Nebula
Sh2-20
H II region
A cloud of ionised hydrogen (H II region): a stellar nursery glowing in the ultraviolet light of the young, hot O and B stars inside it. The distance is measured from the parallax of masers in the region.
| Type | Nebula |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Distance | 2,920 pc (9.5 thousand ly) |
| Diameter | 24.1 ly |
| WISE name | G000.320-00.215 |
| Catalogue status | Known H II region |
| Source | WISE H II Catalog v3.0 |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 47m 13.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −28° 46′ 25″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 61° N. South of latitude 61° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 9,524 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 169 million years.