RA 168.5112° · Dec 20.3886° · openngc
11 more points to reach Epic.
NGC 3588 is a rare galaxy. It sits in the constellation Leo and shines at apparent magnitude 15.3.
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 3588 in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 15.3, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 3588 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 3588 scores 39 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Galaxy, Interacting galaxy pair, Spiral galaxy, On the zodiac 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.