H-NGC3377
Galaxy in Leo
About
An elongated elliptical galaxy in Leo, roughly 37 million light-years away and a member of the galaxy group around M96 (Leo I). It spans about 40,000 light-years, and William Herschel found it in 1784 (it is in the Herschel 400).
Imaging tips
- Only about 5′ × 3′, so it is too small to frame: it needs a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
- A faint companion, NGC 3377A, lies about 7′ to the northwest, so it sits nearby rather than inside a tight frame.
- One visual observer with a 13-inch scope describes it as about twice as long as it is wide, with a small bright nucleus.
- Surface brightness is 21.8 mag/arcsec². Best around February and March, when it climbs to 54° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 5′ × 3′
- Magnitude
- 10.2
- Coordinates
- RA 10h 47.7m, Dec +13° 59′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Feb, Mar
- Peak altitude
- 54° from 50°N, 69° from 35°N