RA 24.3562° · Dec -64.8964° · openngc
3 more points to reach Rare.
NGC 646 is an uncommon galaxy. It sits in the constellation Hyi and shines at apparent magnitude 14.37.
Not one galaxy but two, locked in a gravitational embrace. Encounters like this shred spiral arms and trigger furious bursts of star formation.
Look for NGC 646 in the constellation Hyi. At apparent magnitude 14.37, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 646 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.
NGC 646 scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Galaxy, Interacting galaxy pair and Faint fuzzy (mag > 13) — 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.