Pa 30 is a nebula in Cassiopeia and the likely remnant of the supernova recorded as a “guest star” in 1181. It is documented in deep optical images made with professional observatories, but the available evidence does not establish that an ordinary telescope can show it visually—or provide a tested amateur setup or reliable star-hop. You can identify its general location and understand what observing it realistically entails; do not mistake observatory images for an eyepiece view.
What is Pa 30?
Pa 30 is the nebula surrounding the likely remnant of the supernova witnessed in 1181. Historical Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic records describe a guest star visible for 185 days. NASA’s October 7, 2026 Astronomy Picture of the Day connects those records with Pa 30.
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The association is strong, but the precise nature of the explosion is still unsettled. NASA describes it as a Type Iax supernova and says a merger of two white dwarfs is a proposed explanation, not a settled account of what happened. An earlier NASA APOD feature from April 3, 2024 also discusses Pa 30 as a supernova remnant.
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Pa 30 is in Cassiopeia. That constellation-level location is not enough to point a telescope precisely: the sources cited here do not provide a verified coordinate entry, finder chart, or star-hop for the nebula. Use a current planetarium app or star chart to locate the field and confirm the target before observing; no particular app or chart is endorsed here.
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Without a reliable chart and verified coordinates, giving directions from a nearby star or naming a best observing season would risk sending you to the wrong field. Treat locating the field and detecting the nebula as separate tasks.
Can you see Pa 30 through an amateur telescope?
The available observations do not establish a visual detection threshold, a consumer telescope aperture that will reveal Pa 30, or an amateur imaging recipe. That means it would be misleading to promise that a particular telescope or eyepiece will show the nebula. It also does not prove that amateur detection is impossible.
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The scale of the documented work helps explain the caution. Fesen and colleagues’ 2023 paper used deep optical [S II] imaging to reveal a structured nebula about 170 arcseconds across, with dozens of radially aligned filaments. The paper estimated a distance of 2.3 kpc and measured an expansion velocity of 1100 km/s, interpreting those findings as consistent with an explosion around 1181. These are research measurements, not specifications for choosing an eyepiece or predicting what an amateur instrument will show.
What do the recent images show?
Gemini North observations led by Timothy Cunningham and Ilaria Caiazzo revealed about ten times more filamentary structure than earlier observations, according to the Center for Astrophysics report published October 6, 2026. The report also describes follow-up observations with the KPNO 2.1-meter and Hiltner 2.4-meter telescopes, which showed faint diffuse emission and radial filaments.
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NASA’s October 7, 2026 image feature describes chains of filaments with pearl-like knots. The knots are about four light-days in diameter, a physical size—not an apparent size or a claim about what an amateur observer can resolve.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to approach an observing attempt
- Verify the field. Use a current planetarium or charting resource to confirm Pa 30’s position in Cassiopeia. Do not rely on an unverified star-hop or guessed coordinates.
- Choose a goal you can assess. Field location, visual detection, and deep-sky imaging are different outcomes. The published observations described above establish the latter using professional facilities, not a consumer-equipment threshold.
- Do not assume a specific setup. The cited sources do not validate a particular aperture, camera, filter, mount, eyepiece, or exposure time for amateur observation. Any equipment recommendation would need credible, attributed amateur results under stated conditions.
If your goal is to see Pa 30 rather than simply point to its field, look for an attributed amateur observing report that states whether the result was visual or photographic and describes the equipment and conditions. The sources linked here do not supply that evidence.
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