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IC 3986 — Galaxy in Centaurus

Galaxy Fair (25/100)

Elliptical

Magnitude 12.5m Galaxy Centaurus (Cen) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 12.50
Angular Size 1.9′ × 1.4′
Position Angle 124°
Distance 216.57 million ly
Galaxy Type Elliptical (E)
eeF, pS, R, *10 nf

Position & Identifiers

RA 13h 01m 32.1s
Dec -32° 17' 28.0"
Constellation Centaurus (Cen)
Catalog IC 3986

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Hard Hard V. hard+
150mm Newt. Medium Hard+ Hard+
C8 203mm Medium+ Medium 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 Mar – May (peak: Apr)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

IC 3986 · 1.9′×1.4′ · 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 4936
Medium+
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 11.3 1.9° Centaurus
IC 3829
Medium
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 11.70 3.2° Hydra
IC 4214
Hard+
Barred spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 11.40 3.4° Centaurus
NGC 5062
Hard+
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.24 4.7° Centaurus
LN Hya
Hard+
Semi-regular variable, range 6.6–6.7
Variable Star mag 6.62 5.9° Hydra
M68
NGC 4590
Easy
Globular cluster — dense ball of ancient stars
Globular Cluster mag 7.8 7.3° Hydra
Show on Map

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