The sky around vdB 66 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 66 is a reflection nebula in Monoceros, 2,860 light-years away
vdB 66 (NGC 2149) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Monoceros, 2,860 light-years away. spans 3′ of sky, about 2.5 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 66 is vdB 66 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-09 1310, magnitude 10.2. He rated it faint in brightness and blue in color.
Finding vdB 66 from Saiph
vdB 66 lies 3.8° east of Saiph, the magnitude 2.1 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 66 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 80°N.
vdB 66 is 2,860 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 66 tonight left it about 2,860 years ago. It ranks 109 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (878 pc).
