Nebula
Sh2-269
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 | Orion |
| Distance | 4,130 pc (13.5 thousand ly) |
| Diameter | 39.5 ly |
| WISE name | G196.448-01.673 |
| Catalogue status | Known H II region |
| Source | WISE H II Catalog v3.0 |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 14m 37.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +13° 50′ 03″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 76° S. North of latitude 76° 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 13 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 239 million years.