Observe
1Properties
Magnitude
10.7
Angular Size
3.9′ × 2.6′
Position Angle
88°
Distance
135.97 million ly
Galaxy Type
Elliptical (E1 pec)
pB, L, R, gbM, r
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+ | Medium | Hard+ |
| 150 mm Newton 150mm Newt. | Easy | Easy | Medium+ |
| Celestron C8 (203 mm SCT) C8 203mm | Easy | Easy | Easy |
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
Feb – Apr
(peak: Mar)
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 4706
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy
mag 12.7
0.2°
Centaurus
NGC 4709
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy
mag 11.10
0.3°
Centaurus
NGC 4683
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy
mag 12.9
0.3°
Centaurus
NGC 4677
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy
mag 12.7
0.4°
Centaurus
NGC 5139
omega Cen
Large bright globular cluster
Globular Cluster
mag 3.7
9.1°
Centaurus
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
Centaurus
Mythology, bright stars, and deep-sky highlights.
Constellation
