About NGC 5745
NGC 5745 is a rare galaxy. It sits in the constellation Lib and shines at apparent magnitude 14.
A triple galaxy system — three island universes tangled together, on a course that ends with them merging into one.
Rare galaxy 47 EP
NGC 5745
RA 221.2590° · Dec -13.9462° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Galaxy triplet +22
- Galaxy +14
- Spiral galaxy +5
- On the zodiac +3
- Faint fuzzy (mag > 13) +3
Total score 47
3 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Galaxy · +14
- Galaxy triplet · +22
- Spiral galaxy · +5
- On the zodiac · +3
- Faint fuzzy (mag > 13) · +3
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A triple galaxy system — three island universes tangled together, on a course that ends with them merging into one.
- Spiral. A spiral galaxy. Those arms are not solid structures but traffic jams — density waves that stars drift into and out of as they orbit.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. Galaxies pass through each other almost without collisions — the stars are so far apart that they simply miss.
- Scale. Home to hundreds of billions of stars — a universe unto itself, and every one of those points of light could have planets.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 14 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Libra.
- Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around May — that's when to go looking.
How we came to know it
- The New General Catalogue. Its NGC number comes from J. L. E. Dreyer's 1888 catalogue, itself built on decades of sky sweeps by William Herschel and his sister Caroline.
Properties
- constellation
- Lib
- dso type
- GTrpl
- hubble
- Sa
- mag
- 14
- name
- NGC 5745
- size arcmin
- 1.62
- surface brightness
- 22.79
How to see it
Look for NGC 5745 in the constellation Lib. At apparent magnitude 14, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 5745 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 NGC 5745 is a rare galaxy
NGC 5745 scores 47 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Galaxy, Galaxy triplet, 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.