About NGC 1985
NGC 1985 is a common nebula. It sits in the constellation Aur and shines at apparent magnitude 12.7.
A reflection nebula. It produces no light at all; it is dust catching the glare of a nearby star and scattering it back at us.
Common nebula 18 EP
NGC 1985
RA 84.4492° · Dec 31.9888° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 2 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Reflection nebula +10
- Nebula +8
Total score 18
4 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Reflection nebula · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A reflection nebula. It produces no light at all; it is dust catching the glare of a nearby star and scattering it back at us.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 12.7 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Auriga.
- 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 December — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. It looks blue for exactly the reason Earth's sky is blue: fine dust scatters short blue wavelengths far more efficiently than long red ones.
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
- Aur
- dso type
- RfN
- mag
- 12.7
- name
- NGC 1985
- size arcmin
- 0.68
How to see it
Look for NGC 1985 in the constellation Aur. At apparent magnitude 12.7, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 1985 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 1985 is a common nebula
NGC 1985 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 2 science badges — Nebula and Reflection nebula — 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.