About C48
Description
NGC 2775 is a spiral galaxy in Cancer, about 55 million light-years away. It has an unusually smooth, bright central region surrounded by tightly wound, faint spiral arms with a distinctive flocculent (patchy) structure.
Observing Tips
Visible as a moderately bright, round glow with a prominent nucleus in a 6-inch telescope. Not much spiral structure is visible visually. Best in winter and spring evenings.
History
Discovered by William Herschel on March 19, 1783. Hubble Space Telescope images revealed that the spiral arms contain almost no gas, suggesting star formation has nearly ceased.
Fun Facts
NGC 2775 has an unusually large and bright bulge relative to its disk, and its spiral arms are remarkably gas-poor. It appears to be a galaxy that has exhausted most of its raw material for making new stars.
Observe
1Properties
Position & Identifiers
2How easy to spot?
| Telescope | Bortle 3 | Bortle 4 | Bortle 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80 mm refractor 80mm refr. | Medium | Medium | Hard+ |
| 150 mm Newton 150mm Newt. | Easy | Medium+ | Medium+ |
| Celestron C8 (203 mm SCT) C8 203mm | Easy | Easy | Medium+ |
Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs
3Visibility
Set a location in User Settings to see visibility data.
4
Eyepiece View
5
Best Magnification
Explore
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Surface Brightness
7
Morphology Decoder
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Inclination & True Shape
9
Redshift
10
Size Comparator
Discover
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Light Travel Time Machine
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Relativistic Travel
Community Photos (1)
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team. License: CC BY 4.0. (Wikimedia Commons)
Skybred Mar 2, 2026
Nearby in the Sky
Other targets within a few degrees — pan your scope a little and keep exploring.
Visibility scores assume a 150 mm Newton at Bortle 4.
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