Observe
1Properties
Magnitude
11.3
Angular Size
3.3′ × 2.3′
Position Angle
83°
Distance
130.80 million ly
Galaxy Type
Barred Spiral (Sbc)
cB, S, R, gmbM
Querying SIMBAD database...
Position & Identifiers
2How easy to spot?
Sign in
and configure your equipment and default location to see a personalized row.
| Telescope | Bortle 3 | Bortle 4 | Bortle 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80 mm refractor 80mm refr. | Medium | Hard+ | Hard |
| 150 mm Newton 150mm Newt. | Medium+ | Medium+ | Medium |
| Celestron C8 (203 mm SCT) C8 203mm | Easy | Easy | Medium+ |
Easy
Medium
Hard
Very hard
Impossible
Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs
Medium
on Seestar S50
3Visibility
Set a location in User Settings to see visibility data.
Best season
Jan – Mar
(peak: Feb)
4
Eyepiece View
5
Best Magnification
Explore
6
Surface Brightness
7
Morphology Decoder
8
Inclination & True Shape
9
Redshift
10
Size Comparator
Discover
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 3283
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy
mag 11.74
2.4°
Vela
C79
NGC 3201
Globular cluster — dense ball of ancient stars
Globular Cluster
mag 6.8
3.1°
Vela
NGC 3250
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy
mag 11.0
4.0°
Antlia
Eight Burst Nebula
NGC 3132
Small bright planetary nebula
Planetary Nebula
mag 8.0
5.2°
Vela
Mu Vel
Tight double — a rewarding split at 2.3″
Double Star
mag 2.69
6.4°
Vela
NGC 3275
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy
mag 12.0
7.2°
Antlia
NGC 3257
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy
mag 13.12
8.2°
Antlia
Explore Nightbase
Related knowledge, tools, and stories — no observation planning required.
William Parsons
Built the Leviathan of Parsonstown; first to resolve spiral structure of nebulae
Biography
Galaxies and the Interstellar Medium
The Hubble tuning fork, Tully-Fisher distances, metallicity, Wolf-Rayet stars, HII regions, interstellar dust, the 21-cm hydrogen line, and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect — the working toolkit astronomers use to read galaxies and the stuff between their stars.
Article
Vela
Mythology, bright stars, and deep-sky highlights.
Constellation