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Nebula

Sh2-282

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 follows from the gas’s radial velocity and the Galaxy’s rotation curve (kinematic method).

TypeNebula
ConstellationMonoceros
Distance1,950 pc (6.4 thousand ly) · estimated
Diameter108.3 ly
WISE nameG210.187-02.169
Catalogue statusKnown H II region
SourceWISE H II Catalog v3.0
Right ascension (J2000)6h 38m 42.6s
Declination (J2000)+1° 27′ 07″

In the sky

Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 89° S. 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 6,360 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 113 million years.

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