The sky around vdB 15 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 15 is a reflection nebula in Camelopardalis, 3,510 light-years away
vdB 15 (LBN 682, Ced 14, DG 17) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Camelopardalis, 3,510 light-years away. spans 35′ of sky, about 36 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 15 is vdB 15 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 21389, A0Ia, magnitude 4.5. He rated it moderate in brightness and blue in color.
Finding vdB 15 from γ Per
vdB 15 lies 6.4° northeast of γ Per, the magnitude 2.9 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 15 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 31°S, and never sets north of 31°N.
vdB 15 is 3,510 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 15 tonight left it about 3,510 years ago. It ranks 129 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (1075 pc).
