Magellanic-type galaxy · Dorado
ESO 56-115 Large Magellanic Cloud
mag 0.310.8° across
About
ESO 56-115, the Large Magellanic Cloud, is a Magellanic-type galaxy of magnitude 0.3 in Dorado, about 10.8° across.
How to find it
- ESO 56-115 is in the constellation Dorado.
- Best evenings: around late January it is highest at about 9 pm (10 pm in summer time); a month earlier, two hours later.
- Where on Earth: it is seen well, at least 10° up, from south of 10° N.
When it rises and sets tonight, how high it climbs and how much the Moon gets in the way are worked out in your browser for your place.
What you will see
- EyesA faint elongated glow from a dark site.
- Binoculars (10×50)A misty oval with a brighter centre.
- Telescope (6–8 inch)A bright core in a fainter halo. The spiral arms are hard to see without a camera, even from a dark site. It is bigger than the field of view, so use the lowest power.
For a dark country sky with no Moon. From a city, faint galaxies and nebulae can disappear completely.
Facts
| Designations | ESO 56-115, PGC 17223 |
|---|---|
| Type | Magellanic-type galaxy (SBm) |
| Magnitude | 0.3The smaller the number, the brighter. |
| Apparent size | 10.8° × 9.2°position angle 170°; the full Moon is 31′ across |
| Surface brightness | 23.4 mag/arcsec²Average over its disc, in the blue band: the lower the number, the easier it is to see. |
| Constellation | Dorado |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 05h 23m 34.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −69° 45′ 22″ |
Sources and credits
Catalog data: OpenNGC by Mattia Verga, CC BY-SA 4.0, and d3-celestial by Olaf Frohn, BSD 3-Clause. All data sources →