The sky around Cosmic Rosebud 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.
Cosmic Rosebud is a reflection nebula in Cepheus, 2,970 light-years away
Cosmic Rosebud (vdB 146, NGC 7129, NGC 7133, LBN 497) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus, 2,970 light-years away. spans 2.1′ of sky, about 1.8 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.
Cosmic Rosebud is vdB 146 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 BD+65 1637, magnitude 10.3. He rated it bright in brightness and blue in color.
Finding Cosmic Rosebud from Alderamin
Cosmic Rosebud lies 4.4° northeast of Alderamin, the magnitude 2.5 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
Cosmic Rosebud 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 24°S, and never sets north of 24°N.
Cosmic Rosebud is 2,970 light-years away
The light seen from Cosmic Rosebud 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, Hunt and Reffert 2023.
