RA 60.8101° · Dec 36.3675° · openngc
10 more points to reach Epic.
California Nebula is a rare nebula. It sits in the constellation Per and shines at apparent magnitude 5.
A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.
Look for California Nebula in the constellation Per. At apparent magnitude 5, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, California 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.
California Nebula scores 40 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Nebula, Bright deep-sky object, Has a proper name, Diffuse nebula 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.