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Uncommon nebula 22 EP

NGC 2282

RA 101.7149° · Dec 1.3160° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 2 badges
22 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Star-forming region +14
  • Nebula +8
Total score 22

12 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Nebula · +8
  • Star-forming region · +14

Trivia

What it actually is

  • What it actually is. An H II region: a cloud of hydrogen being ionised by the ultraviolet flood from hot young stars inside it. Every one is a star factory caught mid-production.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 10 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 January — 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
Mon
dso type
HII
mag
10
name
NGC 2282
size arcmin
3

Nearby objects

About NGC 2282

NGC 2282 is an uncommon nebula. It sits in the constellation Mon and shines at apparent magnitude 10.

An H II region: a cloud of hydrogen being ionised by the ultraviolet flood from hot young stars inside it. Every one is a star factory caught mid-production.

How to see it

Look for NGC 2282 in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 10, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, NGC 2282 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 2282 is an uncommon nebula

NGC 2282 scores 22 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 2 science badges — Nebula and Star-forming region — 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.