The sky around NGC 1232 at true scale, north up and east left, with stars to magnitude 8. The circles show the field of a low-power eyepiece and of 10×50 binoculars.
NGC 1232 is a spiral galaxy (SABc) in Eridanus, 78 million light-years away
NGC 1232 (ESO 547-014, PGC 11819) is a spiral galaxy (SABc) in the constellation Eridanus, 78 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 10.1 and spans 6.8′ × 5.8′ of sky, about 154,500 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in December.
Galaxy: a system of billions of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity, far outside the Milky Way. Spiral galaxies have a disk with arms; elliptical galaxies are smooth, round or oval swarms of older stars.
Finding NGC 1232 from Zaurak
NGC 1232 lies 13.5° southwest of Zaurak, the magnitude 3.0 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
NGC 1232 is highest in the evening in December
The chart gives its height above the horizon at 9 pm through the year, from 60°N to 40°S. It can be seen from the whole southern hemisphere and north to about 69°N, and never sets south of 69°S.
NGC 1232 is 78 million light-years away
The light seen from NGC 1232 tonight left it about 78 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 172 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Hubble flow, cz=1677 km/s, H0=70.
Objects within 6° of NGC 1232
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
