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IC 4312 — Galaxy in Centaurus

Galaxy Fair (29/100)

Lenticular

Magnitude 12.6m Galaxy Centaurus (Cen) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 12.57
Angular Size 1.2′ × 0.9′
Position Angle 75°
Distance 179.98 million ly
Galaxy Type Lenticular (S0)
eeF, bM

Position & Identifiers

RA 13h 40m 30.0s
Dec -51° 04' 00.0"
Constellation Centaurus (Cen)
Catalog IC 4312

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Hard V. 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 4312 · 1.2′×0.9′ · 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 5286
Easy
Globular cluster — dense ball of ancient stars
Globular Cluster mag 7.6 1.0° Centaurus
V744 Cen
Easy
Semi-regular variable, range 5.1–6.5
Variable Star mag 6.00 1.1° Centaurus
Epsilon Cen
Easy
Hot blue O-type star
Star mag 2.30 2.4° Centaurus
NGC 5266
Medium
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.0 2.9° Centaurus
NGC 5206
Easy
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.49 3.1° Centaurus
NGC 5333
Medium
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 11.89 3.4° Centaurus
NGC 4976
Easy
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.2 5.3° Centaurus
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