The sky around vdB 54 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 54 is a reflection nebula in Orion, 1,410 light-years away
vdB 54 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion, 1,410 light-years away. spans 2.4′ of sky, about 1.0 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in February.
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 54 is vdB 54 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-06 1287, magnitude 9.5. He rated it bright in brightness and blue in color.
Finding vdB 54 from Rigel
vdB 54 lies 7.1° east of Rigel, the magnitude 0.2 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 54 is highest in the evening in February
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 southern hemisphere and north to about 84°N.
vdB 54 is 1,410 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 54 tonight left it about 1,410 years ago, around 616 AD. It ranks 77 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Orion A (2019 average), PS1+Gaia DR2 dust, Zucker et al. 2019 (432 pc average).
