The sky around Soccer Ball Nebula 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.
Soccer Ball Nebula is a planetary nebula in Cygnus, 13,700 light-years away
Soccer Ball Nebula (Kronberger 61, Kn 61, PN G070.5+11.0) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Cygnus, 13,700 light-years away. It shines at magnitude 18.0 and spans 1.5′ of sky, about 6.0 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in August.
Planetary nebula: a shell of gas thrown off by a dying Sun-like star and lit by the hot core left behind, which becomes a white dwarf. The name comes from their small, round, planet-like look in early telescopes.
Finding Soccer Ball Nebula from Vega
Soccer Ball Nebula lies 8.7° east of Vega, the magnitude 0.0 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
Soccer Ball Nebula is highest in the evening in August
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 52°S, and never sets north of 52°N.
Soccer Ball Nebula is 13,700 light-years away
The light seen from Soccer Ball Nebula tonight left it about 13,700 years ago. It ranks 109 of 124 by distance among the nebulae on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Gaia extinction distance, Deng et al. 2025 (4200 pc).
Objects within 6° of Soccer Ball Nebula
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
