The sky around vdB 126 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 126 is a reflection nebula in Vulpecula, 4,370 light-years away
vdB 126 (LBN 134, Ced 167) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, 4,370 light-years away. spans 8′ of sky, about 10 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in August.
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 126 is vdB 126 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 182918, B6V, magnitude 8.6. He rated it bright in brightness and very blue in color.
Finding vdB 126 from Albireo
vdB 126 lies 5.3° south of Albireo, the magnitude 3.0 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 126 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 67°S, and never sets north of 67°N.
vdB 126 is 4,370 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 126 tonight left it about 4,370 years ago. It ranks 141 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (1340 pc).
