The sky around NGC 2207/IC 2163 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 2207/IC 2163 is a galaxy pair (SABc) in Canis Major, 129 million light-years away
NGC 2207/IC 2163 (NGC 2207, ESO 556-008, PGC 18749, IC 2163, ESO 556-009) is a galaxy pair (SABc) in the constellation Canis Major, 129 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 11.1 and spans 4.9′ × 2.7′ of sky, about 184,200 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in February.
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 2207/IC 2163 from Sirius
NGC 2207/IC 2163 lies 8.2° southwest of Sirius, the magnitude -1.4 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
NGC 2207/IC 2163 is highest in the evening in February
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 2207/IC 2163 is 129 million light-years away
The light seen from NGC 2207/IC 2163 tonight left it about 129 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 254 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Hubble flow, cz=2773 km/s, H0=70.
