The sky around vdB 10 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.
vdB 10 is a reflection nebula in Perseus, 3,070 light-years away
vdB 10 (LBN 680, DG 12) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Perseus, 3,070 light-years away. spans 32′ of sky, about 29 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in December.
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.
vdB 10 is vdB 10 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 20041, A0Ia, magnitude 5.8. He rated it faint in brightness and intermediate in color.
Finding vdB 10 from γ Per
vdB 10 lies 4.0° north of γ Per, the magnitude 2.9 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 10 is highest in the evening in December
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 33°S, and never sets north of 33°N.
vdB 10 is 3,070 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 10 tonight left it about 3,070 years ago. It ranks 121 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (940 pc).
