The sky around Messier 78 at true scale, north up and east left, with stars to magnitude 8. The circles show the field of a low-power eyepiece and of 10×50 binoculars.
Messier 78 is a diffuse nebula in Orion, 1,270 light-years away
Messier 78 (M78, NGC 2068, MWSC 0664, vdB 59) is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Orion, 1,270 light-years away. It shines at magnitude 8.0 and spans 8′ × 6′ of sky, about 3.0 light-years across. It is an easy target in binoculars, and it is highest in the evening sky in February.
Nebula: a cloud of gas and dust. Emission nebulae glow on their own, lit by ultraviolet light from hot young stars; reflection nebulae shine by starlight scattered from dust; dark nebulae block the light behind them.
Messier 78 is vdB 59 in the Van den Bergh catalog of reflection nebulae
Sidney van den Bergh listed it in his catalog of reflection nebulae (1966), drawn from the Palomar Sky Survey. He chose nebulae lit by a star bright enough to appear in the Bonner and Cordoba star catalogs. The star that lights it is HD 38563, B5, magnitude 10.5. He rated it very bright in brightness and intermediate in color.
Finding Messier 78 from Alnitak
Messier 78 lies 2.5° northeast of Alnitak, the magnitude 1.7 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
Messier 78 is highest in the evening in February
The chart gives its height above the horizon at 9 pm through the year, from 60°N to 40°S. It can be seen from the whole northern hemisphere and south to about 90°S.
Messier 78 is 1,270 light-years away
The light seen from Messier 78 tonight left it about 1,270 years ago, around 756 AD. It ranks 6 of 109 by distance among the 110 Messier objects. Distance source: NGC 2068 Gaia DR3, Hunt & Reffert 2023 (0.39 kpc).
