The sky around vdB 129 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 129 is a reflection nebula in Aquila, 286 light-years away
vdB 129 (LBN 113, LBN 116) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Aquila, 286 light-years away. spans 1.6° of sky, about 8.0 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in September.
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 129 is vdB 129 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 Theta Aql, HD 191692, B9.5III, magnitude 3.2. He rated it faint in brightness and moderately blue in color.
Finding vdB 129 from Altair
vdB 129 lies 11.0° southeast of Altair, the magnitude 0.8 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
vdB 129 is highest in the evening in September
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 southern hemisphere and north to about 89°N.
vdB 129 is 286 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 129 tonight left it about 286 years ago, around 1740 AD. It ranks 2 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Hipparcos 2007 parallax via HYG v4.1 (HR 7710, illuminating star).
Objects within 6° of vdB 129
No other object on Go Astronomy's catalog pages lies within 6°.
