M 96 Deep sky · Galaxy in Leo · M 96 · NGC 3368
M 96
The brightest galaxy of a small group below Leo, a spiral with lopsided arms and an off-centre core.
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- Type
- Galaxy
- Designations
- M 96 · NGC 3368
- Constellation
- Leo
- Apparent magnitude
- 9.3
- Apparent size
- 8′ × 5′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 10h 47m · Dec +11° 49′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 4.1 times as wide. The Sun passes 4° from it around early September, and for about 30 days of the year it sits within 15° of the Sun, lost in its glare.
When to see it
On the night of Mon 1 Mar 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT | 17:11 | 00:10 · 50° | 07:09 |
| New York EST | 17:25 | 00:05 · 61° | 06:45 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:15 | 01:15 · 80° | 07:15 |
| Sydney GMT+11 | 19:39 | 01:06 · 44° | 06:33 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 52° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 43° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around early March, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by late May it is highest in the early evening, and in late November not until the hours before dawn.
- How bright is it?
- Magnitude 9.3 in total, but that light is spread over 8′ × 5′ of sky: on average 21.9 magnitudes per square arcsecond. Against a dark country sky that average stands out; a city’s glow drowns all but its brightest parts.
- Naked eye, binoculars or telescope?
- Binoculars. At magnitude 9.3 it is past the eye, but a 50 mm pair under a dark sky reaches about magnitude 11.0.
Look for
It lies a short hop east of M 95; a low-power eyepiece holds both, with M 105 to the north.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 52°; from 35° north it climbs to 67°; from the equator it climbs to 78°; from 35° south it climbs to 43°.
Look for
Magnitude 9.3 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (4.8 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (2.3 short); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (1.8 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (3.3 to spare). Those limits are for a point of light; its light is spread over its whole size, so it needs some of that margin in hand. Through 7×50 binoculars, whose field is about 7.1° across, it spans 2% of the field’s width; through a 100 mm telescope at 50×, a field about 1° across, it spans 13% of the field’s width.