RA 351.4746° · Dec 42.5349° · openngc
28 more points to reach Anomaly.
Copeland's Blue Snowball is an epic nebula. It lies about 269.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation And and shines at apparent magnitude 8.3.
A planetary nebula: the shed outer atmosphere of a dying Sun-like star, lit from within by the naked stellar core left behind.
Look for Copeland's Blue Snowball in the constellation And. At apparent magnitude 8.3, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, Copeland's Blue Snowball 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.
Copeland's Blue Snowball scores 50 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 28 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Nebula, Has a proper name, Planetary nebula (a dying star's shell), Coming towards us and Its dying star is still visible — 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.