The sky around vdB 60 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 60 is a reflection nebula in Orion, 1,590 light-years away
vdB 60 (NGC 2071, LBN 938, Ced 55v) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion, 1,590 light-years away. spans 7′ of sky, about 3.2 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 60 is vdB 60 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 290861, B5, magnitude 9.7. He rated it bright in brightness and intermediate in color.
Finding vdB 60 from Alnitak
vdB 60 lies 2.8° northeast of Alnitak, the magnitude 1.7 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 60 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 northern hemisphere and south to about 90°S.
vdB 60 is 1,590 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 60 tonight left it about 1,590 years ago, around 436 AD. It ranks 83 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (487 pc).
