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IC 3896 — Galaxy in Centaurus

Galaxy Fair (21/100)

Elliptical

Magnitude 13.0m Galaxy Centaurus (Cen) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 13.0
Angular Size 3.0′ × 2.1′
Position Angle 6°
Distance 98.55 million ly
Galaxy Type Elliptical (E)
bM, mag 14

Position & Identifiers

RA 12h 56m 43.2s
Dec -50° 20' 48.8"
Constellation Centaurus (Cen)
Catalog IC 3896

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Hard V. hard+ V. hard
150mm Newt. Hard+ Hard Hard
C8 203mm Medium Hard+ Hard+
Easy Medium Hard Very hard Impossible

Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs

Medium on Seestar S50

3Visibility

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Best season Feb – Apr (peak: Mar)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

IC 3896 · 3.0′×2.1′ · N up, E left

5 Best Magnification

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6 Surface Brightness

7 Morphology Decoder

8 Inclination & True Shape

9 Redshift

10 Size Comparator

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11

Light Travel Time Machine

12

Relativistic Travel

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.

NGC 4785
Hard+
Barred spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.09 1.7° Centaurus
NGC 4976
Easy
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.2 2.1° Centaurus
NGC 5139
omega Cen
Easy
Large bright globular cluster
Globular Cluster mag 3.7 5.7° Centaurus
NGC 5206
Easy
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.49 6.4° Centaurus
NGC 4946
Hard+
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.35 6.9° Centaurus
V744 Cen
Easy
Semi-regular variable, range 5.1–6.5
Variable Star mag 6.00 6.9° Centaurus
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