The sky around The Phantom Of The Opera 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.
The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula is an emission nebula (H II region) in Cassiopeia, 9,650 light-years away
The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula (Sh2-173, LBN 593) is an emission nebula (H II region) in the constellation Cassiopeia, 9,650 light-years away. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in November.
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.
The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula is Sh2-173 in the Sharpless catalog
Stewart Sharpless listed it in his catalog of H II regions (1959), drawn from the red and blue prints of the Palomar Sky Survey. He rated each region's brightness on a scale of 1 to 3; Sh2-173 is medium (class 2 of 3). It is also listed as LBN 593.
Finding The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula from Caph
The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula lies 3.0° northeast of Caph, the magnitude 2.3 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula is highest in the evening in November
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 28°S, and never sets north of 28°N.
The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula is 9,650 light-years away
The light seen from The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula tonight left it about 9,650 years ago. It ranks 101 of 159 by distance among the Sharpless nebulae with a measured distance. Distance source: spectrophotometric, Foster & Brunt 2015 (2.96 kpc).
Objects within 6° of The Phantom Of The Opera Nebula
