The brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky, located in Orion. Appears as a hazy, comet-like patch in binoculars from dark sites, with more detail and two illuminating stars visible with a telescope.
Reflection nebula in Orion. Magnitude 8.0.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 83° above the southern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 87° above the southern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 15 Dec, in the middle of its season. The page works out tonight's rise, highest point and set for both towns in Guyana time (UTC-4), and where the Moon is.
What you'll see
Your eyes: Not visible to the eye.
10x50 binoculars: A misty patch around its stars.
A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): A faint glow around its stars; filters do not help with reflection nebulae.
A camera: Tiny on camera: it needs 2,000 mm or more of focal length on a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
Size on the sky: 8′ × 6′, 26% of the Moon's width (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
Brightness: magnitude 8.0. Fainter than the faintest stars in Georgetown (4.3) and Lethem (6.0): binoculars or a telescope.
Distance: 1,270 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 1,300 years ago, around the year 730.
What it is made of
Type
Reflection nebula
Distance
Approx. 1,270 Lightyears
True size
Approx. 3 × 2 Lightyears
Notable
Dust lit by young stars in the Orion B cloud; the same survey puts the Flame Nebula region (NGC 2024) at about 420 pc, so they belong to one cloud complex.