RA 167.8790° · Dec 55.6741° · openngc
📷 Real photoComputing the sky for your location…
9 more points to reach Epic.
NGC 3556 is a rare galaxy. It lies about 32,518,537.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa and shines at apparent magnitude 10.05.
A galaxy: a gravitationally bound city of stars, gas and dark matter, turning so slowly that a single rotation takes hundreds of millions of years.
Look for NGC 3556 in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 10.05, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 3556 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 3556 scores 41 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Galaxy, Outside our galaxy entirely, Messier object, Spiral galaxy 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.