Observe
1Properties
Magnitude
13.6
Angular Size
1.2′ × 0.7′
Position Angle
117°
Distance
436.65 million ly
Galaxy Type
Elliptical (E)
eF, R, pS, F* close n
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. | V. hard+ | V. hard+ | V. hard+ |
| 150 mm Newton 150mm Newt. | Hard | Hard | V. hard+ |
| Celestron C8 (203 mm SCT) C8 203mm | Hard+ | Hard+ | Hard |
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
Apr – Jun
(peak: May)
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 6027
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy
mag 12.4
3.3°
Serpens
NGC 6020
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy
mag 12.6
5.0°
Serpens
NGC 6051
Edge-on galaxy
Galaxy
mag 13.0
6.2°
Serpens
NGC 6181
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy
mag 11.9
6.8°
Hercules
Blaze Star
HR 5958
Mira-type variable, range 2.0–10.8
Variable Star
mag 10.00
8.3°
Corona Borealis
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
Hercules
Mythology, bright stars, and deep-sky highlights.
Constellation
