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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
public LocationGreenwich, United Kingdom
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:31 
Transit: 12:55 
Sunset: 20:20
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All Constellations »  Libra »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra

Altitude: -31.6°   Azimuth: 287.9°   Direction: West-North-West

NGC 5878 is a Spiral Galaxy in the Libra constellation. NGC 5878 is situated close to the celestial equator and, as such, it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres in certain times of the year.

The image below is a photograph of NGC 5878 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.5x0.5 degrees (30x30 arcmins).

Image of NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra star
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DSS2 image of NGC 5878 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (3.27 arcmin) and minor (1.21 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Key facts about NGC 5878

NGC 5878
Galaxy
Libra

NGC 5878 is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom.

Altitude: -31.6°
Azimuth: 287.9°
Direction: West-North-West

See also NGC 5878 rise and set times.

Given its B magnitude of 12.1, NGC 5878 is visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.

Available Resources for NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra

Photometric information of NGC 5878

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 5878 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

12.1
9.14
8.47
8.18

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

The surface brightess reported below is an indication of the brightness per unit of angular area of NGC 5878.

22.94 mag/arcsec2

Apparent size of NGC 5878

The following table reports NGC 5878 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 5878 is a visual representation of it.
3.27 arcmin
1.21 arcmin

NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra morphological classification

NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra is classified as Spiral (SAb) according to the Hubble and de Vaucouleurs galaxy morphological classification. The diagram below shows a visual representation of the position of NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra in the Hubble de Vaucouleurs sequence.

NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra
Visualization of the morphological classification of NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra, Spiral (SAb).
Credits for the background image: Antonio Ciccolella / M. De Leo / CC BY

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of NGC 5878

Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of NGC 5878 are provided in the following table:

15h 13m 45s
-14° 16’ 10”

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 5878 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra.

Finder chart NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra.

Rise and set times of NGC 5878 from your location

Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's NGC 5878 - Spiral Galaxy in Libra rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 104.3°
Max altitude: 24.3°
Azimuth: 255.7°