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Uncommon nebula 29 EP

NGC 6153

RA 247.8777° · Dec -40.2534° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Planetary nebula (a dying star's shell) +12
  • Nebula +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Nebula · +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Planetary nebula (a dying star's shell) · +12
  • On the zodiac · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • What it actually is. A planetary nebula: the shed outer atmosphere of a dying Sun-like star, lit from within by the naked stellar core left behind.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 10.9 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Scorpius.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around May — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 78.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 6.9 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

constellation
Sco
dist ly
4443.5422
dso type
PN
mag
10.9
name
NGC 6153
radial velocity kms
39
redshift
0.0001
size arcmin
0.4

About NGC 6153

NGC 6153 is an uncommon nebula. It lies about 4,443.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sco and shines at apparent magnitude 10.9.

A planetary nebula: the shed outer atmosphere of a dying Sun-like star, lit from within by the naked stellar core left behind.

How to see it

Look for NGC 6153 in the constellation Sco. At apparent magnitude 10.9, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, NGC 6153 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 6153 is an uncommon nebula

NGC 6153 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Nebula, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Planetary nebula (a dying star's shell) and On the zodiac — 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.