The sky around NGC 3258 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 3258 is an elliptical galaxy (E) in Antlia, 106 million light-years away
NGC 3258 (ESO 375-037, PGC 30859) is an elliptical galaxy (E) in the constellation Antlia, 106 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 11.4 and spans 2.9′ × 2.3′ of sky, about 89,200 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in April.
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 3258 from Peregrini
NGC 3258 lies 14.2° north of Peregrini, the magnitude 2.7 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
NGC 3258 is highest in the evening in April
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 54°N, and never sets south of 54°S.
NGC 3258 is 106 million light-years away
The light seen from NGC 3258 tonight left it about 106 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 224 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Cosmicflows-4 (Tully et al. 2023), SBF.
Objects within 6° of NGC 3258
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
