c46 — Hubble · Caldwell 46 · NASA/ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)

Hubble's Nebula

Nebula in Monoceros · 2,500 light-years

🔭 Explore Hubble's Nebula in the 3D map →View Hubble's Nebula images →

Type	Nebula
Constellation	Monoceros
Right ascension	6h 39m 10s
Declination	+8° 45′
Object distance	2,500 light-years
Apparent magnitude	11.8
Apparent size	2′ (arc-minutes)
Approx. true diameter	1.5 light-years across
Also known as	C46 · NGC 2261

Caldwell 46, popularly known as Hubble's Nebula, is a nebula (NGC 2261) in Monoceros — a luminous cloud of interstellar gas and dust. It appears as number 46 in the Caldwell catalogue, Sir Patrick Moore's 1995 list of 109 bright deep-sky objects for amateur astronomers. It spans roughly 2 arc-minutes on the sky. At about magnitude 11.8, it is a fainter object best hunted with a moderate telescope under dark skies.

Although it appears about 2′ wide on the sky, its real span is roughly 1.5 light-years — the difference is a measure of how far away it lies.

Observing Hubble's Nebula

Hubble's Nebula lies in the constellation Monoceros and is best placed in the evening sky around December. Its maximum altitude above the horizon depends on your latitude. Lying near the celestial equator, it can be seen from both hemispheres. It is faint — plan for a moderate telescope and a dark, moonless sky. Note that the listed magnitude is spread across the whole object — diffuse galaxies and nebulae are often harder to see than the number alone suggests, so dark, moonless skies help a great deal.

See Hubble's Nebula in Universe Finder

Open the interactive 3D map to fly to Hubble's Nebula and see it in context among the real stars around it. Launch the 3D view →

Sources

Position, magnitude and angular size from the OpenNGC catalogue (Mattia Verga).
Object identity cross-referenced with SIMBAD (CDS, Strasbourg).
Image credits and the original observation source are linked with each photograph.

Related objects

Orion Nebula — nebula
Ring Nebula — nebula
Eagle Nebula — nebula
Carina Nebula — nebula
Lagoon Nebula — nebula