An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The largest and the most luminous → H II region in the → Small Magellanic Cloud, which contains the prominent OB star cluster → NGC 346. N66 has a diameter of about 7 arcmin on the sky corresponding to about 120 pc for a distance of about 60 kpc. Compared with the → Orion Nebula, N66 has an Hα luminosity almost 60 times higher.

Serial number in the Henize (1956) catalog, more precisely designated as LHA 115-N66.