About NGC 1945
NGC 1945 is a common nebula. It sits in the constellation Dor.
An emission nebula, generating its own light: its gas is ionised by nearby stars and glows in its own right rather than reflecting anything.
Common nebula 21 EP
NGC 1945
RA 81.2290° · Dec -66.4575° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Nebula +8
- Emission nebula (glowing gas) +8
- Big on the sky +5
Total score 21
1 more point to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Emission nebula (glowing gas) · +8
- Big on the sky · +5
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. An emission nebula, generating its own light: its gas is ionised by nearby stars and glows in its own right rather than reflecting anything.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Dorado.
- 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 December — 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.
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
- Dor
- dso type
- EmN
- name
- NGC 1945
- size arcmin
- 10
How to see it
Look for NGC 1945 in the constellation Dor.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 1945 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 1945 is a common nebula
NGC 1945 scores 21 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Nebula, Emission nebula (glowing gas) 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.