About IC 2184
IC 2184 is a rare galaxy. It sits in the constellation Cam.
A whole group of galaxies bound together, the same kind of structure our Milky Way belongs to.
Rare galaxy 44 EP
IC 2184
RA 112.3558° · Dec 72.1289° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Galaxy group +26
- Galaxy +14
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
Total score 44
6 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Galaxy · +14
- Galaxy group · +26
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A whole group of galaxies bound together, the same kind of structure our Milky Way belongs to.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. Groups like this are the bricks of the cosmic web: the largest structures gravity has had time to build.
- Scale. Home to hundreds of billions of stars — a universe unto itself, and every one of those points of light could have planets.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Camelopardalis.
- Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around January — that's when to go looking.
How we came to know it
- The Index Catalogue. The IC was the 1895 and 1908 supplement to the NGC — the first catalogue in history to be filled largely with objects found on photographic plates rather than by eye.
Properties
- constellation
- Cam
- dso type
- GGroup
- name
- IC 2184
- size arcmin
- 1.1
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for IC 2184 in the constellation Cam.
Like any astronomical target, IC 2184 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why IC 2184 is a rare galaxy
IC 2184 scores 44 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Galaxy, Galaxy group and Never sets (northern circumpolar) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.