The sky around NGC 4696 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 4696 is an elliptical galaxy (E) in Centaurus, 118 million light-years away
NGC 4696 (ESO 322-091, PGC 43296) is an elliptical galaxy (E) in the constellation Centaurus, 118 million light-years away. It shines at magnitude 10.3 and spans 3.9′ × 2.6′ of sky, about 132,200 light-years across. It is a telescope object, 6 inches or larger, and it is highest in the evening sky in May.
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 4696 from Muhlifain
NGC 4696 lies 7.7° north of Muhlifain, the magnitude 2.2 star. Three fingers held at arm's length cover about 5°.
NGC 4696 is highest in the evening in May
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 49°N, and never sets south of 49°S.
NGC 4696 is 118 million light-years away
The light seen from NGC 4696 tonight left it about 118 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. It ranks 239 of 422 by distance among the galaxies on Go Astronomy. Distance source: Cosmicflows-4 (Tully et al. 2023).
Objects within 6° of NGC 4696
No other Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 object lies within 6°.
