The sky around vdB 143 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 143 is a reflection nebula in Cepheus, 2,970 light-years away
vdB 143 (LBN 504, Ced 194) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus, 2,970 light-years away. spans 2′ of sky, about 1.7 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in October.
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 143 is vdB 143 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 206135, B3V, magnitude 8.3. He rated it bright in brightness and very blue in color.
Finding vdB 143 from Alfirk
vdB 143 lies 2.5° south of Alfirk, the magnitude 3.2 star. That is within one binocular field.
vdB 143 is highest in the evening in October
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 22°S, and never sets north of 22°N.
vdB 143 is 2,970 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 143 tonight left it about 2,970 years ago. It ranks 113 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (910 pc).
