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NGC 6502 — Galaxy in Pavo

Galaxy Fair (29/100)

Elliptical

Magnitude 12.8m Galaxy Pavo (Pav) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 12.78
Angular Size 1.4′ × 1.2′
Position Angle 45°
Distance 256.88 million ly
Galaxy Type Elliptical (E)
vF, vS, f * of D* inv

Position & Identifiers

RA 18h 04m 12.0s
Dec -65° 25' 00.0"
Constellation Pavo (Pav)
Catalog NGC 6502

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 May – Jul (peak: Jun)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

NGC 6502 · 1.4′×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 6483
Medium
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 11.96 1.8° Pavo
IC 4662
Medium
Galaxy
Galaxy mag 11.4 2.0° Pavo
NGC 6614
Hard+
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.95 3.1° Pavo
NGC 6362
Easy
Globular cluster — dense ball of ancient stars
Globular Cluster mag 8.3 3.6° Ara
IC 4742
Medium
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.08 4.3° Pavo
Xi Pav
Medium
Easy double, sep 3.7″
Double Star mag 4.36 4.5° Pavo
Kappa Pav
Medium+
Variable star, range 3.9–4.8
Variable Star mag 4.44 5.6° Pavo
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