🌟 Brilliant Color in the Eyepiece
One of the Blue Snowball’s most striking features is its distinct blue or aquamarine color, visible through even small telescopes. Unlike many deep-sky objects that appear as faint gray smudges, NGC 7662 delivers a noticeable hue that stands out clearly against the blackness of space, providing a rare splash of color.

🌟 Excellent Visibility from Suburban Skies
Thanks to its high surface brightness and small angular size (about 20 arcseconds), the Blue Snowball pierces through light pollution better than many deep-sky objects. It’s a great planetary nebula for urban and suburban observers, offering detail and presence even when skies aren’t ideal.

🌟 A Target That Welcomes High Magnification
NGC 7662 rewards close attention. While it first appears as a small, bright blue disk, increasing magnification reveals delicate structure, such as a slightly brighter outer ring and sometimes a central dimming. With larger apertures, subtle texture within the nebula becomes visible.

🌟 Moderately Easy to Find in Andromeda
The Blue Snowball is located in Andromeda, not far from the famous Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31). This makes it an ideal second stop during a session focused on autumn’s iconic deep-sky objects. Its placement ensures it rides high in northern skies during fall nights.

🌟 A Compact Showcase of Stellar Evolution
NGC 7662 is the remnant of a sun-like star in its final stages, having shed its outer layers to reveal the exposed core that illuminates the surrounding gas. Observing it offers a glimpse into the future of our own Sun.

🌟 A Crowd-Pleaser for Public Outreach
outreach object. It shows well in small scopes and stands out as different from the stars around it, making it a great object to wow guests who may never have seen a planetary nebula before.

Find the Great Square of Pegasus and notice the two upper stars, Alpheratz (+2.05) and Scheat (+2.47).

Find the three dim stars Lambda (+3.86), Kappa (+4.15) and Iota (+4.28) Andromedae. Focus on Iota -- it is easily visible to the naked eye under most skies.

With a telescope finder, point to Iota. With a low-powered eyepiece, hop 2.5° (about 5 Moon-widths) to the Blue Snowball Nebula -- it should appear as a slightly fuzzy star. Explore!

✅ Use Low Power to Find, Then Zoom In
Start with a low-power eyepiece to scan the area and spot NGC 7662—it will appear as a small, round, slightly fuzzy “star” that doesn’t quite come to a pinpoint focus. Once found, switch to medium or high magnification (100x–200x or more) to enlarge the disk and appreciate its structure and color. The nebula responds well to magnification and holds its brightness even at higher powers.

✅ Look for the Blue Tint
One of the best aspects of the Blue Snowball is its visible color—a pale blue or aqua hue that stands out in contrast to the surrounding stars. To see this more clearly, observe when your eyes are fully dark-adapted, and take your time at the eyepiece. The color is subtle but real, and it’s often more apparent with slightly defocused vision or averted gaze.

✅ Observe on Nights with Good Seeing
Because NGC 7662 is compact and responds well to magnification, steady atmospheric conditions (good seeing) will allow you to push to higher powers and bring out more detail. Nights when stars appear sharp and still are ideal for teasing out the inner shell structure or the brighter outer edge of the nebula.

✅ Try a Narrowband or OIII Filter for Contrast
Although NGC 7662 is already bright, using a UHC or OIII filter can improve contrast by darkening the background and enhancing the nebula’s glow. This is especially helpful in light-polluted areas or when trying to bring out the fainter outer halo that surrounds the brighter inner disk.

✅ Compare It with Other Planetary Nebulae
After observing the Blue Snowball, compare it with other planetaries like the Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) or the Little Dumbbell (M76). These comparisons highlight differences in size, brightness, color, and structure, deepening your appreciation for planetary nebulae as a class of objects.

❌ Naked Eye
With the naked eye, NGC 7662 is invisible due to its small size and relatively dim apparent magnitude, even under pristine skies.

❗ Binoculars
Through binoculars, it remains elusive—appearing at best as a very faint, star-like point and easily mistaken for an ordinary star, if seen at all.

✅ Small Telescope
With a small telescope, the Blue Snowball begins to reveal its identity. At low power, it appears as a slightly out-of-focus star or a small, pale, bluish disk that doesn’t quite sharpen like surrounding stars. Increasing magnification begins to reveal its round, planet-like shape and hints of its characteristic blue hue.

✅ Medium Telescope
In a medium telescope, the view improves significantly. The nebula clearly resolves into a distinct disk, and the subtle color becomes more noticeable. Under good seeing conditions, you may even begin to see a brighter outer edge surrounding a slightly dimmer core, hinting at its shell-like structure.

✅ Large Telescope
A large telescope enhances this even further—NGC 7662 appears larger, brighter, and more textured. The inner and outer shells become more distinct, and the nebula’s aquamarine glow is more vivid, even under light-polluted skies. With high magnification and steady skies, the Blue Snowball transforms from a small blur into a structured, richly colored cosmic jewel.

🟣 In Bortle 1–2 skies, the Blue Snowball Nebula appears vivid and crisp. Its round shape is immediately obvious, and the soft blue hue stands out clearly. The contrast with the dark background is excellent, and subtle structure, like a slightly brighter rim, may be visible.

🔵 In Bortle 3–4 skies, the nebula still looks strong. The blue color remains noticeable, and the disk is well-defined. While the surrounding stars lose a bit of sharpness, the nebula itself holds up well, especially at moderate magnification.

🟢 In Bortle 5–6 skies, the Blue Snowball begins to lose contrast with the background, but it remains visible and recognizable. The color may appear fainter, and finer structure is harder to pick out, though it still presents as a small, softly glowing disk.

🟡 In Bortle 7+ skies, the nebula fades but does not disappear. The color is often lost, and it may appear as a pale, fuzzy “star” with no detail. It’s still detectable thanks to its brightness and compactness, but the view is much less distinct.