The sky around vdB 133 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 133 is a reflection nebula in Cygnus, 4,240 light-years away
vdB 133 (LBN 218) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Cygnus, 4,240 light-years away. spans 23′ of sky, about 28 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 133 is vdB 133 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 44 Cyg, HD 195593, F5Iab, magnitude 6.2. He rated it bright in brightness and moderately blue in color.
Finding vdB 133 from Sadr
vdB 133 lies 3.7° southeast of Sadr, the magnitude 2.2 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 133 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 northern hemisphere and south to about 53°S, and never sets north of 53°N.
vdB 133 is 4,240 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 133 tonight left it about 4,240 years ago. It ranks 137 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (1300 pc).
