About NGC 4621 (M59)

NGC 4621 stands out as a well-known observing object and appears as a soft glow. It is quite faint.

Current visibility

Right now it is at about 47° altitude and reaches 78° around 09:03 PM.

It stays above 30° for roughly 8 hours.

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

Observing tips

It requires patience and good conditions.

What to expect

In small telescopes it remains mostly unresolved.

It appears more compact than typical clusters.

Type

Elliptical Galaxy

Constellation

Virgo

Distance

60000000 ly

Size

5.1' x 3.4'

Season

Spring

Difficulty

Hard

Magnitude

9.6