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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 6:47  
clear_day Transit: 12:50  
SunsetSet: 18:52 south
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All Constellations »  Orion »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion

Altitude: 32.6°   Azimuth: 198.2°   Direction: South-South-West

NGC 1981 is a Star Cluster + Nebula in the Orion constellation. NGC 1981 is situated close to the celestial equator and, as such, it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres in certain times of the year.

NGC 1981
Star Cluster + Nebula
Orion

NGC 1981 is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 32.6°
Azimuth: 198.2°
Direction: South-South-West

See also NGC 1981 rise and set times.

Given its visual magnitude of 4.2, NGC 1981 is barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.

Available Resources for NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion

Photometric information of NGC 1981

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 1981 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

4.2

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

Apparent size of NGC 1981

The following table reports NGC 1981 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 1981 is a visual representation of it.
9 arcmin
9 arcmin

Digitized Sky Survey image of NGC 1981

The image below is a photograph of NGC 1981 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.5x0.5 degrees (30x30 arcmins).

Image of NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion star
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DSS2 image of NGC 1981 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (9 arcmin) and minor (9 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of NGC 1981

Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of NGC 1981 are provided in the following table:

05h 35m 09s
-04° 25’ 29”

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 1981 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion.

Finder chart NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion.

Rise ans set times of NGC 1981 from your location

Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's NGC 1981 (Upper Sword) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 94.4°
Max altitude: 34.1°
Azimuth: 265.6°