The sky around vdB 76 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 76 is a reflection nebula in Monoceros, 2,000 light-years away
vdB 76 (LBN 903, Ced 78) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Monoceros, 2,000 light-years away. 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 76 is vdB 76 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 258686, B7IIIP, magnitude 9.1. He rated it moderate in brightness and moderately blue in color.
Finding vdB 76 from Betelgeuse
vdB 76 lies 9.2° east of Betelgeuse, the magnitude 0.5 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
vdB 76 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 80°S, and never sets north of 80°N.
vdB 76 is 2,000 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 76 tonight left it about 2,000 years ago. It ranks 88 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (614 pc).
