RA 188.5662° · Dec 13.0753° · openngc
11 more points to reach Rare.
NGC 4531 is an uncommon galaxy. It sits in the constellation Vir and shines at apparent magnitude 12.36.
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 4531 in the constellation Vir. At apparent magnitude 12.36, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 4531 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 4531 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Galaxy, Lenticular galaxy (a disc with no arms) and On the zodiac — 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.