Nebula
Sh2-235
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 | Auriga |
| Distance | 1,680 pc (5.5 thousand ly) |
| Diameter | 36.5 ly |
| WISE name | G173.411+02.586 |
| Catalogue status | Member of a known group of H II regions |
| Source | WISE H II Catalog v3.0 |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 39m 37.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +35° 53′ 56″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 54° S. North of latitude 54° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in December, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 5,479 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 97 million years.