The sky around vdB 98 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 98 is a reflection nebula in Puppis, 2,560 light-years away
vdB 98 (LBN 1062, Ced 101) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Puppis, 2,560 light-years away. spans 10′ of sky, about 7.4 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in March.
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 98 is vdB 98 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 61071, B2III, magnitude 6.8. He rated it moderate in brightness and very blue in color.
Finding vdB 98 from Aludra
vdB 98 lies 4.8° northeast of Aludra, the magnitude 2.5 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
vdB 98 is highest in the evening in March
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 65°N, and never sets south of 65°S.
vdB 98 is 2,560 light-years away
The light seen from vdB 98 tonight left it about 2,560 years ago. It ranks 98 of 158 by distance among the Van den Bergh nebulae. Distance source: Gaia DR3 parallax of the illuminating star via AT-HYG v3.2 (785 pc).
