About NGC 6974
NGC 6974 is a rare nebula. It sits in the constellation Cyg.
A supernova remnant: the shredded corpse of an exploded star, still tearing outwards through interstellar space at thousands of kilometres a second.
Rare nebula 34 EP
NGC 6974
RA 312.7680° · Dec 31.8281° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 2 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Supernova remnant +26
- Nebula +8
Total score 34
16 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Supernova remnant · +26
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A supernova remnant: the shredded corpse of an exploded star, still tearing outwards through interstellar space at thousands of kilometres a second.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. Explosions like this forged most of the calcium in your bones and the iron in your blood, then flung it out to be recycled.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Cygnus.
- 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 August — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Its tangled filaments glow in the colours of shock-heated gas, and it radiates in X-rays and radio as well as light.
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
- Cyg
- dso type
- SNR
- name
- NGC 6974
How to see it
Look for NGC 6974 in the constellation Cyg.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 6974 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 6974 is a rare nebula
NGC 6974 scores 34 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 16 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 2 science badges — Nebula and Supernova remnant — 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.