Irregular galaxy · Phoenix
NGC 87 Robert's Quartet
mag 14.354″ across
About
NGC 87 (Robert's Quartet) is an irregular galaxy of magnitude 14.3 in Phoenix, about 54″ across.
How to find it
- NGC 87 is in the constellation Phoenix.
- Best evenings: around mid-November 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 31° 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
- EyesNot visible to the naked eye.
- Binoculars (10×50)Too faint for binoculars.
- Telescope (6–8 inch)Very hard or out of reach: it needs a dark sky and a larger telescope, or a camera.
For a dark country sky with no Moon. From a city, faint galaxies and nebulae can disappear completely.
Facts
| Designations | NGC 87, PGC 1357 |
|---|---|
| Type | Irregular galaxy (IB) |
| Magnitude | 14.3The smaller the number, the brighter. |
| Apparent size | 54″ × 42″position angle 6°; the full Moon is 31′ across |
| Surface brightness | 22.9 mag/arcsec²Average over its disc, in the blue band: the lower the number, the easier it is to see. |
| Constellation | Phoenix |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 00h 21m 14.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −48° 37′ 42″ |
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 →