The sky around NGC 3268 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 3268 is an elliptical galaxy (E) in Antlia, 115 million light-years away
NGC 3268 (ESO 375-045, PGC 30949) is an elliptical galaxy (E) in the constellation Antlia, 115 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 11.4 and spans 3.5′ × 2.6′ of sky, about 116,900 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 3268 from Peregrini
NGC 3268 lies 14.4° north of Peregrini, the magnitude 2.7 star. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10°.
NGC 3268 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 55°N, and never sets south of 55°S.
NGC 3268 is 115 million light-years away
The light seen from NGC 3268 tonight left it about 115 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 236 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Cosmicflows-4 (Tully et al. 2023), SBF.
Objects within 6° of NGC 3268
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
