About Merope Nebula
Merope Nebula is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Tau.
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 30 EP
Merope Nebula
RA 56.5420° · Dec 23.7650° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Nebula +8
- Has a proper name +8
- Diffuse nebula +6
- Big on the sky +5
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 30
4 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Diffuse nebula · +6
- On the zodiac · +3
- 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 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. Nebular colours are chemistry made visible — red for hydrogen, teal for oxygen, blue where starlight is merely scattered.
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
- Neb
- name
- Merope Nebula
- named
- yes
- size arcmin
- 30
How to see it
Look for Merope Nebula in the constellation Tau.
Like any astronomical target, Merope 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 Merope Nebula is an uncommon nebula
Merope Nebula scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Nebula, Has a proper name, Diffuse nebula, On the zodiac 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.