RA 190.5334° · Dec 32.5415° · openngc
7 more points to reach Epic.
Whale Galaxy is a rare galaxy. It lies about 28,230,225.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation CVn and shines at apparent magnitude 9.24.
A barred spiral — a straight bar of stars driving right through the nucleus, feeding gas inwards. Our own Milky Way is one of these.
Look for Whale Galaxy in the constellation CVn. At apparent magnitude 9.24, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, Whale 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.
Whale Galaxy scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Galaxy, Outside our galaxy entirely, Has a proper name, Barred spiral galaxy and Big on the sky — 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.