The sky around vdB 158 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 158 is a reflection nebula in Andromeda, 1,380 light-years away
vdB 158 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Andromeda, 1,380 light-years away. spans 6.8′ of sky, about 2.7 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in November.
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 158 is vdB 158 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 222142, B8V, magnitude 9.5. He rated it moderate in brightness and very blue in color.
Finding vdB 158 from Caph
vdB 158 lies 11.6° southwest of Caph, the magnitude 2.3 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
vdB 158 is highest in the evening in November
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 42°S, and never sets north of 42°N.
vdB 158 is 1,380 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 158 tonight left it about 1,380 years ago, around 646 AD. It ranks 75 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (424 pc).
