Soul Nebula (IC 1848)
A large glowing cloud in Cassiopeia, 2.5° from the Heart Nebula, lit by the young cluster IC 1848. The two nebulae are about 6,600 and 6,700 light-years away, two parts of one star-forming region.
Nebula and star cluster in Cassiopeia.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 36° above the northern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 33° above the northern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 1 Nov, 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. It lies 10.5° east of Ruchbah.
- 10x50 binoculars: The cluster shows; the nebula needs a filter and a dark site.
- A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): Too big for a telescope field: its cluster shows, and the glow needs a filter and low power.
- A camera: Spans about 40% of an APS-C frame at 300 mm (field 4.5° × 3.0°); needs a tracking mount. An H-alpha-sensitive (modified) camera brings out its red glow. The photo above shows it with the Heart Nebula.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 120′, 3.9 Moons across (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Distance: 6,700 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 6,700 years ago.
- True size: 230 light-years across its catalogued outline; light crosses it in 230 years.
What it is made of
- Type
- Emission nebula with a young cluster
- Mass
- About 1,500 times the Sun's mass, in the stars of its cluster IC 1848
- Age
- About 9.3 million years (range 5.5 million years to 14 million years), the age of IC 1848
What is in it, not measured:
- Ionised hydrogen: glows red where hot stars light it
- Helium and heavier gases: with traces of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur
- Dust: in dark lanes
- Young hot stars: that light it
How we know: Distance from Gaia parallaxes of the stars of IC 1848, the cluster inside it: Hunt & Reffert 2024, A&A 686, A42 (Gaia DR3 cluster catalogue, VizieR J/A+A/686/A42), retrieved 2026-10-21: IC 1848 2,058 pc; statistical 6,689-6,738 ly (16th-84th percentile); Gaia DR3 parallax zero-point systematics (about 0.02 mas) add about 4%. True size: the apparent size times the distance (apparent size: Sharpless 1959, ApJS 4, 257 (VizieR VII/20), Sh2-199). Mass: Hunt & Reffert 2024, A&A 686, A42 (Gaia DR3 cluster catalogue, VizieR J/A+A/686/A42), retrieved 2026-10-21, IC 1848: total 1,541 ± 167 Suns.
More deep-sky objects: Heart Nebula (IC 1805) · Double Cluster (NGC 869 & NGC 884) · Kemble's Cascade & NGC 1502 · M103 (Open Cluster) · Alpha Persei Cluster (Melotte 20) · NGC 457 (ET Cluster / Owl Cluster)