About Spindle Galaxy (M102)

Spindle Galaxy is a rewarding deep-sky target and is visible as a compact luminous region. It is quite faint.

Current visibility

Right now it is at about 10° altitude and reaches 34° around 02:50 AM.

It stays above 30° for roughly 4 hours.

Galaxies are sensitive to light pollution, subtle features are easily lost in bright skies.

Observing tips

It can be challenging under typical skies.

What to expect

At higher magnification, subtle detail can be detected.

Type

Lenticular (S0) Galaxy

Constellation

Draco

Distance

40000000 ly

Size

5.2' x 2.3'

Season

Summer

Difficulty

Hard

Magnitude

9.9