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Uncommon nebula 26 EP

Hubble's Nebula

RA 99.7896° · Dec 8.7443° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Reflection nebula +10
  • Nebula +8
  • Has a proper name +8
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Nebula · +8
  • Has a proper name · +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 11.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Monoceros.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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.

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
Mon
dso type
RfN
mag
11.85
name
Hubble's Nebula
named
yes
size arcmin
2

About Hubble's Nebula

Hubble's Nebula is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Mon and shines at apparent magnitude 11.85.

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.

How to see it

Look for Hubble's Nebula in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 11.85, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, Hubble's 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 Hubble's Nebula is an uncommon nebula

Hubble's Nebula scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Nebula, Has a proper name 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.