Spiral galaxy · Grus

NGC 7424 Grand Design Galaxy

mag 10.25′ across

About

NGC 7424, the Grand Design Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy of magnitude 10.2 in Grus, about 5′ across.

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How to find it

  • NGC 7424 is in the constellation Grus.
  • Best evenings: around mid-October 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 39° N.

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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

  • EyesNot visible to the naked eye.
  • Binoculars (10×50)Too faint for binoculars.
  • Telescope (6–8 inch)A faint oval glow with a brighter middle — no spiral arms without a camera.

For a dark country sky with no Moon. From a city, faint galaxies and nebulae can disappear completely.

Facts

DesignationsNGC 7424, PGC 70096
TypeSpiral galaxy (Sc)
Magnitude10.2The smaller the number, the brighter.
Apparent size5′ × 2.7′position angle 125°; the full Moon is 31′ across
Surface brightness22.8 mag/arcsec²Average over its disc, in the blue band: the lower the number, the easier it is to see.
ConstellationGrus
Right ascension (J2000)22h 57m 18.4s
Declination (J2000)−41° 04′ 14″

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 →