C7 — NGC 2403
Galaxy in Camelopardalis
About
NGC 2403 is a spiral galaxy in Camelopardalis, roughly 9.7 million light-years distant, on the outskirts of the M81 group. Its arms are short and patchy with many star-forming regions, and Hubble found Cepheid variables here, the first beyond the Local Group.
Imaging tips
- At 1,350–2,240 mm on APS-C (2,060–3,440 mm full frame) the galaxy fills a good part of the frame.
- Faint for its size at 22.7 mag/arcsec², so plan several hours of broadband data; one imager used just over 3 hours of luminance from a Bortle 9 site.
- Its northern arm leads to NGC 2404, a large HII region, and the companion dwarf DDO 44 is being drawn into tidal streams, which only very deep data would show.
- Best in December and January; it peaks near 74° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 18′ × 10′
- Magnitude
- 8.4
- Coordinates
- RA 7h 36.9m, Dec +65° 36′
- Framing, APS-C
- 1350–2240 mm
- Framing, full frame
- 2060–3440 mm
- Best months
- Jan, Dec
- Peak altitude
- 74° from 50°N, 59° from 35°N