The sky around vdB 65 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 65 is a reflection nebula in Auriga, 4,510 light-years away
vdB 65 (LBN 823, Ced 61) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga, 4,510 light-years away. spans 4′ of sky, about 5.2 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 65 is vdB 65 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+30 1096, magnitude 10.7. He rated it bright in brightness and moderately blue in color.
Finding vdB 65 from Elnath
vdB 65 lies 8.5° east of Elnath, the magnitude 1.6 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
vdB 65 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 59°S, and never sets north of 59°N.
vdB 65 is 4,510 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 65 tonight left it about 4,510 years ago. It ranks 144 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (1381 pc).
