The sky around NGC 1511 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 1511 is a spiral galaxy (Sab) in Hydrus, 50 million light-years away
NGC 1511 (ESO 055-004, PGC 14236) is a spiral galaxy (Sab) in the constellation Hydrus, 50 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 11.3 and spans 3.7′ × 1.5′ of sky, about 53,600 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in January.
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.
NGC 1511 is AM 359-674 in the Arp-Madore catalog
Halton Arp and Barry Madore listed it in A Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations (1987), from their search of the UK Schmidt southern sky survey plates. The number 359-674 is its position: right ascension 3h 59m and declination -67.4°.
Finding NGC 1511 from Rhombus
NGC 1511 lies 5.4° south of Rhombus, the magnitude 3.3 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
NGC 1511 is highest in the evening in January
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 22°N, and never sets south of 22°S.
NGC 1511 is 50 million light-years away
The light seen from NGC 1511 tonight left it about 50 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 101 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Tully-Fisher, Anand 2021 PHANGS.
Objects within 6° of NGC 1511
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
