The sky around vdB 14 at true scale, north up and east left, with stars to magnitude 8. The circles show the field of a low-power eyepiece and of 10×50 binoculars.
vdB 14 is a reflection nebula in Camelopardalis, 3,100 light-years away
vdB 14 (LBN 681) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Camelopardalis, 3,100 light-years away. spans 46′ of sky, about 41 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in December.
Nebula: a cloud of gas and dust. Emission nebulae glow on their own, lit by ultraviolet light from hot young stars; reflection nebulae shine by starlight scattered from dust; dark nebulae block the light behind them.
vdB 14 is vdB 14 in the Van den Bergh catalog of reflection nebulae
Sidney van den Bergh listed it in his catalog of reflection nebulae (1966), drawn from the Palomar Sky Survey. He chose nebulae lit by a star bright enough to appear in the Bonner and Cordoba star catalogs. The star that lights it is HD 21291, B9Ia, magnitude 4.2. He rated it moderate in brightness and blue in color.
Finding vdB 14 from γ Per
vdB 14 lies 7.2° northeast of γ Per, the magnitude 2.9 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 14 is highest in the evening in December
The chart gives its height above the horizon at 9 pm through the year, from 60°N to 40°S. It can be seen from the whole northern hemisphere and south to about 30°S, and never sets north of 30°N.
vdB 14 is 3,100 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 14 tonight left it about 3,100 years ago. It ranks 123 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (950 pc).
