, one photon at a time.
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 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
- Tau
- dso type
- HII
- name
- Maia Nebula
- named
- yes
- size arcmin
- 60
How to see it
Look for Maia Nebula in the constellation Tau.
Like any astronomical target, Maia 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 Maia Nebula is a rare nebula
Maia Nebula scores 45 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Nebula, Has a proper name, Star-forming region, On the zodiac 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.