About Cigar Galaxy
Cigar Galaxy is a rare galaxy. It sits in the constellation UMa and shines at apparent magnitude 8.3.
Home to hundreds of billions of stars — a universe unto itself.
Rare galaxy 40 EP
Cigar Galaxy
RA 148.9697° · Dec 69.6794° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesRare 46 pts → Epic
- Galaxy +20
- Messier object +12
- Has a proper name +8
Total score 40
6 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Galaxy · +20
- Messier object · +12
- Has a proper name · +8
Trivia
How we found it
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Cosmic context
- Scale. Home to hundreds of billions of stars — a universe unto itself.
Properties
- constellation
- UMa
- dso type
- G
- hubble
- S?
- mag
- 8.3
- messier
- yes
- messier number
- 082
- name
- Cigar Galaxy
- named
- yes
How to see it
Look for Cigar Galaxy in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 8.3, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, Cigar Galaxy 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 Cigar Galaxy is a rare galaxy
Cigar Galaxy scores 40 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, Messier object and Has a proper name — 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.