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NGC 4251 — Galaxy in Coma Berenices

Galaxy Fair (38/100)

Lenticular

Magnitude 12.0m Galaxy Coma Berenices (Com) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 12.0
Angular Size 2.3′ × 1.2′
Position Angle 100°
Distance 49.76 million ly
Galaxy Type Lenticular (S0)
vB, S, E, vsvmbMN, *6-7 f 90s

Position & Identifiers

RA 12h 18m 08.3s
Dec +28° 10' 31.4"
Constellation Coma Berenices (Com)
Catalog NGC 4251

2How easy to spot?

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

NGC 4251 · 2.3′×1.2′ · 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 4278
Easy
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.2 1.2° Coma Berenices
NGC 4283
Medium
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.0 1.2° Coma Berenices
NGC 4245
Medium+
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 11.4 1.4° Coma Berenices
NGC 4274
Medium+
Barred spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.4 1.5° Coma Berenices
NGC 4147
Medium+
Compact globular cluster
Globular Cluster mag 10.3 9.8° Coma Berenices
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