IC 426 - Reflection Nebula
The reflection nebula IC 426 can be found 50' (arcminutes) north of the bright star "Alnilam" in the constellation Orion at a distance of 1,500 light-years. It was
discovered in 1888 on photographic plates by Wilhelmina Fleming. With an apparent size of 5x3' the true diameter can be determined to 2.2x1.3 light-years. The
bright edge, however, is only 0.2 light-years wide.
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IC 426 is visible in my 20" f/3.2 Dobsonian as a faint patch of light, which is best observed at 120...210x in combination with an UHC-S nebula filter. Then a
relatively large nebula appears, which is much darker in the center. The shape is irregular and the edges are brightest towards a brighter star located west of IC 426.
It appears that the nebula reflects the light of this star - which is most likely where the increase in brightness of the western edge comes from.
To the southwest of IC 426 there are two other extremely faint patches of light, but they were really difficult to see with averted vision even though the sky
was very dark.
